20 - LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN DIVING BIRDS 



her 24. Central Alaska: Fairbanks, October 7. Southeastern 

 Alaska: Silver Bay, September 21; Sitka, October. Yukon Terri- 

 tory: Teslin Lake, September 28. British Columbia: Yellowhead 

 Lake, August 28 to September 2; Sumas, October 12. California: 

 Lake Tahoe, September 6. Alberta: Athabaska Landing, Septem- 

 ber 15; Edmonton, October 16. Maine: Umbagog, October 24. 

 Ontario: Ottawa River, October 16 to November 25; Toronto, 

 October 21 to 31. Montana: Lubec, September 25 to 27; Gallatin 

 County, October 17. 



Casual records. The type was taken in Greenland, where the 

 species occurs casually. 



Egg dates. North Dakota and Minnesota: 23 records, May 23 to 

 July 16; 12 records, May 31 to June 13. Manitoba: 17 records, 

 May 27 to August 1; 8 records, June 2 to 11. British Columbia 

 and Washington: 9 records, May 13 to July 1; 5 records, May 29 to 

 June 13. Alberta: 8 records, May 24 to June 21; 4 records, June 

 3 to 17. 



Colymbus auritus (Linnaeus) 

 HORNED GREBE 



HABITS 



A long drive over the prairies of North Dakota brought us to the 

 home of our host and guide, Mr. Alfred Eastgate, in a picturesque 

 spot by the side of a little pond surrounded by trees and shrubbery. 

 It had been an eventful day, May 30, 1901, my introduction to the 

 fascinating bird life of the western prairies. Everything was new, 

 strange, and interesting, possessing that peculiar charm which a 

 naturalist experiences only on his first day in an entirely new region. 

 We had stopped several times to explore the timber belts, teeming 

 with small birds, and to examine nests of goldeneyes and ferruginous 

 roughlegs. I had made the acquaintance of at least a dozen new 

 birds and had learned to see other familiar species in a new light 

 as I met them in their summer homes on the prairies and in the 

 sloughs. In the little pond by the house were a pair of beautiful 

 horned grebes, resplendent with their full nuptial plumage and their 

 great fluffy heads; with them were two pairs of blue-winged teal, a 

 pair of shovelers, and several lesser scaup ducks; a noisy pair of 

 killdeers were running along the shore and several ring-billed gulls 

 and black terns were flying overhead. The grebes had recently ar- 

 rived on their breeding grounds and were busy with their courtships 

 and preparations for nest building; their weird and striking notes 

 were heard frequently all through the evening and it was a fitting 

 ending to such a delightful day to be lulled to sleep by the love song 

 of the horned grebe. 



Nesting. This pair built their nest in this little pond, but we 



