152 The Naturalist in Silurla. 



jar, or t greybeard," both of like capacity as the keg. 

 All three were found full of hazel-nuts, choke-full to their 

 necks, with just enough knawing on the nuts to tell of 

 their having been transported thither by mice. And 

 illus sylvaticus proved to be the culprit, from evidence 

 obtained afterwards ; so clearing the character of the 

 wrongly-suspected " stripper." 



THE LITTLE GBEBE. 



There are few birds more generally distributed over 

 the globe than the Little Grebe (Podiceps minor). The 

 multiplicity of its vernacular names, as " dipper," " di- 

 dipper," " dabchick," " ducker," " loon," and the like, 

 each having a local significance, points to a wide range 

 throughout the British Isles ; indeed, it is found all over 

 them, wherever there is lake, pond, or stream of suffi- 

 cient depth to give it security by diving. Even in the 

 pools alongside railways, formed by excavations, and 

 others where brick- clay has been dug out, if of any con- 

 siderable size, a pair of dabchicks will have their habitat 

 and breeding place, sometimes sharing it with the more 

 showy water-hen. 



All over Europe this bird exists, as in most parts of 

 Asia and Africa. In America, too, I have met with it on 

 the ponds and streams of the Mississippi Valley, there 

 leading the same solitary life as in England, swimming 

 about, and at intervals turning its quaint somersaults as 

 it goes under water, but never taking wing till absolutely 

 forced to it. 



In February, 1881, one of my friends was fortunate 



