A FLOATING NEST. 183 



One of these students of Nature, Professor Jackel, 

 describing the httle brood just after they have 

 emerged from the egg, writes : 



" It is a treat to watch the little family as now 

 one, now another of the young brood, tired with the 

 exertion of swunming or of struggling with the rip- 

 pling water, mount, as if upon a board or a little boat^ 

 their mother's back; to see how gently, when they 

 have recovered their strength, she returns them to the 

 water; to hear the anxious, plaintive notes of the 

 little wanderers when they have ventured too far 

 from the nest ; to see their food laid before them by 

 the old birds ; or to witness the tenderness with which 

 they are taught to dive. It is only after they are 

 eight days old that they are strong enough to enter 

 upon this last important part of their education, which 

 is commenced in the following manner : 



" The mother bird first swims toward her little 

 flock two or three times, holding in her beak the prof- 

 fered food ; but as they advance to receive it she 

 gradually retires before them, and at last dives with 

 it, thus tempting the timid little creatures to follow 

 her, and always at the end of the performance allow- 

 ing the best swimmer to obtain the tempting prize as 

 a reward for its exertions." 



As may well be imagined, no bird that flies is 

 more thoroughly aquatic than the grebe. It can 

 scarcely be driven to take flight, though when it does 

 fly, its progress through the air is straight and rapid, 

 and accompanied with a loud, whirring noise that can 

 be heard at quite a distance. If surprised and pur- 



