DABCHICK—DAKER-HEN 131 



D 



DABCHICK or DOBCHICK, the smallest and most common 

 Euroj^ean species of Podicipes, which has also a wide range in the 

 Old World. It is the Little Grebe of books, and the Fodicijjes 

 JiuoiatUis or miiiur of modern ornithology. In most parts of Britain it 

 resorts in spring to lakes or even small ponds, building there a nest 

 of aquatic plants, collected in the pool it frequents, and either 

 piled up from the bottom near the margin or resting on the 

 growing Avater-weeds themselves, while use is occasionally made of 

 any branch of a tree that may have fallen into the water. In 

 every case the mass of materials brought together is large compared 

 Avith the size of the bird, and is always in a moist condition, even 

 to the upper part, Avhich is slightly hollowed out in the form of a 

 cup to receive the seven or eight eggs that are therein laid. These, 

 as is generally the case with those of other members of the Family, 

 are symmetrical in form, there being little or no difference between 

 the two ends, and have a chalky shell, which from being at first of 

 a pure white are soon stained by the damp weeds forming the nest, 

 some of which are carefully drawn over it by the parent whenever it is 

 left, and even if she be too suddenly disturbed to make this possible, 

 she will stealthily return at the first opportunity and cover them. 



Few birds have a greater faculty of escaping observation than 

 this, and it often happens that a pair will frequ.ent a small weedy 

 pond, nigh unto a human habitation, and rear their young there, 

 without their existence being detected, though they stay for the 

 whole of a summer. In winter the greater part emigrate, and 

 those that remain betake themselves to rivers, brooks, and ditches 

 near the sea, which except in very hard frost are free from ice — 

 using, as a last resort, the tidal waters. 



DACNIS, a genus established by Cuvier, Avith the conspicuous 

 blue and black Motacillfc cai/aiuc of Linnoeus 

 as its type, belonging to the Cairehidai. Four- 

 teen species are recognized by Mr. Sclater 

 {Cat. B. Br. Mus. xi. pp. 18-27), and the skins ^^£-^^^ 

 of two or three of them, remarkable for their Dacnis. 



beautiful blue or bluish-green coloration, are (After Swamscm.) 



among the commonest of those sent from South America. 



DAKER-HEN, an old and widely-spread name of the Land- 

 E,AIL, referring, it is thought, to the unsteady flight of the bird, 

 for to " dacker " (Frisian, dakkerii, M. Dutch, daeckeren), signifying 

 to stagger, totter, or hesitate, is a well-known word in Lincolnshire, 



