232 DUCK-LIKE DIVING BIRDS. 



DABCHICK, or LITTLE GREBE.— Plate 84. 



9 inches. General colour dark brown ; blackish on 

 head, hind-neck, and chin ; cheeks, aides, and front ot" 

 neck chestnut ; belly silky- white ; bill black, tipped 

 with white, and greenish -yellow at the base ; legs and 

 feet (the toes formed like paddles) blackish-green. 

 Winter : crown and hind-neck brown ; chin white ; 

 chestnut parts become ruddy-brown. Resident. 



Eggs. — 4-6, creamy-white; 1-5 x I'O inch (plate 

 134). 



Nest. — A mass of decaying aquatic plants floating 

 on the water among the growth at the borders of 

 lakes, streams, and ponds. 



This sooty little Grebe may be found breeding on 

 any reed-grown pond, lake, or water-course through- 

 out the British Islands, thinning out northwards. 

 When seen for the first time, its small, rounded 

 form, with flufFed-up plumage, no proper tail, and 

 the head nestling between the shoulders, will prob- 

 ably be mistaken for that of a Duckling. But when, 

 upon the barest hint of intrusion upon its privacy, it 

 dives noiselessly and without disturbance of the water, 

 and with the rapidity of a flash of lightning, usually 

 to appear no more within sight, it will be understood 

 that this is an ' old bird ' in a special sense of the 

 term. The nest is a mass of wet reeds floating 

 or built up from the bottom of a shallow among 

 the reeds. Much smaller than the smallest Duck, and 

 with a pointed bill such as no Duck possesses, and 

 a mere pigmy beside Moorhen and Coot which fre- 



