Among the Water-Fowl 



habit of theirs is, on warm days, to cover the eggs 

 with wet debris, and leave them for the sun, and 

 the heat generated by the decaying vegetation, to 

 act upon. And it is remarkable how generally they 

 hatch. But it is not true of any species that they 

 never incubate on warm days. In one instance I 

 saw a Horned Grebe on its nest in early afternoon. 

 Many a time I have come upon single nests whose 

 eggs were uncovered and very warm. There is 

 almost invariably, in such cases, a protecting screen 

 of rushes, and the bird evidently has just slipped off 

 before being seen. However, in one way or other, 

 the owner of the nest is almost sure to be out of 

 sight when the observer approaches. Sometimes 

 the three smaller kinds all nest intermingled in one 

 slough, and then the confusion is nearly hopeless. 

 The only way to identify them is to hide some 

 distance away and watch. After a time one or 

 both owners may appear, and, by patrolling near 

 the nest, show their interest and decide the 

 ownership. 



It the number of eggs is large, they are quite 

 apt to belong to the Dabchick, as they probably do 

 anyhow, if the locality is in the eastern United 

 States. Still, I have known the Horned Grebe to 

 lay as many as seven. Last summer I was in a 

 slough where the Dabchick abounded, and I found 

 the largest Grebe-set in my experience — of nine 

 eggs. Five or six seems to be the usual number for 

 that species to lay, four or live for the Horned, and 

 three or four for the others. 



The time was when I supposed that Grebes 

 were very silent creatures. But camping by a little 



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