THE GREAT CRESTED GREBE. 
881 
water, and as far as possible from the shore. It is 
constructed of reeds, sedge, rushes, and other aquatic 
plants, measures somewhat over a foot in breadth by 
about six inches in height, and is always floating, though 
anchored, as it were, by a few rushes or some sedge, to 
one place. The Great Crested Grebe seems to prefer 
those plants which it procures by diving: these are 
carelessly piled together in a heap, wet as they are, so 
that the whole looks like a lump of decaying vegetable 
matter, washed and swept together by the chance action 
of wind and water; so much so, that the practised eye 
will not be able to tell if it be a bird’s-nest or not; it is 
always wet, and the eggs—which are of a dirty, greenish 
white, or sometimes yellowish green-white—lay more or 
less in the water, and in a short time become stained the 
same colour as the nest itself. 
Each time that the female lays an egg she covers it 
with weeds, which are generally brought up from the 
bottom of the lake, together with the mud that adheres 
to them. During the period of incubation she is relieved 
by her partner, several times during the day, so that 
she may rest herself and feed. One of the pair is 
always sitting, probably to secure to the eggs that warmth 
so especially needful in their case, so as not to permit even 
of a momentary chill taking place. When a Grebe is 
disturbed from the nest it always covers it up, no matter 
how urgent the danger. The bird may be driven from 
the nest several times during the day, without causing 
her to forsake it. The period of incubation lasts three 
weeks. Earely more than three young are hatched, one 
egg being generally addled, owing to the unfavourable 
circumstances in which it is placed. The youngsters 
leave the nest immediately they are hatched, and are the 
