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\W^S/. rT Vol. V. 



SEPTEMBER, 1879. 



No. 3. 



Breeding of Podilymbus podiceps 

 at St. Clair Flats, Mich. 



BY W. H. COLLINS. 



^^ HE nest of this species is built of a 



wet, spongy material, evidently taken 

 from near the bottom of the water. 

 It is piled and interwoven together in such 

 a way that it floats upon the water in a 

 sheltered position among the rushes. May 

 23, 1879, 1 examined about fifty nests. 

 The eggs ranged from two to eight in a nest, 

 were covered with part of the nest and in 

 all cases were warm. The fact of the eggs 

 being covered and warm set me to wonder- 

 ing how the birds could leave the nest and 

 cover the eggs without being seen some- 

 where in the vicinity of the nest ; in fact, I 

 did not see the birds during my stay. By 

 experimenting with the nests, I came to 

 the conclusion that this bird does not sit 

 upon the eggs during the day at least, if at 

 night. The nest is built of a material that 

 generates heat enough to keep the eggs of 

 an even temperature. By pushing my hand 

 down through the center of the nest I found 

 it warm to the depth of four or five inches. 

 The sun may have something to do with 

 keeping the nest warm, but nests I found 

 on the morning of the 24, before sunrise, 

 were warm. .June the 18, '79, I took a 

 trip to Fighting Island, seven miles below 

 Detroit, Mich., on the river. There I found 

 nests of the Grebe containing eggs just a- 

 bout to be hatched. I collected a number 

 of the eggs and secured a nest on the bow 

 of my duck boat. Some of the eggs were 

 broken and the bill of the little ones in 

 sight. I found that the young extricate 

 themselves' from the shell without help. 

 Tliey break the shell in a circle near tlie 



middle of the egg and by pushing one end 

 of the shell off they are at liberty. They 

 are very lively after drying, and are little 

 beauties, covered with a black down and 

 streaked with white the whole length of the 

 back and neck. There are six white stripes 

 about .06 inch wide, while the black space 

 is nearly .2.5 inch wide on the back. The 

 point of the bill is covered with hard white 

 scale. 



The nest is about two feet across at the 

 bottom and about the same in thickness or 

 hight, eight or ten inches being above the 

 water line. The hollow of the nest is two 

 or three inches deep and seven or eight in 

 diameter. The eggs are of a bluish white 

 when first laid, but become dark and dirty 

 from the nature of the nest. They vary in 

 size from 1.75 by 1.125 to 2 by 1.125. 



A Nest of Parus atricapillus — 

 Black-cap Titmouse. 



BY B. J. PECKHAM. 



A CIRCUMSTANCE came under my 

 notice that may be interesting to some of 

 the readers of your paper. In the month of 

 October, 1877, while out collecting speci- 

 mens in ornithology, on entering a wood I 

 heard the note of a Woodpecker. Not 

 catching sight of the bird, I immediately 

 sat down on top of a stone wall that ran 

 parallel with the wood and waited. My 

 attention was soon attracted toward a beech 

 stump tliat was about five feet high and six 

 inches in diameter. I saw a small bird 

 clinging to the stump after the manner of 

 Woodpeckers and Titmice and at work in 

 a small hole, that looked not larger than a 

 small cent. Thinking that it was search- 

 ing for food I did not pay much attention 



