234 GRKBHS AND DI\KRS 



which is replaced in India by the white-winged /'. albipeiniis, and in 

 China by a species common to the Philippines. 



Throughout the British Islands the dabchick is a common bird in 

 localities suited to its habits, although it is less abundant in Scotland 

 than in England or Ireland. So much has been written about its 

 habits, which arc familiar to all residents in the country, that a very 

 brief notice will suffice on this occasion. It may be seen either in 

 pairs, singly, or in small parties on all inland waters, swimming 

 contentedly about, and diving from time to time in search of food, 

 which comprises water-snails, freshwater shrimps, insects, small fishes, 

 and tadpoles. The nest, with its clutch of from four to six eggs, may 

 be found as early as the last week in March ; and after the first brood 

 of young are old enough to shift for themselves, or even before this, 

 the industrious parents not unfrequently set about bringing a second 

 family into the world. Very attentive, too, are the parents to the needs 

 of their eggs and offspring, the female carefully covering up the former 

 with water-weeds every time she leaves the nest, while later on she 

 will carry her young on her own back until they are quite at home in 

 the water. In one instance, at any rate, it has been observed that 

 while the male took charge of the nearly full-grown young, his partner 

 was sitting on a second clutch of eggs. Like the moorhen, the dabchick 

 can remain a long time under water, and when hard pressed will con- 

 ceal itself beneath the surface among the weeds. The nest may be 

 cither freely floating among rushes, or, when in shallow water, anchored 

 to the bottom by a foundation of weeds and mud. When fresh- laid, 

 the eggs are pure bluish white, but during incubation they become so 

 much stained that they are generally of a pale dirty yellow by the time 

 the young are ready to chip the .shell ; while on the borders of Scotch 

 lochs they are generally dyed brown by the peat-stained water. 



It may be added that in some ornithological works, the writers 

 of which do not include all the grebes in a single genus, and do not 

 recogni.se the dabchick as the typical representative of the genus 

 Podicipcs, the species will be found described under the name of 

 Tachybaptes fluviatilis. 



In concluding this notice of the grebe tribe it may be mentioned 

 that a specimen of the American grebe, known as Podilyuibus podicipes, 

 has been alleged to have been taken in the neighbourhood of Weymouth, 

 but doubts have been expressed as to its authenticity.' 



' .Sec MansL-l-l'Icydell, Birds of Dorstl, p. 124 (I<S92). 



