WESTERN GREBE 7 



Food. Very little seems to be known about the food of the west- 

 ern grebe, but it probably lives largely on fish and other aquatic 

 animals. Prof. John Macoun (1909) mentions a specimen "that 

 had an amphibian (Amblystoma navortium) 10 J inches long in its 

 stomach." It has been known to feed on aquatic grasses, and on the 

 seacoast it pursues the schools of small herring. It has a peculiar 

 habit, which has never been satisfactorily explained, of filling its 

 stomach with great wads of its own body feathers. Dr. Frank M. 

 Chapman (1908) says on this subject: 



Possibly the adults may swallow the feathers secured through their fre- 

 quent preening, but I am at loss to understand why chicks not more than 

 3 days old should have their stomachs tightly stuffed with a ball of their par- 

 ents' feathers. In the stomach of one I found a compact wad of 238 feathers, 

 and in another there were no less than 331. 



Behavior. This grebe, like others of its family, experiences con- 

 siderable difficulty in rising from the water, but when once under 

 way it is a strong and rapid flyer. It is a curious looking bird in 

 flight, with its long neck and slender body stretched out in a straight 

 line, with big feet dragging behind and small wings vibrating at 

 high speed. It could not be mistaken for anything else, for it is 

 in a class by itself. Col. N. S. Goss (1889) writes: 



The birds ride the water lightly, and their silky plumage, slender build, 

 long-waving necks, and graceful carriage can but attract the attention of the 

 most indifferent of observers. Like all of the race they are expert swimmers 

 and divers, and can quietly sink out of sight in the water without an appar- 

 ent motion, but their ordinary manner of diving is to spring forward with 

 a stroke of their feet, almost clearing the water and disappearing about 3 

 feet from the starting point. They are at home on the waves, and it is almost 

 impossible to force the birds to take wing, but when in the air they fly with 

 great rapidity, with neck and feet stretched out to their full extent, and in 

 alighting, often do not attempt to slacken their speed, but strike the water 

 with partially closed wings with a force that carries them on the surface from 

 20 to 40 feet. 



It has always been difficult for me to separate the notes of the 

 western grebe from the grand chorus of sounds in a thickly popu- 

 lated slough, teeming with yellow-headed blackbirds, coots, and 

 other water birds, but as nearly as I could learn, it has two dis- 

 tinct notes, a shrill piping whistle, suggesting the whistling alarm 

 note of the osprey, and a short, rolling croak in a subdued tone. 



Doctor Chapman (1908) says: 



The swan grebe's voice is a loud, double-toned, whistled c-r-r-ee-er-r-r-ee, 

 which can be heard distinctly when the bird is beyond reach of the eye in 

 the open waters of the lake, and even a poor imitation of this far-reaching 

 call brings the lakes of the prairie or plain more clearly before me than the 

 memory of the note of any other of their bird inhabitants. 



