LITTLE GREBE. 
353 
that — " dabchicks .... fly erect, with their legs hanging 
down, and hardly make any despatch." 
It was not long after White's death that our Hampshire 
dabchicks made another appearance in English literature 
in the pages of Jane Austen's " Persuasion," where we 
read that Louisa Musgrave "starts and wriggles like a 
young dabchick in the water." 
And there is an amusing account of the bird's habits, 
as observed on the Itchen, in Mr. Hudson's " Hampshire 
Days."^ 
A floating nest of decaying vegetation is usually made 
by this bird, which may be seen hurriedly gathering the 
material round the eggs, to cover them up, before leaving 
them. The same nest is frequently used a second time 
if the first clutch has been taken ; and a nest found at 
Overton on April 15 th, 1904, contained five eggs, which 
were taken, but on May 3rd, six more eggs had been laid 
in the same nest, evidently by the same bird. Four eggs 
are usually laid. 
In the Island, West-mill Pond, a former resort, has 
been long since drained, but Mr. Poole, of Shanklin, has 
seen it near Newchurch at the end of the summer, and 
Mr. E. J. Barton, of Brading, has observed it in Brading 
Marshes. It is more frequently seen in winter, and even 
on the open sea. 
» Pp. 279, etc. 
