GREBES 



fresh condition, will readily float and are of suffi- 

 cient buoyancy to bear the \vei,i,''ht of the ne'^t, the 

 eggs, and the brooding bird. In Morida, where 

 I have examined perhaps fifty of their nests, I 

 never found more than six eggs in any one of 

 them, but observers farther north speak of finding 

 as many as eight and nine. In color they are dull 

 white, unspotted, but sometimes tinged with 

 greenish, and always soiled or stained. 



When leaving its nest the Grebe jjulls the 

 water-soaked material well over tlie eggs, so that 

 usually they are completely hiddeii from view. 

 While in this condition anyone not acquainted 

 with the nesting habits of the bird w^ould surely 

 pass it by unnoticed, never dreaming that in that 

 little mass of floating, rotting water-jjlants the 

 cherished treasures of a wild bird lay concealed. 



.\udubon said that the food of the Pied-billed 

 Grebe " consists of small fry, plant-seeds, aquatic 



insects, and snails ; along with this they swallow- 

 gravel." Wayne writes: " FOuring the breeding 

 season, the food consists mainlv of leeches." 

 They should never be shot, for they are worse 

 than useless for food. They certainlv do no 

 harm, and an ever-increasing class of bird-stu- 

 dents take much pleasure in spying upon their 

 'Uteresting movements. 



They have many enemies, among which mav be 

 mentioned minks, fish, frogs, snakes, and musk- 

 rats. Birds of prey undoubtedly take their share. 

 One day with much labor I climbed an enormous 

 [)ine tree to a nest of the Bald Eagle around 

 which the old birds were circling. Upon reach- 

 ing it after a ])rolonged and heart-breaking efl^ort 

 I found it to contain only one object — a Pied- 

 billed Grebe, with its feathers still damp and the 

 lilood spots on its head but half dried. 



T. Gilbert Pe.xkso.x. 



PIED-BILLED GREBE 

 Swimming up to its newly hatched young that has struggled from the nest 



