226 THE BIRDS OF SHERWOOD FOREST. 



mounted lovers. Towards the end of March their matri- 

 monial engagements appeared to be concluded, and the 

 flock was mostly broken up into pairs ; but they became 

 still more wary than before, and on the approach of any 

 one near the opposite bank of the lake, which is there 

 about a quarter of a mile wide, they would directly take 

 wing to a greater distance, while in January they would 

 merely swim slowly away. 



I have never seen any of these on the land but once, 

 and then it was only a single pair ; their motions were, 

 like those of any other waterfowl, rather ungainly, and 

 greatly wanting in the activity they display on the 

 water. 



A single specimen of the Great Crested Grebe (Podi- 

 ceps cristatus) was taken in April, 1856, under rather 

 singular circumstances. It was a male bird, one of a 

 pair which was seen by a labouring man on a small 

 pond on the green, close to the village of Wellow. He 

 was going to his work at dawn, and whilst crossing the 

 green saw two strange birds on the pond busily diving ; 

 one of them dived out of sight on his approach, while 

 the other with difficulty rose to the wing, but only flew 

 a few yards before it fell to the ground, when the man 

 ran up and secured it. As he had some distance to go 

 to his work he did not remain to look after the other, 

 which evidently was the female, and it was not seen 

 again. It is somewhat remarkable that a small duck- 

 pond in so public a place, and without the slightest 

 shelter of reeds or rushes on its banks, or communication 

 with any stream, should have been selected for a visit. 

 I have not met with this species again. 



The smallest of the family, the Little Grebe or dab- 

 chick (P. minor), is comparatively common in all our 



