188 THE DUCKS, CORMORANTS AND GREBES. 



head and neck. At such time it looks like a sea-snake 

 coming up to breathe All these birds breed on trees 

 and lay greenish-white eggs during the rainy season. 

 The snake-bird generally chooses a small tree growing 

 out of water and is not gregarious, but the little 

 Cormorants form great societies and resort to the 

 biggest trees they can find. As I have said already, 

 they do not object to the company of Herons. 



One little bird remains to be described which is 

 more thoroughly aquatic than any that I have yet 

 mentioned. The Dabchick, or Little Grebe (Podiceps 

 philippensis), can just stand up and toddle a few steps 

 on land, and though it evidently can fly much better 

 than any one would infer from its puny wings, and 

 makes its way over long distances from one tank to 

 another, it never thinks of taking to flight when shot 

 at or disturbed. It dives, leaving scarcely a ripple, 

 and does not appear again for a very long time. 

 Under water it swims with great facility, for the 

 paddles which take the place of legs in its anatomy 

 are so placed that they do not work only under its 

 body, like the legs of a Duck, but sideways, or even 

 upwards. It lives chiefly, I think, on little fishes and 

 shrimps, which it pursues and catches under water. 

 The Dabchick is on almost every tank in India, and 

 I have even seen it in a well. I do not know how to 

 describe it better than to say that you might take it 

 for a small chicken without a tail. Its colour is dark, 

 glossy brown on the upper parts, with some rich 

 chestnut on the sides of the neck. Young birds are 

 lighter. The nest of the Dabchick is a massive island 

 of weeds collected by itself. In a little hollow on the 

 top of this it lays four or five white eggs. They do 



