THE OOLOGIST 



79 



Avas leaving for another part of the 

 country on April 6th. I photographed 

 the empty nest which is shown here- 

 with. 



Having accomplished my en;l in find- 

 ing the Black-headed gulls in their 

 nesting haunts, I now started rowing 

 back towards Villeneuve and by keep- 

 ing in close to the tall reeds at the 



whole valley was ringing with their 

 liciuid songs. Little Brown Grebes 

 (Tachybaptes fluviatilis) would occa- 

 sionally swim into view from among 

 the reeds, diving noiselessly and with- 

 out causing a ripple, at the sight of 

 my boat. When seen for the first 

 time, its small, rounded form, with 

 fluffed up plumage, no proper tail, and 



lake's edge many other interesting the head nestling between the should- 



No. 44 Nesting territory of Black-headed Gull. Rhone Valley, Apr. 4. 1910. 

 Photo by Paul G. Howes. 



birds were noted which might have 

 otherwise been overlooked. Pied 

 Wagtails (Motacilla lugubris) were 

 abundant, and many grey wagtails 

 (Motacilla melanope) were also 

 seen. Redstarts (Ruticilla phoeni- 

 curus Chaffinches (Fringilla-coelebs) 

 and Green finches (I^igurinus chloris) 

 were equally common and that day the 



ers, it could easily be mistaken for 

 a duckling. But when upon the barest 

 hint of intrusion upon its privacy, it 

 dives noiselessly without disturbance 

 of the water with the rapidity of a 

 flash of lightning, usually to appear 

 no more within sight, it will be un- 

 derstood that this is an old bird in 

 a special sense of the term- 



