150 
THE CRESTED GREBE. 
related to the ducks and the divers, which is found in most parts of 
the world. She swims and dives famously; lives upon fish and aquatic 
plants; and builds her nest among the rushes, so that it floats, or 
seems to float, upon the water. The foremost member of the family 
is the crested grebe ; the feathers of which, as our lady-readers know, 
are much in request for muff's and other articles of feminine use or 
adornment. The prevailing colours are brown and white ; the ruff' 
and crest, with its elongated tufts, being of a rich deep brown, — the 
neck and back and wings and tail of a lighter and almost grayish 
brown ; and all the rest of the body a match for the purest snow that 
ever fell upon a mountain-peak. 
" Her glossy breast 
Sleek plumes of satin white invest, 
Wave-proof ; and hangs her shoulders down, 
Down back and wings, of dusky brown 
A mantling tippet. " 
So says Bishop Mant, with his usual accuracy ; and not Avith less 
accuracy does he describe the bird's swift motion in lake, pool, or 
river : — 
" Unused aloft to soar, but fleet 
With oarage of the handlike feet. 
Most apt the liquid mass to strike 
With powerful stroke, direct, obliqwe ; 
See ! where across the lake she rows 
Her crested form ; and, as she goes. 
Full of maternal fears and cares. 
Lodged on her back her nestlings bears. " 
Mr. C. A. Johns comments on the graceful movements of this bird 
in the water, declaring that she vies with the swan, while she claims 
pre-eminence as a diver. On dry land her form is by no means a 
graceful model, but she was never intended to figure as a feathered 
pedestrian. See her in her native element, however, and own that she 
is peerless. The legs, compressed until they are quite sharp-edged, cut 
the water with a minimum of resistance ; the webbed feet are placed 
so far backwards that they fulfil the double oflice of rudder and 
propellers. The shape of the body is conical ; and the sheeny plumage 
throws off" water as easily as does the fur of the otter. " The long neck 
