AND NEIGHBOURHOOD. 279 



the "Loon," as this bird is generally called in that 

 district, was by no means uncommon, and as at that 

 season these Grebes are much addicted to aerial 

 circuits on their own account, and by no means very 

 shy, I had good opportunities for observation. In 

 the bright cold forenoons of March, three or four 

 of these very conspicuous birds were frequently to be 

 seen floating on the lee side, and within a few yards 

 of the vast reed-beds with which most of these sheets 

 of water are fringed and interspersed : on the 

 approach of our boats the Grebes disappeared into 

 the reeds, but rarely dived in our sight ; several 

 times, however, when we had marked a particular 

 spot at which a bird had been seen to enter the 

 reeds, and rowed or punted straight to it, the Grebe 

 would rise from the open water at some distance 

 astern of us and fly right away. After incubation 

 has commenced, however, the Grebes very seldom 

 take wing, and appear to trust to their diving powers 

 and to the aquatic vegetation for concealment. The 

 few nests that I have seen on the Norfolk Broads 

 were simply masses of more or less sodden and rotten 

 vegetable matter placed near the outside edge of the 

 reeds, and generally conspicuous enough from a boat 

 on the open water ; but in Spain, where I had more 

 frequent opportunities from close observation of these 

 birds during the breeding-season, I found the nests 

 built up on the open water, if that term may be used 

 of pools whose surface was densely covered with a 

 low-growing water-plant that produces masses of 

 small white flowers in May. I constantly observed 

 that the Grebe on leaving her nest eflectually covered 

 her eggs with a pull or two at the surrounding 

 weeds, in fact it appeared to me that a supply of 



