446 
COLYMBIDAL 
NAT AT ORES. 
COL YMBIDjE. 
LITTLE GREBE. 
DABCHICK. 
PODICEPS MINOR. 
PLATE CXXT. FIG. I. 
The nest of the Little Grebe, which is placed by the 
sides of lakes, ponds, and rivers, is at times constructed 
of a large quantity of reeds, flags, and rushes, and the 
drier species of water-plants ; at other times it is chiefly 
composed of mosses, and soft green water-weeds mixed 
with an earthy substance, which imparts a colouring to 
the eggs very soon after they are laid. Mr. J. Hancock 
has a nest of this species, in shape an ill-formed cone, 
having a slight irregular depression at the top just large 
enough to contain the eggs, with sharp pieces of reed, 
sticking up in the centre, apparently very inimical to the 
ease and comfort of the female. These nests when dry 
become so brittle, that they may be broken into small 
fragments. Mr. Salmon tells me, that he has seen several 
nests of this bird composed of small pieces of green rushes, 
each piece about three or four inches in length, and piled 
together to the height of about a foot above the surface 
of the water. None of the several nests examined by Mr. 
Salmon contained more than four eggs, although Mon¬ 
tague says that they lay five or six. These are carefully 
covered on the departure of the bird by a portion of the 
materials of the nest, to conceal them from observation ; 
