14 



and used with quick strokes;" but he is not positive as to just 

 how much they were spread. The feet also were used, and 

 the strokes seemed to alternate with those of the wings. Mr. 

 Bonnycastle Dale, The Hawk, Cape Sable, Nova Scotia, writes 

 me that while standing on a bridge over the Sooke River in 

 British Columbia he saw a Pied-billed Grebe coming up swiftly 

 through the clear water. Soon it dived and swam down by 

 using its wings with strong sweeps "just as a diving man would 

 use his arms." It soon reached the bottom and kept itself in 

 an inverted position by "treading water upward," or kicking 

 toward the surface. While thus holding itself in place with its 

 feet it turned over small stones with its bill, evidently seeking 

 the little crabs with which this river abounds below the limit 

 of tidewater. Mr. Dale believed the river to be about 20 feet 

 deep at this point, and was certain that the bird used only its 

 wings to take it down and only its feet to keep it in position. 

 In coming up it did not appear to use either wings or feet, but 

 seemed to shoot up by means of its buoyancy. 



Mr. Alfred Cookman, San Diego, California, reports that 

 on April 15, 1916, while watching from a blind on the shore of a 

 slough for the purpose of studying the diving habits of the 

 Ruddy Duck, he saw a male Pied-billed Grebe on the water 

 within 10 feet of the blind. The bird suddenly dived. Both 

 water and sky were clear. The hour was 10.30 A.M., and the 

 average depth of the water was 3 feet. "The bird dived at an 

 angle, using its wings as a seal would use its flappers; broad 

 strokes; vigorous action; feet not used. He went to the very 

 bottom, turned sharply, rose at an angle and vanished. Mud 

 came to the surface. The depth at that point was 2 feet 3 

 inches." As the bird struck out after reaching bottom, Mr. 

 Cookman notes that it paddled with its feet, and that the 

 wings moved forward and backward laterally with rapid strokes, 

 about one beat of the wings to every downward paddle of the 

 feet. In twenty seconds the bird appeared on the surface at a 

 distance of about 40 yards. This observation was made on the 

 east branch of Nigger Slough, Los Angeles County, California. 

 He also has watched several Pied-billed Grebes in Dominiguez 

 Slough in the same county, and from his experience expresses 

 the belief that this species uses its wings mainly for locomo- 

 tion beneath the surface. 



