474 



THE DABCHICK. 



eggs. If disturbed, she scrambles iDto the water and dives away, cau- 

 tiously keeping herself out of gunshot, and waiting until the danger is 

 past. Should she be driven to fight, her long beak is a dangerous 

 weapon, and is darted at the foe with great force and rapidity. 



The head of the adult Northern Diver is black, glossed with green 

 and purple, and the cheeks and back of the neck are black without 

 the green gloss. The back is black, variegated with short white streaks, 

 lengthening toward the breast, and the neck and upper part of the 

 breast are white, spotted with black, and cinctured with two collars of 

 deep black. The breast and abdomen are white. The total length of 



1. Black-bellied Darter. 2. Female. 3. Great Northern Diver. 4. Black-headed Gull. 

 5. Little Auk. 



the bird is not quite three feet. The immature bird is grayish black 

 above, each feather being edged with a lighter hue, and the under parts 

 of the body are dull white. In some places this bird is called the 

 Loon. 



The sub-family of the Grebes is represented in England by severa. 

 well-known species. All these birds may readily be distinguished by 

 the peculiar form of the foot, in which each toe is furnished with a 

 flattened web, the whole foot looking something like a horse-chestnut 

 leaf with three lobes. 



The best known of the English Grebes is the common Dabchick, or 

 I^iTTLE Grebe, the smallest and the commonest of British species. It 

 IS a pretty little bird, quick and alert in its movements. When alarmed 

 It dives so instantaneously that the eye can hardly follow its move- 



