THE WESTERN GREBE. 881 
mainder were badly injured. Two days later it was comical to note the 
confusion of ownership which necessity’s law had brought about. Scarce 
a well-made nest but contained eggs of homeless neighbors. Two held seven, 
and one, eight, from half as many contributors. In most cases these eggs 
were either abandoned outright by the one imposed upon, or else covered 
over by a new nest hastily improvised. 
After noting the natural fate of unclaimed eggs, I am less reluctant 
to confess that Grebe eggs formed an important article of my _ solitary 
diet during a five days’ halt in the vicinity. Of course, only fresh eggs, 
one from a nest, or waifs, were taken. In flavor they are really deli- 
Photo by the Author. 
YOUNG WESTERN GREBE. 
cious, superior, I believe, to hens’ eggs, and especially because of the 
delicacy of the albumen, which does not cook white, but remains semi- 
transparent. 
Upon another occasion in my zeal to obtain a few fresh eggs for cult- 
nary purposes, I sampled several nests at the rate of one each. But when 
one of the eggs shouted lustily in remonstrance (the tin can affording a 
fine sounding board for the display of this precocious warbler’s powers), 
I desisted and made amends by bestowing the entire collection upon the 
nearest nest. Later, under the guidance of a clamorous flock of terns, 
who were hovering over him and diving down inquisitively, we came upon 
a lost chick. He was a curious little fellow of a stone-gray color, darkest 
