332 BIRD-LIFE IX WESTERN CANADA 



downy chicks are held beneath the wing, whence the heads 

 protrude through the tertiaries, they are taken under the 

 water. 



The feather-eating habit of Grebes is well known but I 

 believe it has never been explained. Possibly the adults 

 mav swallow the feathers secured through their frequent 



(Joof s Xest with Newly Hatched Youn.^ 



preening, but I am at loss to understand why chicks not 

 more than three days old should have their stomachs tight- 

 ly stuffed with a ball of their parents' feathers. In the stom- 

 ach of one I found a compact wad of 238 feathers, and in 

 another there were no less than 3.") 1. All were the smaller 

 body feathers of the adult Grebe. 



Wliile the Grebes and Coots were the luling spirits of 

 the water, the Yellow-headed Blackbird was as clearly the 



