LIFE HISrOEIES OF XOHTH AMERICAN DIVING BIRDS. 5 



Eggs. — The number of eggs to a set seems to ^'a^y greatly, though 

 3 or 4 seems to be the usual number, according to my experience; I 

 have frequently found 5 or even 6, and I have taken one set of 11, but 

 this was probably laid by 2 or 3 birds. Other writers report various 

 numbers from 5 to 10. Apparently there are certain nests in which 

 eggs are dumped indiscriminately by several birds, but never hatched. 

 Other marsh-nesting birds, such as terns, ducks, and coots, occasion- 

 ally drop their eggs in the grebes' nests. 



The eggs of the western grebe are not handsome and not particu- 

 larly interesting. They vary in color from dull bluish white or 

 cream color to various shades of dirty buff or olive buff. They are 

 unspotted, but the accumulated dirt on the rough shells often gives 

 them a mottled effect, even after being washed. They are generally 

 more or less nest-stained and are often plastered with mud or cov- 

 ered with bits of nesting material. The shell surface is always dull 

 and lusterless and sometimes lumpy. In shape they vary from " ellip- 

 tical ovate " to "cylindrical ovate." The measurements of 53 eggs in 

 the United States National Museum average 58 by 37.5 millimeters ; 

 the eggs shoW'ing the four extremes measures 65 by 37.5, 61.5 by 40, 

 and 50 by 34 millimeters. 



Young. — The period of incubation is about 23 days. In Saskatche- 

 wan I have found downy young, recently hatched, as early as June 

 8, but the majority of eggs do not hatch until the last of June or 

 early in July of that region. The young are graceful little fellows 

 with long necks and small heads ; they are quite precocious and they 

 can sM'im and dive soon after they are hatched. Mr. Finley (1907a) 

 writes in regard to them : 



On two or three different occasions, we watclied one of the little western 

 grebes cut his way out of the shell and liberate himself. The wall of his prison 

 is quite thick for a chick to penetrate, but after he gets his bill though in one 

 place, he goes at the task like clockwork and it only takes him about half an 

 hour after he has smelled the fresh air to liberate himself. After the first hole, 

 he turns himself a little and begins hammering in a new place and he keeps this 

 up till he has made a complete revolution in his shell, and the end or cap of 

 the egg, cut clear aroxuid, drops off. and the youngster soon kicks himself out 

 into the sunshine. It does not take his coat long to dry ; in fact, he often does 

 not give it a chance, for his first impulse seems to be to take to water and 

 ride on his mother's or father's back. The grebe chick never stays in the nest 

 longer than a few hours. A chick that is just hatched is clothed in the most 

 delicate coat of soft gray fur, lighter below and darker on top. 



The first day, as I lay hidden in the tules waiting for a picture, I saw a pair 

 of grebes swimming along only 20 feet distant. I could catch glimpses of 

 them as they passed just beyond their nest. One of the birds carried a chick 

 on its back. The grebes have a way of taking their young with them, for the 

 little fellows lie on the back just under the wing coverts with only their heads 

 sticking out. At the slightest alarm the mother raises the feathers a trifle 

 and covers the chick completely. One can readily tell when a grebe has a 



