ORDER PALMIPEDES. 629 



more. These birds, which live on small iish, on Crustacea, 

 on insects with elytrae, on spawn, and aquatic plants, inhabit 

 rivers, lakes, and the shores of the sea. 



Those which live on the fresh waters construct their nest 

 with rushes, &c. interlaced, which they attach to the stems of 

 reeds, resting it on their broken tops, or suffering it to float. 

 They usually lay two or three eggs, but sometimes four or 

 five, which are white, or of a whitish-green, waved with 

 brown. Those species whose ordinary sojourn is the seas 

 which bathe the coasts of France, usually nestle on those of 

 England, in the hollows of rocks, from which the young, 

 which probably remain in the nest until their wings have 

 acquired sufficient force to serve them as a parachute, are 

 obliged to throw themselves into the water. 



The grebes which are found on shore, driven back by the 

 Avaves, although their constant habit is to swim against the 

 wind, are easily taken before they can succeed in setting 

 themselves afloat again ; but they give most violent blows 

 with their bill. These birds usually seek to escape from 

 danger by diving, and make little use of their wings to fly. As 

 they are constantly in the water, even during the most rigorous 

 seasons, they are covered with feathers, which from their elas- 

 ticity, are directed inwards, and which form so close, firm, and 

 lustrous a down, that it equally protects them from humidity 

 and cold. Bluffs are made of the covering of their breast, of 

 a silvery white, which never become wet, and unite the elas- 

 ticity of feathers to the brilliancy of silk, and the softness of 

 down. Pallas tells us, that in the southern parts of Siberia 

 there are such numbers of grebes, that the Barabynsk 

 Tartars carry on a very lucrative commerce in this sort of 

 peltry. 



We must pass the species over, and proceed to the Hjb- 



LIOENIS. 



This bird was formerly placed among the grebes. The 



