The male and female are deservedly attached to each other. Should one of them accidentally stray to a distance, the other never ceases to call the wanderer back with anxious care; they generally swim about in close companionship, and often make their voice heard as they playfully caress each other. At the commencement of the breeding season each male zealously resists the intrusion of another pair within the area he has selected, so that where several pairs have taken possession of a piece of water, desperate battles are frequently fought, at the end of which the vanquished combatant has generally to have recourse to his wings in order to escape from the fury of the victor. It is only when the reeds and sedges have attained a certain height that a pair sets seriously to work upon the construction of their nest, which is always placed in the vicinity of a group of tall reeds or rushes, and frequently at a considerable distance from the shore. The nest, when constructed, is about a foot in diameter and six inches high, its cavity is extremely shallow, and it becomes gradually pressed flatter and flatter by the weight of the laying birds; even when completed, the fabric has very little the appearance of a nest, but rather resembles a heap of rotten weeds casually blown together by the winds, and left to float on the top of the water. It is wonderful that such a wet lump should bear the weight of the bird that sits upon it, and still more astonishing that it is not upset, as its occupant steps on and off a structure that possesses so little buoyancy. The normal number of eggs usually laid in this strange nest may be stated at four, sometimes there are five, sometimes only three. Out of seven nests examined by Holtz, four of them contained four eggs, one five, one three, and one two. The colour of the eggs is at first pure white, which soon, however, changes into a dirty yellow. The male and female sit upon the eggs alternately, with an unwearying assiduity, that in their case is indispensable, seeing that the eggs are actually half immersed in water; and on examining a nest from which the sitting bird has been recently driven, it will be found that not only the eggs, but the entire nest is warm throughout. Both manifest extreme attachment to their young brood; should a stranger approach, they hastily cover it up with weeds, and only retire to a little distance, returning to their charge so soon as danger has passed. It is asserted that if before incubation has commenced the eggs are abstracted one at a time, the female will lay twenty eggs or more in succession. As soon as the young are hatched, they are introduced by their parents to their proper element, and carefully defended, more especially by the male bird, who seems to take upon himself the duty of a sentinel. The nestlings are fed with insects and such small diet, at first put into their beaks, but afterwards only placed before them on the surface of the water. They soon, however, learn to dive in search of small fishes, and do not long require the supervision of their elders. The young, more especially at an early period, are elegant little creatures. "It is a treat," says Jäckel, "to watch the little family as now one, now another of the young brood, tired with the exertion of swimming or of struggling against the rippling water, mount as to a resting-place on their mother's back; to see how gently, when they have recovered their strength, she returns them to the water; to hear the anxious plaintive notes of the little wanderers when they have ventured too far from the nest; to see their food laid before them by the old birds; or to witness the[Pg 244] tenderness with which they are taught to dive. It is only when they are eight days old that they are strong enough to enter upon this last important part of their education, which is commenced in the following manner:—The mother bird at first swims towards her little flock two or three times, holding in her beak the proffered food; but as they advance to receive it she gradually retires before them, and at last dives with it again and again, thus tempting the timid little creatures to follow her, and always at the end of the performance allowing the best swimmer to obtain the tempting prize as a reward for its exertions." The flesh of these birds is quite uneatable, but great quantities of them are destroyed annually on account of their skins.
THE CRESTED GREBE (Podiceps cristatus). ONE-FOURTH NATURAL SIZE.
THE LITTLE GREBE.
The LITTLE GREBE (Podiceps minor) is much more plentiful than the species last described. It is a beautiful bird, measuring nine or ten inches in length and seventeen or eighteen in breadth, the[Pg 245] length of its wing being four inches. When in its nuptial dress, the plumage of the upper part of the body is brilliant black shimmering with brown, the under parts being greyish white, clouded with a darker shade; the throat and a place in the front of the eye are black; the head, sides of the neck, and throat, chestnut-brown; the eye is reddish brown; the bridles yellowish green; the beak yellow at its base and black towards its apex; the external aspect of the foot is blackish, internally it is of a clear horn-colour. In its autumnal plumage the upper parts of the body are more of a brownish grey, the under surface satiny white; the head and neck bright grey.
The range of this bird is pretty nearly the same as that of the species last described; it is not, however, so numerously met with during the winter season. It makes its appearance in Germany about the end of March, and remains in that country so long as the waters are free from ice; but during the winter it takes up its abode in the south of Europe. In Great Britain it is met with as far north as the Hebrides, and in the southern counties of England may be seen throughout the year.
It usually selects for its residence some large pond well provided with reeds and rushes, and it is also occasionally to be found in morasses and other swampy localities. It seems to avoid clear water; its food, which consists principally of insects and their larvæ, being more abundantly met with in ditches and muddy places. In its habits and mode of life it closely resembles other members of its family; it seems, however, to be more active than the larger species, and uses its feet with more facility in running.
In swimming and diving it may be said to excel even its congeners, but its powers of flying are very limited, owing to the shortness of its wings. Its flight, indeed, is said by Naumann to resemble that of a grasshopper. In summer time it is very shy, and can only be approached with difficulty, but in the winter its shyness diminishes, so that it will even come near villages, and at this season it frequently falls a victim to its own carelessness. When alarmed it immediately dives, and if further threatened with danger, secretes itself in the water under the shelter of the herbage, leaving nothing but its beak visible above the surface, and thus it will remain until all cause for apprehension is removed. Its voice is a short piping note that sounds like "bib" or "bibi," and this during the pairing season is repeated so rapidly that it sounds something like a "shake" upon some musical instrument.
The nest of the Little Grebe is always placed among water-plants, but is never hidden from view; more commonly, indeed, it is rather a conspicuous object; it is, however, invariably removed from the sides of the pond. In its appearance, it is just as rudely constructed, as wet and uncomfortable-looking as that of the species last described. In this floating cradle the female, towards the end of April or the beginning of May, lays from three to six elongated eggs, the colour of which seems to depend upon that of the plants of which the nest is composed. Upon these eggs, both the male and the female sit alternately for twenty or twenty-one days. As soon as the young are hatched they betake themselves to the water, where they are taught and tended by their parents in the same manner as those of the Crested Grebes described above.