246 BIRDS OF CHESHIRE. 
fected until the bird is some weeks old, the downy 
young being fed by their parents. Young Grebes, 
even when almost as large as adults, can only dive in 
a very inefficient manner. They swim just below the 
water, their course being indicated by a small wave, 
and a foot is frequently protruded above the surface. 
Never out of sight for more than a few seconds, they 
only traverse a dozen yards or so at each dive. 
By the middle of February the birds may be seen 
swimming in couples, engaged in fantastic love- 
making. Face to face, with ruffs expanded, raising 
themselves in the water, and stretching their necks 
vertically, they toy with one another’s bills. 
The floating mass of rotting vegetable matter which 
constitutes the nest is almost always built in the dense 
reed-beds fringing the meres. At Bosley Reservoir, 
however, where there are no reeds, the nests are moored 
in small clumps of osiers, often in an exposed situation. 
At Redes Mere, where there is no lack of reeds, we have 
frequently seen nests in the lily-beds fifty yards or more 
from the shore in places where the water is several feet 
deep. At one spot on the same mere, the stump of a 
large tree rises several inches above the surface of the 
water about fifteen yards from the shore. The stump 
is in open water, away from reeds or other cover; but in 
1899 a pair of Grebes selected this exposed position, 
built a nest on the flat top of the stump, and succeeded 
in bringing off their young. The eggs, laid in May or 
June, are generally three or four in number. Mr. N. 
Neave informs us that he once found five in a nest at 
Rostherne Mere, and we have found the same number 
on one of the Anglesea lakes; but such cases are very 
exceptional. A considerable time elapses between the 
laying of each egg, for those in the same clutch are 
