THE DIVERS. 243 



Grebe will dive in the course of half a minute to a distance of two hundred feet. Its flight, too, when 

 it thinks proper to take wing, is tolerably swift ; it always proceeds in a straight line, and the whirring 

 noise made by the rapid motion of its wings is audible at some distance. In its behaviour it seems to 

 be the most circumspect and the shyest member of the family, and is not easily approached, more 

 especially as it generally keeps in open water, where it can see to a distance. If surprised when in 

 the vicinity of a bed of reeds, it immediately takes refuge among them, but only so long as to enable 

 it again to plunge into deep water ; if pursued it immediately dives, and when it comes up again to 

 breathe, allows only its beak to appear above the surface, and as soon as it has taken breath dives 

 again, until it has placed itself quite beyond the reach of danger. 



The male and female are deservedly attached to each other. Should one of them accidentally 

 stray to a distance, the other never ceases to call the wanderer back with anxious care ; they generally 

 swim about in close companionship, and often make their voice heard as they plaj'fully caress each 

 other. At the commencement of the breeding season each male zealously resists the intrusion of 

 another pair within the area he has selected, so that where several pairs have taken possess on of a 

 piece of water, desperate battles are frequently fought, at the end of which the vanquished combatant 

 has generally to have recourse to his wings in order to escape from the fury of the victor. It is only 

 when the reeds and sedges have attained a certain height that a pair sets seriously to work upon the 

 construction of their nest, which is always placed in the vicinity of a group of tall reeds or rushes, and 

 frequently at a considerable distance from the shore. The nest, when constructed, is about a foot in 

 diameter and six inches high, its cavity is extremely shallow, and it becomes gradually pressed flatter 

 and flatter by the weight of the laying birds ; even when completed, the fabric has very little the 

 appearance of a nest, but rather resembles a heap of rotten weeds casually blown together by the 

 winds, and left to float on the top of the water. It is wonderful that such a wet lump should 

 bear the weight of the bird that sits upon it, and still more astonishing that it is not upset, 

 as its occupant steps on and off a structure that possesses so little buoyancy. The normal 

 number of eggs usually laid in this strange nest may be stated at four, sometimes there are 

 five, sometimes only three. Out of seven nests examined by Holtz, four of them contained 

 four eggs, one five, one three, and one two. The colour of the eggs is at first pure white, which 

 soon, however, changes into a dirty yellow. The male and female sit upon the eggs alternately, with 

 an unwearying assiduity, that in their case is indispensable, seeing that the eggs are actually half 

 immersed in water ; and on examining a nest from which the sitting bird has been recently driven, it 

 will be found that not only the eggs, but the entire nest is warm throughout. Both manifest extreme 

 attachment to their young brood ; should a stranger approach, they hastily cover it up with weeds, 

 and only retire to a little distance, returning to their charge so soon as danger has passed. It is 

 asserted that if before incubation has commenced the eggs are abstracted one at a time, the female 

 will lay twenty eggs or more in succession. As soon as the young are hatched, they are introduced 

 by their parents to their proper element, and carefully defended, more especially by the male bird, 

 who seems to take upon himself the duty of a sentinel. The nestlings are fed with insects and such 

 small diet, at first put into their beaks, but afterwards only placed before them on the surface of the 

 water. They soon, however, learn to dive in search of small fishes, and do not long require the 

 supervision of their elders. The young, more especially at an early period, are elegant little creatures. 

 " It is a treat," says Jackel, " to watch the little family as now one, now another of the young brood, 

 tired with the exertion of swimming or of struggling against the rippling water, mount as to a resting- 

 place on their mother's back ; to see how gently, when they have recovered their strength, she returns 

 them to the water ; to hear the anxious plaintive notes of the little wanderers when they have 

 ventured too far from the nest ; to see their food laid before them by the old birds ; or to witness the 





