

THE GREBE. 399 



The skins of these birds, from their beautifully soft and 

 silky texture, make valuable tippets for ladies, and form an 

 article of trade from North America, and other countries where 

 they abound. They are chiefly taken by the Indians, who. 

 contrive to kill them at great distances ; and they have also 

 a way of enticing them by a particular call, and a red rag at 

 the end of a stick methods which they practise with great 

 success. 



One of the most common in our country, and at the same 

 time one of the most beautiful, is the Crested Grebe, of whose 

 head we have given a figure (see p. 70). The bird has the 

 power of moving the sort of shawl, or tippet, round its neck, 

 as well as the two tufts or crests on its head, which, when 

 erected, appear like two horns. This species, as well as some 

 others, such as the Sea-Lark, already mentioned (see p. 320), 

 when alarmed, carries off its young to a place of safety. We 

 once saw an old one basking in 

 the middle of a large sheet of 

 water, with one or two young ones, 

 apparently not long hatched, swim- 

 ming round her. By the assistance 

 of a telescope, the little downy ' ' 



Divers might be seen enj oying their 

 new existence, at one moment 

 darting along the surface, and then 

 scrambling on the mother's back, 

 who floated motionless, and con- 

 tinued to plume herself, while the The Great Northern Diver - 

 brood gambolled about her. One of the largest of this genus, 

 the Great Northern Diver, may also be called a British bird, 

 though but a rare visitant, preferring the more remote shores 

 of the north, where it passes its existence as far as possible 

 beyond the reach of men ; not, howeverj that it can escape the 

 snare of the hunter, numbers being taken by the persevering 

 efforts of those who know the value of their skins, which, 

 when tanned and dressed, make excellent caps and jackets. But 

 although the poor birds cannot avoid falling a prey to their 

 pursuers, they contrive so effectually to seclude themselves 



