THE LITTLE-GREBE OR DABCHICK 433 



shrimps and other small Crustacea form no inconsiderable portion of 

 its diet. According to the custom of its tribe, feathers are swallowed 

 for digestive purposes instead of stones. 



Of its habits during the pairing season there seem to be no records, 

 but in the fashion of its nest it agrees closely with its larger relative ; 

 for its nursery is nearly always a floating structure, formed for the 

 most part of weeds brought up from the bottom of the water. Nests, 

 however, according to Seebohm, are occasionally found in the 

 branches of a tree a foot or two above the water, but it did not 

 seem to have occurred to him that they may have been left there 

 by the fall of the water, the nest having been built above submerged 

 branches. 



During incubation, in which both sexes take part, the eggs are 

 covered by weeds seized in the beak, before they are left by the 

 brooding bird. Only when the eggs are about to hatch does this pre- 

 caution seem to be neglected, from which it would seem warmth rather 

 than concealment is the end to be secured, and this surmise seems to 

 receive support from St. John's l remarks on a pair which he kept 

 under observation, for he describes the female as leaving her eggs, 

 carefully covered up, for long periods during the day while she spends 

 her time "playing about on the water with her mate." 



The young can dive, according to Ussher, as soon as they leave 

 the egg, using both legs and feet as organs of propulsion. And 

 the late Professor Newton (Ibis, 1889, p. 577) relates an instance of a 

 bird which could not have been more than twelve hours old, but which 

 crawled across a table, dragging itself forward by means of its wings as 

 much as propelling itself by its legs. As with the great crested-grebe, 

 the young are occasionally carried on the back of the parents. But it 

 would seem, when danger threatens, they are borne not on the back 

 but pressed close to the parent's body beneath the wings. Thus 

 clasped, the parent will dive with them to a place of safety. At other 

 times, however, when the alarm signal is given the whole family 



1 Wild Sports of the Highlands, p. 167. 



