150 TALKS ABOUT BIRDS 



rather surprised me. One thing one always 

 notices with this little bird that, if the 

 water is not clear enough to follow its course 

 far, as generally happens, it never by any 

 chance comes up where you might expect it, 

 which is a wise policy. I noticed this even 

 with my little friends in Calcutta, which 

 knew me so well ; and though they might 

 come up nearer me than they went down, 

 the place of their appearance was always an 

 unexpected one. 



The big grebes and the divers are wonder- 

 fully strong and fast swimmers ; on the great 

 Swiss lakes it is the custom to hunt the great 

 crested grebe in a boat with several rowers, 

 and shoot at it when it comes up, and even 

 then the bird gives a very long chase, and 

 often gets away. It is interesting, showing 

 how differently birds of the same sort may 

 behave, that one naturalist says that when 

 you are getting up to a flock of grebes, many 

 of them will fly away and the others make up 

 their minds to dive ; he reckoned that any one 

 which dived three times would not fly. 



Flying is not a very safe performance with 

 grebes ; they cannot start except with a long 



