AMONG THE WaTER-FoOwWL 
habit of theirs is, on warm days, to cover the eggs 
with wet debris, and leave them for the sun, and 
the heat generated by the decaying vegetation, to 
act upon. And it is remarkable how generally they 
hatch, | But it is not true of any species thatthey 
never incubate on warm days. In one instance I 
saw a Horned Grebe on its nest in early afternoon. 
Many a time I have come upon single nests whose 
eggs were uncovered and very warm. There is 
almost invariably, in such cases, a protecting screen 
of rushes, and the bird evidently has just slipped off 
before being seen. However, in one way or other, 
the owner of the nest is almost sure to be out of 
sight when the observer approaches. Sometimes 
the three smaller kinds all nest intermingled in one 
slough, and then the contusion is nearly hopeless. 
The only way to identify them is to hide some 
distance away and watch. After a time one or 
both owners may appear, and, by patrolling near 
the nest, show their interest and decide the 
ownership. 
If the number of eggs is large, they are quite 
apt to belong to the Dabchick, as they probably do 
anyhow, if the locality is in the eastern United 
States. Still, I have known the Horned Grebe to 
lay as many as seven. Last summer I was in a 
slough where the Dabchick abounded, and I found 
the largest Grebe-set in my experience—of nine 
eogs. . Pive or stmiseems te be the usual number for 
that species to lay, four or five for the Horned, and 
three or four tor the others. 
The time was when I supposed that Grebes 
were very silent creatures. But camping by a little 
