The Bird Book 



floating mass of sodden water-weeds, carelessly 

 anchored among the reeds, for the eggs were 

 completely hidden from view. When first laid 

 they are white, tinted with pale green, but in a 

 very short time become soiled and stained to a 

 dirty yellow, or even a deep brown colour. Mr 

 Seebohm says that the bird only covers its eggs 

 after incubation has commenced, and that the 

 object is, therefore, to protect them from cold 

 rather than from their enemies. This may be so 

 in the majority of cases, but, with regard to one 

 nest I found with the eggs covered up, I am 

 convinced that the bird had not commenced to 

 sit, and, from the extreme cleanliness of one of 

 the three eggs, I feel sure it had been laid that 

 very morning. 



Their worst enemies, presumably, are Crows, 

 but in a large bed of tall reeds there is little 

 fear that the eggs will be discovered by these 

 winged marauders. Moorhens are much more 

 frequently victimised, and in districts where 

 Crows are plentiful I have noticed that both 

 they and Coots often bend the reeds so as 

 to form a screen above their nests in order, no 

 doubt, to guard against this particular danger. 



More generally distributed throughout the 

 British Isles, because it frequents smaller sheets 

 of water than the Great Crested Grebe, is the 

 Dabchick or Little Grebe, but nowhere can it be 

 considered to form a striking feature of the bird 

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