Page:The Common Birds of Bombay.djvu/204

188 head and neck. At such time it looks like a sea-snake coming up to breathe All these birds breed on trees and lay greenish-white eggs during the rainy season. The snake-bird generally chooses a small tree growing out of water and is not gregarious, but the little Cormorants form great societies and resort to the biggest trees they can find. As I have said already, they do not object to the company of Herons.

One little bird remains to be described which is more thoroughly aquatic than any that I have yet mentioned. The Dabchick, or Little Grebe (Podiceps philippensis), can just stand up and toddle a few steps on land, and though it evidently can fly much better than any one would infer from its puny wings, and makes its way over long distances from one tank to another, it never thinks of taking to flight when shot at or disturbed. It dives, leaving scarcely a ripple, and does not appear again for a very long time. Under water it swims with great facility, for the paddles which take the place of legs in its anatomy are so placed that they do not work only under its body, like the legs of a Duck, but sideways, or even upwards. It lives chiefly, I think, on little fishes and shrimps, which it pursues and catches under water. The Dabchick is on almost every tank in India, and I have even seen it in a well. I do not know how to describe it better than to say that you might take it for a small chicken without a tail. Its colour is dark, glossy brown on the upper parts, with some rich chestnut on the sides of the neck. Young birds are lighter. The nest of the Dabchick is a massive island of weeds collected by itself. In a little hollow on the top of this it lays four or five white eggs. They do