10 LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN DIVING BIRDS 



Nesting. Throughout the month of June, 1913, we found a great 

 many nests of this grebe in various localities in this region. Al- 

 though it frequented the vicinity of the same swamps, in which the 

 western grebes and horned grebes were breeding, we did not find any 

 nests of Holboell's grebe actually in the canes (Phragmites com- 

 munis). All of the nests we found were in more open situations 

 and were more or less widely scattered. On June 7 we found, what 

 might almost be called a colony, seven nests, in an extensive tract of 

 short, dead, broken-down flags and reeds which extended out into 

 the lake for a hundred yards or more near the entrance to the river. 

 As the water was 3 or 4 feet deep, I had to work from a canoe and 

 experienced some difficulty in photographing the nests; for, with the 

 tripod standing in the water, the camera was but little above the 

 surface. Even in such an open situation the nests were surprisingly 

 inconspicuous and it required the practised eye of my guide to locate 

 most of them. They were generally placed where the broken-down 

 reeds (Scirpus lacustris) were thickest and often where they were 

 so matted together that it was difficult to push a canoe through them. 

 They were low, flat, carelessly built structures, raised but slightly 

 above the surface, in which the eggs were wet and almost awash, 

 and were made of dead and rotten reeds and flags, water mosses, 

 algae and other drift rubbish. The eggs were usually wholly or 

 partially covered with the nesting material. During several visits 

 to this locality I saw but one Holboell's grebe near its nest and only 

 occasionally in the distance; though I lay in wait for them for a 

 long time at some little distance in the canes. 



It is certainly one of the shyest of the water birds. Its hearing 

 must be very acute; for only rarely could I surprise one in the 

 marshes, when it would disappear instantly. What few birds I saw 

 were generally swimming at a distance, singly or in pairs, often far 

 out on the lake, where they always dove long before I could get 

 within gunshot range. Only once did I succeed in surprising one 

 on its nest and get a fleeting glimpse. Mr. Herbert K. Job had 

 located a nest in a little cove on a nearby pond; we approached it 

 cautiously, paddling silently around a little point and into the cove; 

 we were just in time to see the grebe stand up in the nest, hastily 

 attempt to cover the eggs, glide off into the water, and disappear in 

 the reeds so quickly that we could hardly realize what had happened. 

 This was a larger, better built, and probably a more typical nest than 

 those described above; it was floating in water about 3 feet deep 

 and anchored near the edge of growing flags (Typha latijolia) and 

 reeds (Scirpus lacustris); it measured 24 inches in diameter, the 

 inner cavity was 6 inches across and slightly hollowed, and the rim 

 was built up 2 or 3 inches above the water; it was made principally 

 of dead reeds and flags, with a few green stems of the same, matted 



