176 DuBois, Nesting of the Horned Grebe. [April 



The twentieth visit, on the evening of July 15, gave me an oppor- 

 tunity to examine the bird at close range. She was on the nest 

 and allowed me to approach, cautiously, to a point twenty or 

 thirty feet from her. She was considerably changed in appearance. 

 The yellowish-white tip of the bill remained unaltered and the 

 light line through the lower margin of the lore was observed to still 

 persist, but the plumage of the head was much subdued, the yellow 

 plumes having been exchanged for mere inconspicuous grayish 

 streaks on the sides of the head. As I came up I could see a 

 young bird poking its head through her wing. She soon left the 

 nest, with a startling rush, and swam rapidly away, leaving three 

 eggs in the nest and two tiny youngsters in the water. The newly 

 hatched downy young can both swim and dive in a feeble way. 

 As I approached them they tried to escape by diving. When I 

 held them in my hands they gave utterance to a little cry not 

 greatly different from that of domestic chicks. 



The downy young are very striking in appearance. They are 

 striped longitudinally with black and white stripes; the white 

 however is rather a "soiled" or grayish white. There are two 

 narrow white stripes on the head which converge to a point at the 

 base of the bill. Between these stripes, on the forehead, is a small 

 slightly raised bare spot, of a bright red color, back of which is a 

 white elongated blotch, or median stripe. The bill is pink and 

 has on both mandibles a white tip which resembles white porcelain. 

 This is larger on the upper mandible than on the lower. On the 

 upper mandible between the nostrils there is a black spot. The 

 iris is brown, not red like that of the adults. The lobate feet are 

 remarkably well developed, but the wings are rudimentary. 



On the following day, July 16, I failed to find either the parent 

 or the young at the nest. The three remaining eggs were not 

 covered. Again on the morning of the seventeenth, the nest held 

 only the three uncovered eggs; but when I skirted the east end 

 of the slough to examine a Sora's nest, I was startled by the parent 

 Grebe taking wing not far from me. She flew over the farthest 

 part of the slough, but soon returned, after circling a time or two, 

 to the small area of open water, where she alighted with a splash- 

 ing glide. When on the wing this bird shows very prominent 



