182 CURIOUS HOMES AND THEIR TENANTS. 



surface of the water to quite anotlier before the day 

 is past ; for it floats, though how such a water-soaked 

 lump of vegetation can float is something of a mys- 

 tery : perhaps the gases evolved in the decay of its 

 constituent parts buoy it up. It is still more of a 

 mystery that it does not capsize as the large, heavy- 

 bodied grebe steps off or climbs out of the water 

 upon it. She must trim ship very expertly to prevent 

 such an accident. 



But its peculiar construction answers one purpose 

 very well. Even if any one recognized it as a nest — ■ 

 which is rather unlikely — he would imagine it was not 

 tenanted, that it was probably a last year's empty 

 nest ; for the four or five wet and dirty eggs, white 

 when first laid, but afterward stained an impure yel- 

 low, are sare to be covered ^vith part of the rubbish 

 of which the nest is composed. 



As for catching a grebe sitting on her nest, that is 

 well-nigh impossible. Tlie grelies, both great and 

 small — there are two kinds — are the most circumspect 

 of lairds, keeping as far as possible in the open water, 

 where objects can be seen at a distance, and listening 

 so intently and '^dtli such a keen sense of hearing 

 that the launching of a boat half a mile away is 

 enough to alarm them. 



Still, there have been naturalist detectives who 

 have succeeded in shadowing them and finding out 

 their secrets and studying their habits, wary as the 

 birds are. It is to the skill and patience of such men 

 that we owe all we know of the lives of the wilder 

 members of the animal kinii'dom. 



