THE PIED-BILLED GREBE. 



633 



"The little floating island of decaying vegetation held together by mud 

 and moss, which constitutes the nest of this species, is a veritable ornithological 

 curiosity. Imagine a "pancake" of what appears to be mud, measuring twelve 

 or fifteen inches in diameter, and rising' two or three inches above the water, 

 which may be from one to two feet in depth; anchor it to the bottom with a 

 few concealed blades of "saw-grass," in a little open bay, leaving its circum- 

 ference entirely free; remove a mass of wet muck from its rounded top, and 

 you expose seven or eight soiled brownish-white eggs, resting in a depression 



the bottom of which is less than an inch from the water; the whole mass is 

 constantly damp. This is the nest of the Dabchick, who is out foraging in 

 the Marsh, or perhaps is anxiously watching us from some safe cover near by. 

 "The anchoring blades of coarse saw-grass or flags, being always lunger 

 than is necessary to reach the bottom, permit of considerable lateral and ver- 

 tical movement of the nest, and so effectually provide against drowning of 

 the eggs by any ordinary rise .if the water level, such as frequently occurs dur- 

 ing the prevalence of strong easterly winds on the lake. A small bunch of 

 saw-grass already growing in a suitable situation is evidently selected as a 

 nucleus fur the nest, and the tops bent 30 a- to form a part of it. 



