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bird ; and its call-note, which is soft and by no means unpleasant, resembling the syllables bib 

 bibib uttered several times in succession, is scarcely ever heard, except near its breeding-places, 

 and there usually in the evening or at night. It feeds almost entirely on insects and their 

 larvae, occasionally, however, devouring small fishes, small frogs, or shell-fish. Thompson, who 

 examined the stomachs of several obtained by him in Ireland, says (B. of Ireland, iii. p. 192), 

 in the stomach of one were found " the remains of vegetable matter with a few small shells 

 {Lacuna quadrifasciata, Rissoa ulvce) and the very young of Littorina rudis. The stomach of 

 one of these birds, examined by me in September, was filled with the remains of a few three- 

 spined sticklebacks (Gasterostei), Crustacea, and aquatic insects, among which was a perfect 

 boat-fly (Notonecta). Another, killed on the 1st of September, contained portions of a Gaste- 

 rosteus), several specimens of the shell Valvata obtusa, and some aquatic insects. An individual, 

 captured in the eel-nets at Toome bridge on the 17th of October, contained a mass of the 

 remains of those insects, of which Notonecta were the chief. Another bird, procured this 

 month, had its stomach quite full of similar food, with which also and mollusca (Planorbis 

 carinatus and Lirnneus palustris) one, obtained at the Shannon, near Portumna, on the 2nd of 

 March 1846, was filled ; no feathers appeared in any of the stomachs of the Little Grebe 

 examined by me. Five perfect specimens of the shell Paludina tentaculata (P. impwa, Lam.) 

 were reported to me as found in the stomach of another bird." 



The nest of this Grebe is always placed in some quiet, unfrequented pond or lake, and 

 consists of a large mass of aquatic herbage collected together, sometimes approaching the nest 

 of the Great Crested Grebe in size. It is usually amongst the reeds, not close to the edge of the 

 pond, but some distance away, and is sometimes floating on the water, though moored to the 

 rushes or reeds amongst which it is placed. In the centre of this flat wet mass of herbage there 

 is a depression, in which the eggs, from three to five, seldom six, in number, are deposited late 

 in April or early in May ; but if the first lot of eggs are taken or destroyed, the bird lays again ; 

 and fresh eggs may occasionally be found as late as July. Both male and female incubate, in 

 turn, for about three weeks, and appear very much attached to their eggs ; for even if driven off 

 them they will remain in the vicinity, and will return to them directly the intruder has left. 

 When they leave the nest they carefully cover their eggs with some of the materials which form 

 the upper portion of the nest. This is not done hurriedly with the feet as the bird shuffles off 

 its nest, but deliberately and carefully, if the bird has time to do so, with the bill. Mr. F. Bond 

 has sent me the following extract from a letter written to him by Mr. C. Thusnall, who observed 

 a Little Grebe in the act of doing this : — " I have discovered the manner in which the Dabchick 

 covers up her eggs. I always imagined that it was done with her feet ; but I now find that the 

 bird does it with her beak. I dropped my boat down upon one the other day who was just 

 hatching ; in fact, one egg was hatched ; and I found the young one in the water two yards from 

 the nest. I strongly suspect she pulled it out of the nest in her hurry to get away, for the little 

 thing could only float. Well, I suppose she was so intent upon hatching that she did not 

 observe me until I was close to her, say three yards away. She, on seeing me, immediately 

 stood on the side of the nest, and with her beak pulled the weeds from the side of the nest and 

 placed them over the eggs (she took four or five mouthfuls, small), and immediately dived into 

 the water." 



