GREAT CRESTED-GREBE 419 



parties. So far as my own observations go this is not strictly correct, 

 but to this matter I propose to return in due course. 



More than one writer has described the great crested-grebe as 

 a gregarious bird. This is not an accurate description, as will be 

 gathered from the foregoing remarks. But since there is an abund- 

 ance of food for all, and no lack of breeding-sites, the struggle for 

 "territory," first demonstrated by Mr. H. Eliot Howard, is less 

 intense, and hence many pairs can occupy a comparatively small area 

 without endangering the welfare of the community. It is partly on 

 this account, and also partly on account of the fact that they feed by 

 day, that the great crested-grebe, if due precautions are observed, is 

 so easily kept under observation ; but they are very wary, diving at 

 once if their suspicions are aroused, and making for the shelter of the 

 reeds. Flight is a mode of motion rarely indulged in, but they will 

 often make short journeys on the wing at dusk, sometimes rising 

 twenty or thirty feet above the water, but they rarely travel more than 

 a few hundred yards. During such excursions they- resemble ducks, 

 the neck being held straight out, and the feet projecting far behind 

 do duty for a tail. The wing beat is not unlike that of a duck, and 

 they strike the water on alighting in similar fashion. In swimming 

 they float low, and can, at will, sink the body till the water is level with 

 the back, apparently by emptying the air-sacs. They dive elegantly, 

 as it were gliding under the water, head first, wherein they contrast 

 with the more vigorous lunge given by the cormorant, which, in some 

 places, as on one of the Norfolk Broads a generation ago, shared the 

 same haunts. 



Progress under water is made with extreme agility, but with the 

 feet only. At times they will move along just below the surface, so 

 that their course can be followed by the ripple ; but more commonly 

 the object of their pursuit takes them much deeper. 



For the most part they seem to live on small fish, which demand 

 considerable speed and skill for their capture ; but aquatic insects, 

 and a certain amount of vegetable matter, are also eaten. 



