140 PODICIPEDID^. 



ones trying to keep up with her ; but not succeeding, she 

 stopped, and one went on one side and one on the other, and 

 seemed to take hold of the feathers beneath the wing, which 

 she raised ajDparently for that purpose, and placing the tip 

 of a wing on each young one, as if to keep them in their 

 places, she swam slowly off, putting one very much in mind 

 of a small river tug-boat towing a couple of barges. I appre- 

 hend few people have ever seen such an interesting sight." 



The same excellent observer writes as follows : — " I have 

 discovered the manner in which the Dabchick covers up her 

 eggs. I always imagined that it was done with her feet ; 

 but I now find that the bird does it wdth her beak. I 

 dropped my boat down upon one the other day which was just 

 hatching ; in fact, one egg was hatched ; and I found the 

 young one in the water two yards from the nest. I strongly 

 suspect she pulled it out of the nest in her hurry to get 

 away, for the little thing could only float. Well, I suppose 

 she was so intent upon hatching that she did not observe 

 me until I was close to her, say three yards away. She, on 

 seeing me, immediately stood on the side of the nest, and 

 with her beak pulled the weeds from the side of the nest, 

 taking four or five small mouthfuls, and placed them over 

 the eggs, and immediately dived into the water." 



The Little Grebe is common and resident in Ireland, and 

 too universally distributed in localities suited to its habits 

 in England, to render particular enumeration necessary. 

 Its skulking habits tend to screen it from the casual eye, but 

 keen observers have several times detected its presence on 

 such frequented waters as those of the London parks. 

 Mr. Harting says, " We have observed a Little Grebe on 

 the Round Pond in Kensington Gardens, and were not a 

 little surprised one summer to find the bird nesting there ; 

 the nest, a floating shallow structure, being moored to some 

 aquatic plants at a distance from the shore." Under the 

 altered condition of this pond, the Dabchick can no longer 

 breed there ; but the Editor watched it a few summers ago 

 on the small piece of shrub- surrounded water close to ' the 

 Row ' in Hyde Park. 



