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the general form of its body, the Grebe is unable to raise itself ujjon the former 

 unless the body be in gi-eat measure supported by water. 



The eggs are usually three in number, and are somewhat peculiar in form, 

 having an apparent thickening in the middle and tapering towards both ends. 

 When first laid they are of a chalky and slightly greenish hue, but soon 

 become completely discolored. Whether this discoloration is solely due to 

 contact with the materials of the nest, or whether the birds themselves, under 

 the influence of some instinctive habit, contribute towards it, I am not pre- 

 pared to say. 



It has been suggested by observers that the discoloration of the eggs of 

 some of the water birds is due, in part at least, to voluntary action of the 

 parent birds. In this connection the Rev. J. C Atkinson, a very close 

 observer, tells us in reference to the eggs of Podiceps minor, that " when first 

 extruded they are perfectly white, but seldom remain long so, gradually 

 becoming of a stale blood-stain hue, from which there are gradations to a more 

 or less dirt-bedabbled white, all eventually becoming of one dirty muddy red- 

 brown ; " and he enquires, " to what caiise is this coloring due 1 is it intentional 

 on the part of the bird, or is it accidental % " He does not believe that the 

 colour "is, in any case, due to mud from the feet of the bird, nor that it is 

 altogether derived from the weeds v/ith which the eggs are usually covered 

 during the absence of the birds from the nest ;" for he mentions that he met 

 with a nest of Podiceps mi^ior, with a single egg in it, evidently very recently 

 laid, uncovered as it lay in the nest, but which was stained of a dull mottled 

 dirt colour all over. He worked at it with water and his fingers, and after 

 much labour brought it back to a dirty mottled white, but he says, " that had 

 he expended one-tenth part of the same labour upon a soiled hen's egg, he 

 would have succeeded in restoring its original whiteness." But this point is one 

 which I merely suggest here for the consideration of future observers, having 

 formed no absolute opinion of my own upon it. I am, however, inclined to 

 think against any intentional action on the part of the bird in producing the 

 discoloration of the egg, for I believe that were such a discoloration necessary 

 for the protection of a species having so wide a range, it would be exhibited 

 by the egg itself immediately upon its extrusion, as in the case of gulls and 

 other birds which form slight open nests in exposed situations, in which cases 

 the eggs (and even the young birds proceeding from them), ai^e so much 

 assimilated in general colour to the gTOund on which they are deposited, as not 

 to be detected without close seai-ch. 



Both the male and female Grebe assist in the labovir of incubation, although 

 I believe that the chief part of this task devolves upon the female, and that 

 she is only relieved by her partner for the purpose of enabling her to feed. 

 Before the actual work of incubation commences, the eggs are usually covered 

 with pond weed during the absence of the birds from the nest, but afterwards 



