36 OUR RARER BRITISH BREEDING BIRDS. 



surrounding reed- stems. As a rule it has but very 

 little elevation above the water-line, and only a slight 

 hollow for the reception of the eggs, which number 

 from three to five white when first laid, but 

 soon becoming dyed yellowish brown from contact 

 with decaying vegetation and the muddy feet of 

 the parent bird. When the female leaves her nest 

 of her own free will, she carefully covers her eggs 

 with portions of the material upon which they 

 are lying. 



Like many other species, the Great Crested 

 Grebe constructs a spare nest not far from the 

 one in which the serious work of incubation is 

 going forth. Some naturalists are of opinion that 

 it is made for the male to use as a look - out 

 station, and others as a lauding- stage for the 

 young. In all probability it serves both purposes, 

 for the male bird takes charge of the young ones 

 first hatched, whilst his mate incubates the re- 

 maining eggs. 



Whilst on the Norfolk Broads with my friend, 

 the Kev. M. C. H. Bird, late one evening last spring, 

 we saw a pair of Great Crested Grebes swimming 

 along with three or four little chicks between 

 them. Presently one of these mounted the back 

 of its parent, whose sex we were unable to deter- 

 mine on account of distance and lack of light. 

 Our boatman, Alfred Nudd, a very capable and 

 non - varnish - tale naturalist marshman, told us 

 that the young Crested Grebes secure their posi- 

 tions on the backs of their parents by seizing 

 some feathers in their bills, and that he once 

 found a chick with three feathers plucked from 

 its father's back swallowed right up to the base 

 of the shafts. A curious thing about this point is 

 that many observers have found feathers in the 



