432 THE GREBES 



habits than of those of the great crested-grebe. Compared with this last 

 it suffers considerably, being far inferior both in size and coloration, 

 though it is a conspicuously more active bird. In its haunts it is 

 perhaps less fastidious, for it will contrive to find contentment alike 

 on lakes, small ponds, and streams, and brackish water estuaries : and 

 this during the breeding season. In winter, like its larger relative, it 

 leaves its inland retreats in small parties and betakes itself to the 

 sea or to small ponds near the coast. That it is more active on the 

 wing than the great-crested species is demonstrated by the fact that it 

 travels round the coast at night, and this has been established by the 

 numbers taken at the lighthouses round the coast of Ireland during 

 the winter months. On land, when taken unawares during short 

 inland forays, it escapes by running, and travels with surprising speed 

 to the water. As a diver, as might be supposed, it is an adept. As to 

 the method of its progress under water accounts differ, for while most 

 authorities seem to agree that it progresses by frog-like movements of 

 the feet alone, others insist that the wings also play no unimportant 

 part. 1 According to Mr. Edmund Selous, 2 when about to dive it leaps 

 upwards, and describing an arc descends cormorant-fashion into the 

 depths, though at other times it will vanish silently, leaving scarcely a 

 ripple. At times, according to this author, when disporting itself on 

 the water it will flick up water with its tail to a height of twenty 

 feet ! That this is an amazing performance every one w r ill admit who 

 has tried to find the dabchick's tail. I sought for this with consider- 

 able patience some time ago, 3 and at last discovered a few degenerate 

 feathers which may be graced by the name of rectrices. 



In its choice of food it does not seem to differ much from the 

 great-crested species. Aquatic insects, small fish, and tadpoles form 

 its staple diet during most of the year, and records of dabchicks choked 

 to death in attempting to swallow the "Miller's Thumb" (Coitus gobio) 

 are not rare. When perforce obliged to hunt for a living in the sea, 



1 TJssher and Warren, Birds of Ireland, p. 382. * Selous, Bird Watching, p. 155. 



3 Ibis, 1909, p. 409. 



