SOME FEATHERED BUILDERS 15 



The little grebe or dabchick might, I think, 

 be called a raft builder. Very few have had 

 better opportunity of watching this diver than 

 I have had, and in very fortunate localities. 

 Yet I can only give a few particulars about 

 him, for he gets his living under the water, 

 and the most interesting of his actions are 

 performed unseen. 



At various times, in the course of years, 1 

 have seen flashes of his or her movements 

 under clear water, as the chances have offered ; 

 but they can only be called flashes. Some- 

 thing shoots under or on one side of you, 

 grey or white, as the bird turns and vanishes, 

 and that is all you will see of the dabchick. 

 Even when it has risen close to one, it comes 

 and goes again in that quivering fashion. 



The grebes appear to be very erratic in their 

 movements, coming and going suddenly. I 

 have seen nearly thirty on one piece of water 

 at one time, and have gone there again only to 

 see one. In the nesting season this quaint 

 little fellow is certainly of a confiding nature ; 

 I have known the raft-nest to be placed within 

 a yard of a well- frequented path round a pond. 



Others have flighted off when the evening 

 has closed in, to pick out nesting sites on or 



