THE GREBES. 227 



It is perfectly easy to watch the habits of the birds. 

 The ponds which they frequent are generally fringed 

 with reeds, rushes, and other vegetation. Supposing 

 any one to walk casually in the direction of one 

 of these ponds, he might be absolutely unaware of 

 the presence of the Dabchick. On seeing him, or even 

 on hearing his footstep, the bird would sink itself in 

 the water, only keeping its beak above the surface, 

 and merging its outline so well among the weeds and 

 their shadows, that the sharpest eye can hardly 

 see it. 



So perfect is the concealment, that even if the 

 intruder be an entomologist, and engaged in the cap- 

 ture of aquatic insects, he may be working away with 

 his net for an hour or two, and yet be unsuspecting of 

 the Dabchick's presence. 



Some years ago, I was greatly struck with this 

 capability. As all Oxonians know, there is in the 

 centre of the great quadrangle of Christchurch, popu- 

 larly called "Tom Quad," in honour of the domed 

 campanile in which the bell, " Great Tom/' resides, a 

 circular pond. This pond generally goes by the name 

 of " Mercury," because in olden times there was a 

 figure of that deity in the centre. I never saw him, 

 though my recollections of Tom Quad are of some 

 forty years' date, because the undergraduates bathed 

 him so often, that he was at last removed alto- 

 gether. 



Now, this pond, which was originally the basin of 

 the fountain of which Mercury formed the centre, is 

 constructed of stone, and has no shelter whatever 

 around it. Some years ago several Dabchicks were 



