THE LITTLE-GREBE OR DABCHICK 431 



Seebohin, will sometimes build on a tussock of grass. But he does 

 not seem to have taken any pains to discover whether this departure 

 was probably a mere individual idiosyncrasy, or was due to some 

 change, albeit but temporary, in the environment. 



It is to be hoped that some day the very obvious gaps in our 

 knowledge of the life-history of these birds will be filled in. But 

 even the material at hand has not been properly utilised, for these 

 striking differences in ornamentation, and in the length of the beak, 

 present problems of the first magnitude. So far, however, one might 

 almost suppose that those who have had the opportunity of studying 

 these birds in their native fastnesses have been content to note that 

 they eat fish, and grow feathers, and brood white-shelled eggs on a 

 floating nest, as if this were the inevitable end of our knowledge. 

 Yet these are the data out of which what we really want to know is 

 to be woven. 



Why, having regard to the uniformity of habits and habitat 

 which these birds present, do we meet with such diversity in appear- 

 ance ? Why is the beak of the blacknecked-grebe so conspicuously tip- 

 tilted ? Why is that of the great crested-grebe so much longer than 

 in its allies ? What is the purpose of the white layer which covers the 

 green egg-shell ? Only when we have made some attempt to answer 

 these questions shall we begin to glean an insight into the real 

 natural history of the grebes. And it is the prime aim of this book to 

 stimulate an interest in these problems, and this aspect of ornithology 

 too long neglected. 



THE LITTLE-GREBE OR DABCHICK 



[W. P. PYCRAFT] 



The little-grebe, or dabchick, is at once the smallest and the most 

 numerous of our native Grebes, yet, on the whole, save in specially 

 favoured localities, it is less frequently seen, hence we know less of its 



