i68 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS chap. 



spring, the lesser grebe ^ (in England commonly called the dab- 

 chick). It is difficult to understand how this bird makes out 

 its journey from the region, wherever it may be, where they 

 pass the winter. No bird is less adapted for a long flight, yet 

 they suddenly appear in some rushy loch. Generally a pair 

 take possession of some small pool, where they build their 

 singular nest and rear their young, till the returning autumn 

 warns them that it is time to return to some country less liable 

 than this to have its pools and lochs frozen. In a small rushy 

 pond in Inverness-shire I had frequent opportunities of observing 

 their domestic economy, and the manner in which they build 

 their nest and rear their young. Though there was no stream 

 connecting this pool with any other larger piece of water, a pair, 

 and only a pair, of these little grebes came to it every spring. 

 After two or three days spent in recruiting their strength and 

 making love to each other, the little birds set about making 

 their nest in a tuft of rushes, at a shallow part of the water, a 

 few yards from the shore. They first collected a considerable 

 quantity of dead rushes, which they found in plenty floating 

 about the edges of the water. Both male and female were 

 busily employed in building, swimming to and fro with the 

 greatest activity. After laying a good foundation of this 

 material, they commenced diving for the weeds which grew at 

 the bottom of the water, bringing up small bunches of it, and 

 clambering up the sides of their nest (the bottom of which was 

 in the water), they made a layer of this, hollowed out in the 

 middle. They worked only in the morning and very late in 

 the evening. Their eggs were six in number, and when first 

 laid, quite white, and nearly oval. During the time of sitting, 

 whenever the old bird left her nest she covered her eggs most 

 carefully. The singular part of this proceeding was, that she 

 always dived for a quantity of green weed, which grew at the 

 bottom of the pond, and used this, wet as it was, to cover her 

 eggs. By the time that they had been laid for a few days 

 they became green and dirty-looking, having quite the appear- 

 ance of being addled — and no wonder, as the nest was con- 

 stantly wet from below, the water coming up through the rushes 



' I never saw the nest floating, but well fixed in a tuft of rushes. The old birds cover 

 the eggs with wet weeds, etc., when they leave them. Six eggs. — C. St. J. 



The dabchick (Podiceps minor). St, John's account of this bird's nest is an admirable 

 example of bis skill and powers of observation. 



