230 BIRD WATER TRESPASSERS. 



Dabchick is a bad walker an land, shuffling along with 

 a very awkward gait, although it can get over the 

 ground with some little speed. 



It is usually to be found in fresh waters, but 

 during the winter time it is driven to the sea and 

 the mouths of tidal rivers for subsistence. This habit 

 has caused it to be considered by many persons as a 

 migratory bird, and, indeed, it may be held as a par- 

 tially migratory one, only that its migrations do not 

 extend beyond the limits of the country. 



The general habits of all the species of Grebe are 

 very similar, and, as the Dabchick is the most familiar, 

 I have taken it as the type of the genus. I may 

 mention that in some parts of England, any Grebe is 

 called by the popular name of loon, a title which by 

 rights belongs to the Great Northern Diver. 



DIPPER (Hydrobates cinclus). 



The birds which have been previously mentioned 

 all belong to one great group of aquatic birds, which 

 can at once be recognized as such by their form and 

 plumage. The webbed feet, for example, would alone 

 be a definite proof that the bird is meant for the 

 water more than the land. But we will now glance at 

 two more water trespassers, one of which belongs to 

 the thrushes, and the other to the rails, neither of 

 them having the aquatic form, the peculiar plumage, 

 nor the webbed feet. 



The first of these is the Dipper, our only represen- 

 tative of the ant- thrashes which are so conspicuous in 



