WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS 



but never happened to meet with one on this side, though 

 I have heard of their being killed, and also of their having 

 been seen in the spring time, as if it came occasionally to 

 breed.* 



Another singular bird visits this country regularly in the 

 spring, the lesser grebe (in England commonly called the 

 dabchick). It is difficult to understand how this bird makes 

 out its journey from the region, wherever it may be, where 

 theypass thewinter.Nobirdis less adapted for a long flight, 

 yet they suddenly appear in some rushy loch. Generally a 

 pair lake possession of some small pool, where they build 

 their singular nest and rear their young, till the returning 

 autumn warns them that it is time to return to some country 

 less liable than this to have its pools and lochs frozen. In a 

 small rushy pond in Inverness-shire I had frequent opport- 

 unities of observing their domestic economy, and the man- 

 ner in which they build their nest and rear their young. 

 Though there was no stream connecting this pool with any 

 other larger piece of water, a pair, and only a pair of these 

 little grebes came to it every spring. After two or three 

 days spent in recruiting their strength and making love to 

 each other, the little birds set about making their nest in a 

 tuft of rushes, at a shallow part of the water, a few yards 

 from the shore. They first collected a considerable quantity 

 of dead rushes, which they found in plenty floating about the 

 edges of the water. Both male and female were busily em- 



*Undoubtedly the quail occasionally and irregul-^rly breeds in Scotland. In igii Mr 

 Eagle Clark obtained the eggs of a pair in Fair Isle, midway between Orkney and Shet- 

 land. Fifty years ago they bred in considerable numbers in Galloway; but they gradually 

 decreased and finally disappeared altogether. From time to time, however, there occurs 

 a small immigration of these inveterate wanderers. — Ed. 



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