28 LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN DIVING BIRDS 



birds spread freely all over the lake irrespective of their nesting haunts, and 

 so numerous are they that at times they maintain a chorus of the volume and 

 persistency of that furnished by a first-class frog pond in March. 



Nesting. In the shallow, marshy lakes of the western plains the 

 eared grebe breeds in extensive colonies, populous, thickly settled 

 communities, which my companion, Mr. Herbert K. Job, used to call 

 "cities of the submerged tenth." None of the other small grebes 

 breeds in such large or such densely populated colonies, in which it 

 is often impossible to pole a canoe, or even to wade, without over- 

 turning the nests. Often times there are only narrow lanes of 

 water, through which the inhabitants may come and go to their 

 respective domiciles; yet they never seem to quarrel in the narrow 

 streets or experience any difficulty in finding their own homes. When 

 disturbed, by human intrusion, they slip off their nests into the 

 water, often without diving and swim out into the lake, where they 

 gather in a large flock and quietly watch proceedings. They are 

 always in evidence about their nesting colonies and are not nearly 

 as shy as the pied-billed grebes. The pied-billed grebe nests in small 

 scattered colonies and the horned grebe usually singly or in widely 

 separated nesting sites. Neither of them ever nests, so far as I 

 know, in dense colonies like the eared grebe. Moreover, the nests of 

 the eared grebe are almost always in open situations, whereas the 

 nests of the other two species are usually more or less concealed in 

 some kind of vegetation. The nests of the eared grebe are also 

 smaller and less elaborately built than those of the pied-billed or the 

 horned grebes. Mr. B. F. Goss (1883) gives us a very good illustra- 

 tion of this, as follows: 



The eared grebe breeds in communities. The first colony that I found was in 

 a small lake in northern Dakota. The nests were built on floating debris about 

 15 rods from shore, where the water was perhaps 3 feet deep. Old flag leaves, 

 rushes, reeds, etc., had been driven by the wind into the point of a bay, forming 

 a mass 2 or 3 inches deep and several square rods in extent. This mass was 

 firm enough to hold up the birds in most places, but was full of holes where they 

 could dive through. There were at least 25 nests on an area of 10 by 20 

 feet. They were made of partly decayed moss and reeds brought up from the 

 bottom, and were small, not more than a handful of material to a nest. 



Mr. A. W. Anthony (1896) describes a colony in southern Cali- 

 fornia as follows: 



Halfway down the lake the marsh grass was found to extend in a broad 

 band entirely across from shore to shore, and the water was of a uniform depth 

 of about 18 inches. Forcing the boat into the grass, which reached a foot or 

 more above the water, we found a number of small circular openings 100 feet 

 or more in diameter, each fairly covered with nests of the eared grebe. As we 

 came upon the first colony, dozens of grebes, all in beautiful nesting plumage, 

 were seen on their rafts of floating grass, each frantically endeavoring to 

 reach enough moss to cover her eggs before diving out of sight to appear 



