LITTLE GBEBE 



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best known and most plentiful member of its Family. It 

 has a wide distribution in the British Isles, and in winter 

 it frequents coasts and estuaries as well as inland lakes, 

 forsaking the latter when frost-bound for the open tidal 

 water. It will often select for its ' natural habitat ' orna- 

 mental waters and is a comparatively unsuspicious bird, 

 showing little objection to human and other traffic. I 

 have often seen it from the window of a passing train, 

 swimming and diving unconcernedly in a reedy pond or 

 dyke, quite close to the railway embankment in company 

 with Water-hens and Coots. 



FIG. 63. -LITTLE GREBE. 



Its movements in the water resemble those of other 

 Grebes ; it can dive with remarkable speed, all the while 

 using its wings and legs as organs of propulsion. Even the 

 downy young, when just hatched, can swim and dive 

 perfectly, but when danger threatens they seek the protec- 

 tion of their mother's back. 



Flight. The flight is rapid and appears to be more 



sustained than that of the larger Grebes ; when alarmed 



the bird occasionally takes wing, but even then it will 



only flutter along the surface for a short distance, alight on 



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