500 Birds. 



sequent to that of the main body. The pairing seemed to have taken place previously 

 to their advent; for at whatever time I regarded them, it was never difficult to make 

 out the several pairs. Two or three weeks at least elapsed after their arrival ere the 

 labours of nidification were commenced; for the weeds had not yet shown themselves, 

 and there was consequently nothing on which to raise, or to which to attach, the su- 

 perstructure. At this time it was by no means unusual to observe one or other of them 

 on the wing: but they never extended their flights beyond the limits of the mere, and 

 after circling two or three times around it they alighted not far from the spot from 

 which they had risen. Their flight was tolerably rapid; more so certainly than that 

 of the moorhen. They rose too from the water without apparent difficulty, and with- 

 out flapping along the surface for so long a distance as both the coot and moorhen of- 

 ten do. This flight was quite distinct from the " flacking along the water " of which 

 Mr. Parsons speaks, and which I also witnessed continually. Indeed it was not at all 

 uncommon to see the bird flying at the height of from six to ten feet from the water. 

 While making these aerial excursions, they frequently uttered their note or cry. It is 

 remarkable that they never took wing when disturbed. I was often rowing about 

 among them for two or three hours together, and however suddenly I broke from pro- 

 found stillness into action, or even noisy exertion, and that within a few yards of some 

 of them, they invariably dived ; nor was the case altered at the report of a gun, whe- 

 ther near or remote. At first coming they were shy of a near approach, but afterwards 

 they would permit the boat, if quietly propelled, to come within fifteen or twenty yards. 

 When very quietly and slowly approached, they displayed the first symptom of unea- 

 siness by gradually sinking themselves until only the head and rump were above the 

 surface; and then, on the slightest motion, the little bird dived so quickly that it was 

 most difficult to distinguish whether it went down head or tail first : after a few se- 

 conds it reappeared at the distance of some thirty yards, and, shaking its head, swam 

 merrily away. If not further alarmed, and the boat could be kept near them while in 

 this partially submerged state, they would continue in it for some minutes: but I ne- 

 ver detected them in the position so often resorted to for safety by the moorhen, in 

 which no part of the body, but the beak only, is left out of water. That they do so I 

 am well aware, and I believe the young birds had recourse to this mode of concealment 

 on the piece of water in question ; but I am inclined to think that when the adults 

 have scope for diving, they must be very hard pressed indeed before they imitate the 

 moorhens in seeking safety by thus submerging themselves. At all events I could not 

 detect them in that position, though I repeatedly sought to do so ; and moreover, I do 

 not remember one single instance * in which the dabchick I was watching did not re- 

 appear after diving. It emerged as quickly and suddenly as it had dived : and if, 

 having made a correct guess at the direction it had taken, the boat were urged in that 

 direction by a few vigorous strokes of the oars, so as to be near at hand when the bird 

 emerged, the marvellous rapidity with which it again disappeared, was amusing and 

 singularly striking. It seemed to be but the completion of a motion only begun when 

 it rose ; like that of a fish rising at a fly, and disappearing at the same instant. But 

 1 never failed to see it again a few seconds afterwards. When the appearance of the 

 weeds in two or three parts of the mere permitted them to begin their nests, little time 



* I speak of course of experiments made when the state of the weeds was such as 

 both to permit me to make them with certainty, and at the same time give the bird the 

 option of remaining submerged, if it would. 



