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THE GREAT CRESTED GREBE. 

 (Podicipes cristatus.) 



THE nest of the Great Crested Grebe is built of various 

 decaying plants, and floats on the water. It is not 

 found in the thick reed-beds; but on their borders, 

 where the reeds are already beginning to shoot. 

 There it so fixed to a single stalk that it remains 

 in one place, and cannot be washed away. It 

 usually contains four longish white eggs, which, how- 

 ever, become brown and dirty during the long sitting 

 and rotten surroundings. The young birds are grey 

 with dark stripes. In times of danger the mother 

 gathers them closely under her wings and then dives 

 until the peril is past. 



This Grebe is a remarkable diver ; it dives with such 

 lightning speed, that a shot aimed at it only strikes the 

 surface of the water. It is a terror in the fishpond. 

 When the fish feel secure, several of these birds join 

 together and make a raid on them. They dive, and 

 while under water drive the fish towards the shallow 

 shore, and having thus placed them in a difficulty, the 

 birds seize their prey from among the bewildered 

 victims. 



The Grebe endeavours to avoid danger to itself by 

 diving, as long as it can and it is able to remain under 

 water for a long time and swim a considerable distance. 

 If the rushes for which it is making, are still at some 

 distance, it raises its head out of water for a moment, 

 breathes once, and dives again. It is only in direst 



