THE PIEDBILL GREBE. 



jEMBERS of the family 

 of Grebes are to be 

 found in the temperate 

 ^zones of both hemis- 

 pheres, beyond which 

 they do not extend very far either to 

 the north or south. They are usually 

 found on ponds or large sheets of 

 stagnant water, sometimes on deep, 

 slow-moving streams ; but always 

 where sedges and rushes are abundant. 

 Probably there are no birds better 

 entitled to the name of water fowl 

 than the Grebes — at least, observers 

 state that they know of no others that 

 do not on some occasions appear on 

 dry land. It is only under the most 

 urgent circumstances, as, for instance, 

 when wounded, that they approach 

 the sho/e, and even then they keep 

 so close to the brink that on the 

 slightest alarm they can at once 

 plunge into the water. Whatever 

 they do must be done in the water ; 

 they cannot even rise upon the wing 

 without a preliminary rush over the 

 surface of the lake. From dry land 

 they cannot begin their flight. Their 

 whole life is spent in swimming and 

 diving. They even repose floating 

 upon the water, and when thus asleep 

 float as buoyantly as if they were made 

 of cork, the legs raised to the edges of 

 the wings, and the head comfortably 

 buried among the feathers between the 

 back and shoulder. Should a storm 

 arise, they at once turn to face the 

 blast, and are usually able, with their 

 paddle-like feet, to maintain them- 

 selves in the same place. They dive 

 with great facility, and make their 

 way more swiftly when under water 

 than when swimming at the top. 

 When fl^"ing the long neck is stretched 

 out straight forwards and the feet 

 backwards. In the absence of anv 



tail, they steer their course by means 

 of their feet. When alarmed they 

 instantly dive. 



Their food consists of small fishes, 

 insects, frogs, and tadpoles. Grebes 

 are peculiar in their manner of breed- 

 ing. They live in pairs, and are very 

 affectionate, keeping in each others 

 company during their migrations, and 

 always returning together to the same 

 pond. The nest is a floating one, a 

 mass of wet weeds, in which the eggs 

 are not only kept damp, but in the 

 water. The weeds used in building 

 the nests are procured by diving, and 

 put together so as to resemble a float- 

 ing heap of rubbish, and fastened to 

 some old upright reeds. The eggs are 

 from three to six, at first greenish 

 white in color, but soon become dirty, 

 and are then of a yellowish red or 

 olive-brown tint, sometimes marbled. 



The male and female both sit upon 

 the nest, and the young are hatched 

 in three weeks. From the first 

 moment they are able to swim, and in 

 a few days to dive. Having once 

 quitted the nest they seldom return to 

 it, a comfortable resting and sleeping 

 place being afforded them on the backs 

 of their parents. "It is a treat to 

 watch the little family as now one, 

 now another of the young brood, tired 

 with the exertion of swimming or of 

 struggling against the rippling water, 

 mount as to a resting place on their 

 mother's back; to see how gently, 

 when they have recovered their 

 strength, she returns them to the 

 water ; to hear the anxious, plaintive 

 notes of the little warblers when they 

 have ventured too far from the nest ; 

 to see their food laid before them by 

 the old birds ; or to witness the 

 tenderness with which they are taught 

 to dive." 



137 



