THE DIVING BIRDS. 281 



seems more at home than on the river. This diver, 

 or grebe, is a strictly American species, but no one 

 of our writers appears to have grown enthusiastic 

 over it. It is one of my favorites, for it is fearless 

 and comes directly into town, and takes genuine de- 

 light in dodging the stones that boys will throw at it 

 on every occasion. It is not deterred from swim- 

 ming in the streams of its forefathers, even though 

 befouled with factory refuse. Again, it will keep you 

 company, when paddling about in the solitary crooks 

 and turns of little inland creeks, keeping you in sight, 

 but never in your way ; lively by action, but uttering 

 no useless words ; a type of companion hard enough 

 to find among the unfeathered bipeds. 



This completes the undertaking as outlined in the 

 opening pages. I promised to conclude with the 

 Dabchick and have done so ; but one duty remains : 

 to beg the Diver's pardon for speaking ill of it when 

 thinking of the tuneful thrushes. I trust what I 

 have said in proper place will make amends for the 

 unintentional slight; and now I have but to hope 

 that this glance at North American bird-life will aid 

 in bringing about a proper feeling for all our birds, 

 a feeling that will induce us all to make serious efforts 

 to check the persecution to which they are subjected. 

 It will be a sorry day when the ornithological litera- 

 ture of our country will be classed by librarians as a 

 department of Ancient History. 



