244 BIRDS OP NOEFOLK. 



the shelter of the reed "bush," endeavouring by her 

 warning cries to recall them to a place of safety; or when 

 undisturbed to see the proud and beautiful bird bearing 

 her prettily striped little ones on her back, or at a later 

 period still, instructing them in the accomplishments 

 necessary to their after well-being. 



The food of the great crested grebe, of course, con- 

 sists chiefly of fish, but they are said to supply their 

 young with tadpoles and small frogs, and aquatic insects 

 and their larvse as well. I have often watched them 

 carrying food to their young, but was never near enough 

 to perceive of what it consisted. The fact of their 

 stomachs almost invariably containing masses of their 

 own feathers, and even of the very young birds having 

 swallowed those of their parents, has been noticed by 

 almost every authority who has written ujDon the subject, 

 from the time of Buffon (who says he got his informa- 

 tion from the elder Baillon), and, perhaps, even earlier 

 still, to the present, and is too well-known to need 

 repetition, but the object for which those feathers are 

 swallowed does not appear to me to have yet been satis- 

 factorily explained. 



Only those who have watched this splendid bird 

 when in full enjoyment of its life and liberty can form 

 any conception of its beauty on the water or the stately 

 gracefulness of its motions. Gliding along like a frigate 

 in full sail, it will stop, and, careening over so as to 

 expose the glistening white of its under surface to the 

 rays of the sun, with one foot extended backwards, it 

 will preen its lovely breast, smoothing and apparently 

 caressing its silky plumage with its not less beautiful 

 head, then resuming an usual position for a moment it 

 seems to be lost, so great is the contrast from the gleam- 

 ing whiteness of the breast to the sombre hue of the 

 upper parts. Soon it dives away, and as we follow it up, 

 to use the words of one who gloried in this beautiful 

 bird : — " The stately loon rises before the advancing 

 boat, and shakes the drops from his crest, looking back 

 with arched neck at the intruders, and plunges again to 

 his unseen course in life and joy." ("Fauna of Norfolk," 

 2nd edit., p. 123, note.) 



On the approach of autumn the grebes, with few 



