THE BIRD-LIFE OF LONDON 



floating or swimming to and fro far away from the banks 

 near the centre of the pool. As if conscious of its safety, 

 it may be seen picking insects from the water or from 

 the stems of the aquatic plants, and at intervals diving 

 beneath the surface. It might almost be said to fly to 

 and fro through the water, so deft are its movements. 

 If a pair of Grebes are in company one only dives as a 

 rule, the other remaining on the surface as if on the 

 look-out ; but sometimes both disappear together, and 

 indulge in aquatic gambols, chasing each other hither 

 and thither in sportive play. During the nesting season 

 the female may be noticed diving again and again and 

 bringing bunches of weed from the bottom to add to her 

 nest. The male sometimes joins her in her dive, but 

 seldom brings up any material. The food of this Grebe 

 consists of small fishes, aquatic insects, frogs, molluscs, 

 seeds, and tender buds and shoots of plants. Its note is a 

 shrill kik or kek, and during the breeding season both birds 

 utter a harsh, grunting cry. It breeds in April, May, and 

 June, and probably pairs for life, nesting regularly in the 

 same spots. It is to a great extent gregarious even during 

 summer, and in places where it is at all common numbers 

 of nests are built in one vicinity. The big nest, composed 

 of decaying aquatic vegetation, with a shallow cavity at 

 the top, lined wth similar but finer material, is as often as 

 not a floating raft moored to the flags and reeds. Other 

 nests have their foundation at the bottom of shallower 

 water. They are added to at intervals to resist the in- 

 roads of the lapping waves. The three to five eggs are 

 white and chalky, but the interior of the shell is green, 

 and very elliptical in form. When disturbed the sitting 

 bird is careful to cover her eggs with bits of wet weed 

 before leaving them. The young chicks are equally at 

 home in the water. 



The adult male Great-crested Grebe has the general 

 colour of the upper parts below the neck greyish brown, 

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