64 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



on the slope of the hill, right overlooking one of the nests, and 

 near enough to it to give a capital view with the glasses. 



This was about 9 p.m., and, for some forty minutes, there 

 was only the pleasure of expectation, which, however, with any- 

 thing like certainty at the end of it, is a sufficiently keen one. 

 Then a pair of the Grebes swam up the stream from the lake, in 

 a very purposeful way, without any stopping. They entered the 

 clump of rushes, and, making directly for the nest, the female 

 sprang up and lay all along it, just as the Great Crested Grebes 

 that I watched in Suffolk used to do, as a preliminary to coition. 

 The male now came up to the nest, and remained by it, for a 

 few minutes, then turned and continued to swim up the stream, 

 and the female, after remaining in the same attitude, for a few 

 moments, with a quick motion, raised herself and slid off into 

 the water. I assume, from her actions, that she had ascended 

 the nest with the special object alluded to, though the male, for 

 some reason — just as was so often the case with the last-men- 

 tioned species — failed to respond to the invitation. Some little 

 time afterwards, the birds came again, and exactly the same 

 thing took place. The attitude of the female, with the head and 

 neck laid all along on the flat platform of the nest, was unmis- 

 takable, as, for a moment or two, the intent of the male was 

 also, for he was, again, half-hearted, and did not come up on 

 the nest. Twice after this the pair swam up again, but the 

 nest itself was now the matter of interest. They dived twice or 

 thrice, close about it, and after each time the female jumped up 

 on to it, and moved and arranged its materials with her bill. 

 That she brought something to it, each time, from the bottom 

 seems likely in itself, but I could not observe that she did, and 

 as a considerable part of the nest must lie below the surface of 

 the water, she may have been paying attention to this. Neither 

 could I observe that the male brought up anything and added it 

 to the structure. This probably means that he did not, nor did 

 he ascend the nest, but there can be no doubt that he, too, was 

 interested in it. Another time the female came to the nest 

 alone, jumped up on it and remained there a few minutes before 

 leaving it again. 



These Grebes uttered various sounds when visiting the nest, 

 both as they swam up the stream, and when in its near neigh- 



