Pied- Billed Grthe. 317 



allow themselves plenty of room. How the rijDples, stiirted 

 by their breast, enlarge like arcs of circles on the glassy 

 surface, and intersecting each other, move on increasingly 

 to the shore! In quick succession they glide softly under 

 the water and remain for some time, no doubt taking their 

 food of small fishes and aquatic grasses. Nothing can 

 exceed the ease and gracefulness with which they dive, 

 so tipping under the water as barely to ruffle the mirror- 

 like surface. Presently they reappear, one after another, 

 shaking their heads, and looking this way and that, as 

 if to make sure of their safety, but still swimming well 

 out of the water. Gliding along much more rapidly than 

 ducks, they describe their elegant curves for a few sec- 

 onds, and then all disappear again. What a happy family 

 they are!" 



In this section of Illinois the grebes begin to nest about 

 the first of May, and full complements of incubated eggs 

 are found by the middle of the month. They are among 

 the earliest of the birds of the swamp-lakes in their nidi- 

 fication, though the height of the water causes the time 

 of nesting to vary considerably. Of the many nests I 

 have examined, all were situated among the flags in the 

 deeper parts of the swamp, and I learned not to seek 

 them outside the inner half of the zone of flags encircling 

 the open area of water. When they nest on small ponds, 

 they anchor their homes along the weedy margin. The 

 presence of a pair or more of these birds on a body of 

 standing water in late May and June is prima facie evi- 

 dence that the birds have comfortable quarters somewhere 

 within swimming distance. 



The nests are very similar in construction. In every 

 instance, in my observation, they are anchored among 

 the stems of adjacent flags, not among those which grow 

 thickly, but among those which stand in tufts, leaving 

 little areas among them, thus furnishing sites for the nests 

 in the open spaces. A typical nest is a little mound of 

 blackened, decaying vegetable matter, evidently dredged 

 principally from the bottom of the pond. It is generally 

 about three inches high, seldom more than five, from 

 eight to ten inches across the top, and from sixteen to 

 eighteen inches in diameter at the surface of the water. 



