Notes on Alberta Grebes 



By JOHN M. SCHRECK 



\\ ith Ihotographs by the Author 



COMING to the Canadian Northwest, near Edmonton, from an eastern citv, 

 the great variety and abundance of water-fowl seemed to attract me most, 

 for in my eastern home the ojjportunity to see and study these birds was 

 limited to the period of their hurried passing to and from the breeding-grounds. 

 Every little slough and pot-hole had at least one pair of Ducks or Grebes nesting 

 about it, and localities of this nature are very plentiful in northern Alberta. Dur- 

 ing my first season I often passed a pot-hole where a pair of Horned Grebes 

 seemed at home, but at first I could not locate anvthing that looked like a nest. 



HORNED GREBE REMOVING COVERING FROM EGGS ON RETURNING 



TO NEST 



A few days later, I stopped at the edge of woods surrounding their miniature 

 lake and scanned every clump of grass with my glasses, and was rewarded bv 

 seeing Mrs. Grebe on her nest well out from the shore in a clump of slough grass. 

 As I approached the shore, she slipped off the opposite side and swam off under 

 water; not being used to such tactics, it is no wonder I did not locate her sooner. 



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