148 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS. [CHAP. xvm. 



up small bunches of it, and clambering up the sides of their 

 nest (the bottom of which was in the water), they made a layer 

 of this, hollowed out in the middle. They worked only in the 

 morning and very late in the evening. Their eggs were six in 

 number, and when first laid, quite white, and nearly oval. 

 During the time of sitting, whenever the old bird left her nest 

 she covered her eggs most carefully. The singular part of this 

 proceeding was, that she always dived for a quantity of green 

 weed, which grew at the bottom of the pond, and used this, 

 wet as it was, to cover her eggs. By the time that they had 

 been laid for a few days they became green and dirty-looking, 

 having quite the appearance of being addled and no wonder, 

 as the nest was constantly wet from below, the water coming up 

 through the rushes and weeds of which it was composed ; and 

 she gave them a fresh wet covering every time that she left 

 them, arranging it around the eggs, so that the edges of the 

 nest gradually became higher and higher. The bird appeared 

 to be very frequently off during the daytime, remaining away 

 for hours together, playing about on the water with her mate. 

 After a fortnight of this kind of sitting, I one day saw her fol- 

 lowed by six little dabchicks, scarcely bigger than large beetles, 

 but as active and as much at home on the water as their parents. 

 A very windy day came on, and the young birds collected in a 

 group behind a floating rail, which being half grounded at an 

 angle of the pool, made a kind of breakwater for them. The 

 old birds swam out of this harbour when I came, but the little 

 ones crept close up to the railing, uttering a feeble squeak like a 

 young chicken. Huddled up in a group, they certainly were 

 the smallest and quaintest-looking little divers that I ever saw. 

 I have heard it argued that it was impossible that eggs could be 

 hatched in a situation constantly exposed to so much wet and 

 damp, but those of this kind of grebe are certainly an exception, 

 as they were continually wet below, and frequently covered with 

 wet green weed. I do not know why the bird should always 

 bring the covering from below the water, but she invariably did 

 so, and the pool being in a convenient place for my watching 

 them closely, I took some trouble to be sure that my observa- 

 tions were correct. It is a pretty, amusing little bird, and quite 

 harmless : I have always much pleasure in watching their lively 



