276 BIRDS AND MAN 



long, if the present rate of increase continues, 

 London will annually send out some thousands 

 of wood-pigeons. 



The dabchick and moorhen next claim our 

 attention. The first of these two has had a long 

 and tough fight to establish himself in our orna- 

 mental waters, except at St. James's Park, where 

 the bird met with proper protection firom the 

 first. His principal enemies are swans, moor- 

 hens, rats, and pleasure boats ; and against all 

 these he is stiU contending in some of our park 

 waters, with no sheltered nook or corner to 

 buUd his floating nest in. Still, he has bred well 

 in many places, and at his old quarters in St. 

 James's Park no fewer than sixteen young were 

 reared. On the miniature lake at Chssold Park 

 the dabchick succeeded in breeding for the first 

 time, three broods being raised by one pair of 

 birds. Sergeant Kimber, of this park, who 

 watched them closely, gave me an interesting 

 account of the grebe's habit of diving with its 

 young attached to it — a habit first observed or 

 described by Mr. Bryan Hook (Seebohm's 

 British Birds, vol. iii. p. 470). Kimber's account 

 differs somewhat fi-om that of Mr. Hook. He 



