I 4 2 BIRD BIOGRAPHIES 



wet water weeds over her eggs, com- 

 pletely covering them, slipped off and 

 dived in ten seconds. When returning 

 after an alarm she always came along 

 under the water, and when close to 

 the nest just slowly lifted her head 

 above the surface, not making a ripple 

 in doing this, and looked well around 

 before showing her body. 



Very soon after the young left the 

 shells I visited the nest, and just to 

 see what would happen I showed 

 myself instead of going into my usual 

 hiding place. The young were swim- 

 ming near the nest, and when they 

 saw me made comical efforts to dive ; 

 they just went under, then popped up 

 again. The mother was in a state of 

 great excitement, she hurriedly swam 

 away, and called her five young to her. 

 The note of alarm is not easy to put 

 into words, but it might be described 

 by the word peuf uttered as a loud 



