THr SUBMERGED TENTH 
until the eggs were entirely hidden, when she would 
slide off into the water with a push of the feet that 
gave quite a little momentum. Some of them dove 
at once and came up a short distance away, while 
others remained on the surface. The fact of my 
having only head and shoulders out of water evi- 
desde made them less afraid of me than they would 
have been had I been in a boat. The birds were 
more or less scattered about in the lake, yet groups 
of them remained within a few feet of me, appar- 
ently trying to make out what new species of Musk- 
rat this cana be. 
I should judge that there must have been up- 
wards of a hundred nests right around me, and how 
many more there were off in the grass I cannot say. 
Certainly it was a large colony, Fog. the whole slough 
seemed alive with Grebes, and all of the one species. 
The nests were floating quite close together, often 
touching one another. ‘There was very little grass 
growing out of the water, and the nests were not 
anchored, except as they rested more or less on the 
floating debris. This held them in a measure, but 
it seemed likely that a strong wind might drive 
them from their location. Most of the nests were 
covered, and I bobbed about among them, removing 
the coverings to see how many eggs there were. It 
was evident that the laying operations of the colony 
were not complete, for some of the nests were 
empty, or had but a single egg. Only two that I 
saw had as many as is eggs, three or four being 
the usual number. | 
These observations made, I stayed for nothing 
further; indeed haste was necessary, for my sunny 
5 
