The Dabchick. 33 



emerging from the egg. The little Grebe or dab- 

 chick is a most peculiar instance. It can when only 

 a few hours old, with the help of the parent, dive and 

 iloat and swim a little, but it cannot walk — cannot 

 indeed in the least walk for some seven days ; yet it 

 can move about pretty actively by help of legs and 

 wings, which, by-the-by, is itself a wonderful adapta- 

 tion by modification in view of remarkable exposure 

 to enemies. 



Professor Alfred Newton in Zoologist, 1889 (p. 577), 

 told this about a newly-hatched little Grebe (Podi- 

 cipes jiuviatilis), that is, dabchick, not more than 

 twelve hours old, which had been brought to him, 

 that " when laid on a table covered with a cloth, it 

 not only crawled about it, but crossed it completely 

 from side to side without indeed actually sustaining 

 its weight by its wings, but dragging itself forward 

 by their means quite as much as it impelled itself by 

 its legs. The resemblance of its actions to those of 

 a slowly-moving reptile was very remarkable." 



Here, too, we find the young ones from the very 

 nest armed with special powers for their protection in 

 wholly special ways, the wings of the adult dabchick 

 being so formed that the young must be able to cling 

 to them so, in fact have some special means of so 

 holding on in running, diving, and swimming that 

 they are without risk of falling off, since there is no 

 record I can find of their having been dropped when 

 in the course of being so carried ; and this would be 

 incomprehensible unless, as in one or two other cases, 

 some express provision had been made in view of the 

 necessity. Indeed, when you think of it in a creature 

 no more than a few hours old, it is almost as wonder- 



