The Wilson Bulletin — No. 48 71 



lay on his keel, his feet projecting behind. As the bird be- 

 came sleepy the feathers gradually fluffed out and the head 

 settled dou-n upon the back. Soon one foot would be seen to 

 twitch slightly. This twitching and curling up of the toes 

 would increase in violence until, with a preliminary rapid 

 waving movement the foot was tucked ujider the wing which 

 in turn was quickly covered with the flank feathers. Then 

 the other foot was similarly hidden. Thus the feet were en- 

 tirely concealed beneath the wings and feathers, not even the 

 heel-joints .showing. 



While in this position the bird allowed me to lay back the 

 feathers and then gently rai.se the wing. The flat, flipper- 

 like foot was found to lie at full length against the warm, 

 down-covered side of the body, the toes reaching nearly to the 

 •'arm-pit." After tucking his feet away one by one, he 

 would draw his head far back and with a peculiar wagging 

 motion, settle it amongst the feathers of the back. With this 

 movement the bill was thrust quite out of sight among the 

 feathers on either side of the neck, more commonly on the 

 right side. 



NOTES. 



Early in the morning what seemed to be the song was 



heard. It consisted of a series of cough-like notes '' Cah 



Call Call'' the bird would say, shaking his head in a most 



painful manner. This song, if it could be called such, was 

 given four or five times at dawn, and each consisted of four 

 or five of the coughs. When frightened into a desire to in- 

 spire fear the grebe opened his mouth very wide ( by moving 

 both halves) and gave a rather loud scream which became 

 grating, like the crow's song, towards the end. It somewhat 

 resembled a whinner though, of course, was not so loud. A 

 much more pleasing note than either of the above may be sug- 

 gested by the syllables, " Wit-' tali,'' — not loud but rather 

 high, the first part being higher than the second. It was 

 usually given when the bird had just taken wing exercise, or 

 had waddled across the room. It was often given, too, when 

 the bird's back was stroked. 



SWIMMING AND DIVING. 



In swimming he sat rather deep, the tail and heels usually 

 being submerged. At all times when folded the wino^s were 



