Page:Bird Haunts and Nature Memories - Thomas Coward (Warne, 1922).pdf/107

Rh or has studied the beautiful drawings of such bird artists as Thorburn and Lodge, must have seen that the duck when near the water throws its head, neck, and shoulders back and its tail and feet forward, checking its pace with its wings, so that it actually impinges with the feet first. The grebe flies with the head and neck a little lower than the plane of the body, in that way resembling divers rather than ducks, but when about to alight, slightly elevates~both neck and feet, which trail well behind; it strikes the water with its breast, causing a considerable wave. When avoiding danger the bird seldom flies; if suspicious it sinks the body, so that almost the whole of the back is submerged—it often swims with the lower neck awash—and if threatened dives, travelling to safety under water. The statement that it seldom flies is, however, erroneous; during courtship, and at other times, the grebe flies swiftly and frequently; it also moves from mere to mere and to and from salt water.

Courtship is a complicated affair which has been described at considerable length, but the sequence of the various actions is by no means always the same. The male bird, very early in the season, and occasionally in autumn, pays attentions to his mate or would~be mate, swimming towards her with his long neck and spear-shaped bill stretched out along the water. He has many deep croaking remarks to make, and in spring a loud, repeated call—jik, jik, jik. When the pair meet they both raise themselves in the water, sitting up on the hinder part of the body where there is the merest apology for a tail. Stretching the long necks upward, and with the heads at right angles, they gently fence with their bills, and vary this by occasional strange head dips, usually simultaneous in the two birds. The necks seem to double under, the back of the heads reaching nearly to, if not actually touching, the wings; but the action is rapid and the necks