GREBES 3 



It has been claimed that Grebes Uve exclusively on fish and do mischief in fish 

 hatcheries. The results obtained by stomach examination show that they do not depend 

 wholly or even ehiefiv upon fish. On the contrary, they eat a large number of crawfishes, 

 whicli often severely damage crops, and consume numlicrs of aquatic insects which devour 

 small fishes and the food of such fishes. 



WESTERN GREBE 



A. O I 



.ffichmophorus occ 



Other Names. — Western Dabchick ; Swan Grebe. 



General Description. — Length. J4 to jg inches. 

 Color above, brownish-black; below, satiny-white. Head 

 with short crest on top but none on sides; bill, slender; 

 neck nearly the length of the body. 



Color. — Adults: Forehead, dark ash; crest and 

 narrow line down back of neck, sooty-blackish shading 

 on upper parts into brownish-black; the feathers of back 

 with grayish margins ; primaries, dusky -brown, white 

 at base ; secondaries, white, some dark on outer webs ; 

 sides of head, chin, throat, and entire under parts, pure 

 satiny-white ; bill, yellowish-olive ; feet, dull olive, yel- 

 lowish on webs; outer edge and soles of feet, blackish; 

 iris, orange, pink, or carmine with a white ring ; a 

 narrow bare space from bill to eye, lavender. 



Xunitier i 



identalis { La-i^rcncr) 



Nest and Eggs. — Xest: A matted structure of tule 

 stcni>, gras^. and water-plants, witli a slight depres- 

 sion in the center ; afloat on the water ; usually lightly 

 fastened to the living reeds so that it will move up and 

 down but not be carried away from its position. E(,r.s : 

 Sometimes 3 but usually 4 or 5. pale bluish-green but 

 stained a light brown from contact with the decom- 

 posed vegetable matter of the nest. 



Distribution. — Western North .America ; breeds from 

 British Columbia, soutliern Saskatchewan, southern 

 AllK-rta, and southern Manitoba south to northern Cali- 

 fornia. Utah, and northern North Dakota ; winters from 

 southern British Columbia and California southward 

 to central Mexico ; casual east to Nebraska, Kansas, 

 Wisconsin. Minnesota, and Quebec. 



For years, the lake region of sotithcni Ore- 

 gon was tile most protitable held in the W est for 

 the i)lume hunter. The W estern Grebe was the 

 greatest sufferer. This diver of glistening-white 

 breast and silvery-gray back was sought not 

 without reason. The Grebe hunters call the skin 

 of this bird fur rather than feathers, because it 

 is so tough it can be scraped and handled like a 

 hide, and because the thick warm plumage seems 

 more like the fur of a mammal than the skin of 

 a bird. These skins, when prepared and placed 

 on th.c market iit the form of coats and capes, 

 brought the prices of the most expensive furs. 



Formerly there were immense colonies of 

 Western Grebes living along the north shore of 

 Tule, or Rhett, Lake, Lower Klamath Lake, and 

 Malheur Lake, flume hunters, however, sotight 

 out these big colonies and shot great numbers of 

 the birds during the nesting season, leaving the 

 eggs to spoil and the young to starve to death. 

 This decreased the inimbers so rapidly that within 

 a few seasons tlie birds were exterminated in 

 places. 



Malheur Lake is a large body of shallow water 

 surrounded on all sides by great stretches of 

 tules. The whole border is a veritable jungle, 

 an almost endless area of floating tule islands 

 between which is a network of channels. Here is 

 the typical home of the Western Grebe. In the 

 edge of the tules, the Grebe gathers tule stems 

 and other vegetation, making a floating raft 



Photo by F. M. Chapman Courtesy "f N'at. .\sso. Aud. Soc. 

 TWO WESTERN GREBES JUST HATCHED 



