NESTING OF THE GREAT CRESTED GREBE 161 



NOTES ON THE NESTING OF THE GREAT 

 CRESTED GREBE (PODICIPES CRISTATUS} 

 IN THE VALLEY OF THE FORTH. 



By OSWIN A. J. LEE. 



IN the spring of 1895 I observed a pair of Great Crested 

 Grebes on the Lake of Monteith, but failed to locate their 

 nest. 



On the 28th of April 1896, however, I arrived at the 

 lake, determined to find the nest, if it was there again, and 

 was rewarded by seeing a fine male in full breeding 

 plumage diving about near a large reed-bed in the north- 

 east end of the lake. He was very tame, and allowed me 

 to row within thirty yards of him without paying the 

 slightest attention to me, so that I had ample leisure to 

 admire him through my glasses. I failed, however, to find 

 the nest that day. 



On the morning of the 29th I started early to find the 

 nest, as I was quite sure that the female was sitting on eggs 

 not far off. I commenced operations by beating up the 

 reed-bed. As I came close to a swan's nest among the 

 reeds, I saw a tell-tale ripple and line of bubbles running out 

 from a point in the reeds, just like some large pike making 

 off to the deep water, and to my delight the female Great 

 Crested Grebe appeared about seventy yards off. In less 

 than three minutes I found the nest. It was rather an 

 insignificant-looking pile of dead reed stems, half decayed 

 weeds, and pieces of young water lily leaves, the latter 

 evidently freshly plucked, floating in about two feet of 

 water among the tall reeds and anchored to them. It 

 contained two perfectly fresh eggs, which were carefully 

 covered up and felt quite warm. The day was bright but 

 rather windy, so I did not try to photograph the nest, but 

 devoted my attentions to watching the birds. 



After disposing of my boat at a little distance, I waded 

 in among the reeds and secreted myself behind a thick 

 clump about fifteen yards from the nest. I could see the 



