Young ones are speckled gray and white, without any glossy black, and the bill is not black.

A Citizen of North America, who nests in the far North and migrates into the United States for the winter.

A famous Sea Sweeper, who can catch fish by chasing them under water.  He can dive like a flash and fly more than a hundred yards under water before coming up to breathe, but is very awkward and top-heavy on land because his legs are so far back that he has to stand up on end.  His nest is on the ground and his flesh is not fit to eat, being too rank and fishy.  You can hear his mournful cry a mile off.

The Pied-billed Grebe, Dabchick, or Water Witch

Length thirteen inches.

Upper parts brownish-black.  Breast and belly white, very smooth like satin.  A black mark on the throat, and a black band on the bill, which is shaped like a Hen’s.  Feathers on top of the head bristly.

Feet very strange:  they stick out far behind, because Grebes have no tail to be seen, and the toes are different from those of any other bird you have in your tables, being scalloped with flaps of skin instead of webbed like those of most Swimming Birds.

A Citizen of North America, whose nest is a wet bed of broken-down reeds, sometimes floating on the water of the marsh.  He can dive and swim under water as well as a Loon.  If you could catch one alive, he would make his flapper-like feet go so fast you could not see anything of them but a hazy film, as the Hummingbird does his wings when he poises in front of a flower.

[Illustration:  Pied-Billed Grebe.]

CHAPTER XXXII

CHORUS BY THE BIRDS

Swallows were perching on the same telegraph wires where they had met in May.  Now it was September.  There were Swallows of all kinds, both old and young, with whom a great many other birds stopped for a little chat.

“In a few weeks we must be off—­how have you enjoyed the summer?” asked the Bank Swallow of his sharp-tailed brother from the barn.

“Excellently well!  Times have changed for the better; not a single cat or rat has been seen in my hayloft all the season, and the window has been always open.”

“So you have changed your mind about House People?” said the Bank Swallow slyly.

“Yes—­that is, about some House People.”

“I wish so many of the Bird Brotherhood did not leave in the winter; it makes me quite sad,” murmured the Bluebird.

“Yes.  Stay-at-homes, like yourself and Robins and Finches, must feel very lonely without us,” said Barney kindly; “but I think likely these House People will scatter food about, so that at least you will not be hungry—­that is, unless they migrate too, as the Catbird says they sometimes do.”  “Dear, dear! Think of it, think of it!” warbled the Bluebird.