GREBES : Family Colymbidae [ 73 ] 



DISTRIBUTION. General: Western North America east to Mississippi, north to Great 

 Slave Lake, south to Central America, breeding throughout most of its range. In 

 Oregon: Common breeding bird in tule-grown marshes of Malheur, Crook, Harney, 

 Lake, and Klamath Counties, wandering to other lakes and streams after breeding 

 season. 



THE DAINTY and beautiful little Eared Grebe (Plate 9, 5), able to dive 

 like a flash or to sink slowly out of sight as fancy dictates, is very much 

 at home in the great tule-grown marshes of eastern Oregon. Newberry 

 (1857) reported it as common on the Oregon coast, a statement that is 

 somewhat doubtful in the light of present-day knowledge. Bendire (i 877) 

 found it breeding on Malheur Lake, that unrivaled bird-producing area 

 that always had a colony of these beautiful little water sprites until the 

 lake entirely dried up. Finley (1912.) reported 2., 465 nests there on July 4, 

 1911, of which 1,000 were destroyed by a terrific wind storm on July 15, 

 according to L. A. Lewis, who was reservation warden at that time. 



Since Malheur Lake dried up, this grebe has been reported frequently 

 by visitors to the eastern Oregon lake region. Lower Klamath Lake, 

 before it was destroyed, and Silver Lake, before it dried up, contained 

 great colonies in 1912., 1913, and 1914, reported in manuscript to the 

 Biological Survey by L. A. Lewis and J. J. Furber. The Warner Lakes, 

 particularly Crump Lake, have had flourishing colonies for many years. 

 The authors have records of this species from Deschutes, Malheur, Wal- 

 lowa, Lane, Douglas, Lincoln, and Multnomah Counties, and doubtless 

 it will be found in late summer on mountain lakes of many other counties. 

 Fresh-egg dates vary from May 12. to July 4. 



From their great colonies, the birds move out in August over the sur- 

 rounding country, at which time almost any open water is likely to 

 accommodate a few of them. Diamond Lake, Douglas County, is a favorite 

 rendezvous for them at this season when several dozen, or even hundreds, 

 may be seen swimming about erratically, picking insects from the surface 

 of the water in immediate competition with the trout. Wind-blown 

 insects at times almost cover the waters of this lake and are present in 

 abundance, not only for the fish and grebes, but also for the gulls and 

 other miscellaneous water birds that gather to take advantage of this 

 abundant food supply. Crescent and Odell Lakes to the north along the 

 summit of the Cascades are also regularly visited by these little grebes at 

 this season, and there is no doubt that many others of these lakes would 

 be recognized as the summer homes of the Eared Grebes, if only there 

 were enough bird watchers to visit them at the proper season. 



The status of this species as a winter resident is not so clear. Notes 

 from J. J. Furber show it present in January 1915, at Klamath Falls, and 

 there is a skin in the Biological Survey collection taken November 15, 

 1917, at Jordan Valley. On the coast, where it is to be expected during 



