Photograph by P. ll'cbsUr, Xc 



PINNACLE ROCKS, FARNE ISLANDS. 



HOW TO KNOW THE BIRDS 



By the REV. MAURICE C. H. BIRD. M.A.. M.B.O.U. 



THE SWIMMERS— III 



WHEREVER there are large ponds, 

 lakes, or slowly flowing rivers, 

 there the Little Grebe, or Dab- 

 chick, may be looked for. It is a very 

 shy and silent bird, seldom rising from 

 the water, but equally at home beneath 

 the surface, rapidly disa]:)pearing from 

 sight on the slightest alarm, and that 

 without making a rip])le on the water. 

 Some twenty years ago, whilst shore- 

 shooting on Canvey Island, Essex, I 

 sur])rised a family party of five of these 

 expert little divers — they are only about 

 nine inches in length — on a small bare- 

 edged pond, saw them all submerge them- 



124 07 



selves, watched that pond for nearly half 

 an hour, but not one of them meanwhile 

 revealed more than a beak tip ! 



The far larger Great Crested GreiH% 

 and a much more imposing bird, especially 

 in the breeding plumage, with horn-like 

 ear tufts, and brown and chestnut ruffle, 

 seems to be increasing its range, or at any 

 rate increasing in lumibers during the 

 nesting season, since the passing of the 

 Bird Protection Acts. It is rather 

 more shy and wary than the Dabchick, 

 but is not so silent, and therefore when 

 once its harsh and loud call-note, " kur- 

 ruk, kurruk," is known, attention is 



