198 THE STORY OF ‘THE BIRDS. 
to escape, drop into it, they both swim and dive read- 
ily. Another hint here: As noted, these young ho- 
actzins crawl on bushes by wing claws; some galli- 
nules do the same when young, and very young 
grebes, Prof. Newton notes, move as if crawling on 
“all fours.” Recalling the swimming of some pen- 
guins by alternate strokes of the wings, already men- 
tioned, you may see that this little strain of habit 
runs well down the line of divers on the diagram. 
But interesting vestiges or faint exhibitions of 
habits, which also hint of history or relationship, 
may crop out even in adult birds. The impression is 
prevailing now that geese, ducks, swans, etc., may 
find their ancestry among the grebes and loons, or 
near them. Now, here runs the habit of covering the 
eggs in the nest. Some rails—quite landward—all 
grebes, and the ducks especially do this. Some of * 
the latter use their own down. Further on, the do- 
mestic goose simply picks up a few straws and throws 
them at her eggs as she leaves them. Again, grebes 
build floating nests often, and some rails on one side 
and some other birds on the other side do the same. 
These instances of hinted kinship through nests 
are too numerous for our space. Often they are quite 
apparent and constant within the group. Thus, as 
noted, most Picarian birds use holes; all vireos or 
greenlets build basket-shaped nests suspended at the 
brim ; the thrushes like a little plastering ; the finches 
want upholstering, usually of hair or very fine fibers; 
the tits and their cousins, the wrens, wish fur and 
feathers; and the jays, a lining of rootlets, ete. 
