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NATURAL HISTORY. 



the water, their necks alone are left to attract attention, and these may often be detected even among 

 the weed-stalks. In winter they assemble in little companies, probably consisting of the old birds and 

 their families of the previous summer, and on the approach of danger they dive under water and 

 disperse in different directions ; there is, however, generally some place of refuge for which they make, 

 perhaps a spot where the bushes overhang the water or a bed of rushes near the bank. They may, 

 perchance, be intercepted on their way thither, but so sharp are the Dabchick's eyes, and so great the 





CRESTED GREHE. 



distance which he can swim under water, that out of twenty birds which may be seen swimming 

 together at first, probably not more than half-a-dozen come again under the observer's eye. The little 

 birds will, perhaps, appear on the surface as light as a cork floating, but only for an instant : the 

 slightest movement in the boat and they disappear like lightning, so that frequently the only intimation 

 one has of their presence is the splash and the ripple which indicate where the bird has gone down. 

 Where it will reappear is quite a matter of conjecture, for, once under the water, it may press 

 forward in any direction, and come up again fifty yards off in quite an unexpected quarter. We 

 remember once finding a Dabchick feeding in a narrow ditch ending in a cul-de-sac, and posting our- 

 selves at the end of the ditch, we waited patiently for the bird to appear, making sure that we should 



