DABCHICK 
281 
equally pointed at each end ; they are a clean, 
chalky white when first laid, but very quickly 
become a dirty, drab brown, on being covered with 
a blanket of the rotting weeds of the nest. While 
there is only one egg in the nest it is often left un- 
covered during the Dabchick's absence, and is then 
pure white ; but after a day or two the eggs are 
usually more or less completely hidden when the 
bird is away, and she will pull the weed over them 
with a few surprisingly rapid strokes of her bill 
before making good her own escape on being sur- 
prised. The heat generated by the decaying water- 
weed (which is easily perceptible by the hand) helps, 
no doubt, to hatch the eggs, as if in an incubator ; 
while the chalky coating which covers the greenish 
inner shell probably protects them from being addled 
by the wet. The newly-hatched Dabchick is a lively 
and delightful little creature, with a velvety coat 
curiously striped with dark and light brown, like 
a miniature tabby water-kitten. The most charac- 
teristic note of this bird, chiefly heard in spring, 
is a loud, long gurgling or bubbling cry. When 
diving for its food, which chiefly consists of small 
fish and water-insects, it generally seems to remain 
under water for about fifteen seconds, and it often 
covers a surprising distance before it emerges. 
