ICC) Grebes. 



in fully rearing a second brood. 



The chief enemies the little ones have to fear are the 

 btg" fish. Many disappear down the liungry maws of the 

 common pike, which is found in most of our larger ponds 

 or streams, and on my own pond the big trout have proved 

 to be equally fond of a mouthful of dabchick. 



In the autumn the young migrate, but whether 

 they leave this country for Southern Europe, or simply con- 

 gregate on our larger sheets of water, I am unable to say. 

 Personally I have never seen more than seven or eight to- 

 gether. Before leaving they have to be taught to fly, and 

 great teatering and splashing takes place whilst this is going 

 on. It is some time before they are able to lift themselves 

 quite clear of the water, but one morning early in October 

 one finds that they have all cleared off except "the old birds. 



These birds do a good deal of damage on salmon and 

 trout streams in the spawning season, probably more than 

 the gorgeous Kingfisher, or even the lovely Heron. I remem- 

 ber seeing a little flock of seven, probably a family party, 

 feeding ion salmon spawning beds on the Itchen. Five of 

 the birds were continually under the water, and this one party 

 alone must have accounted for thousands of ova. In hard 

 frost they are driven off the ponds to the more rapidly 

 running rivers, or even to the coast. I have occasionallv seen 

 one fishing in the shallow waters in one of the more sheltered 

 bays in the Isle of Man. 



Of the other English Grebes that nest with us. the 

 Great Crested Grebe {Podicipes cristatus) has not come under 

 my notice, the inland waters in the west of England, not 

 being of sufficient extent to provide it with a permanent 

 home. I 'think: 'that it is quite likely that the Bristol Water 

 Co.'s fine reservoir at Blagdon, as soon as the reedbeds around 

 the banks are thoroughly established, will prove to be an- 

 other of its* breeding haunts. One other British Grebe I 

 have met with, and that is the Slavonian Grebe {P. aiirl- 

 tus), a really pretty bird with its bright chestnut ear-patches, 

 but this was in a remote district of California, a matter of 

 6,000 miles from this country. It was, I think, quite as 



