104 Baby Birds at Home 



moored to its surroundings, and at others its 

 foundations rest upon the bottom of the lake 

 or mere. It is a kind of rough platform made 

 out of wet flags, reeds, leaves, and different 

 sorts of plants, slightly hollow at the top, 

 and never raised very high above the sur- 

 face of the water in which it is built. 



The number of eggs laid varies from three 

 to five. These are white at first, but soon 

 become stained and dirty, from contact with 

 their owner's feet and the decaying vege- 

 tation upon which they rest. On leaving 

 her nest the Great Crested Grebe covers her 

 eggs carefully over with some of the materials 

 of the structure. This serves a twofold pur- 

 pose. First of all it hides them from any 

 winged enemy, such as the carrion crow, flying 

 overhead, and secondly it keeps them warm. 



Baby Grebes begin their education very 

 early. Tumbling over the edge of the nest 

 almost directly after they are hatched, they 

 find their father waiting to teach them how 

 to dive. Mounting his back and seizing 

 some of the feathers at the back of the old 

 bird's neck with their bills, they hold on 

 whilst he plunges below and carries them 

 down with him. 



