244 



CASSELLS BOOK OF BIRDS. 



tenderness with which they are taught to dive. It is only when they arc eight days old that they are 

 strong enough to enter upon this last important part of their education, which is commenced in the 

 following manner : — -The mother bird at first swims towards her little (lock two or three times, holding 

 in her beak the proffered food ; but as they advance to receive it she gradually retires before them, 

 and at last dives with it again and again, thus tempting the timid little creatures to follow her, and 





0| 



i 





THE CRESTED GREBE (Podiceps crislatllS). ONE-FOURTH NATURAL SIZE. 



always at the end of the performance allowing the best swimmer to obtain the tempting prize as a reward 

 for its exertions." The flesh of these birds is quite uneatable, but great quantities of them are 

 destroyed annually on account of their skins. 



THE LITTLE GREBE. 

 The Little Grebe {Podiceps minor) is much more plentiful than the species last described. It 

 is a beautiful bird, measuring nine or ten inches in length and seventeen or eighteen in breadth, the 



