PIED-BILLED GREBE 41 



rushes. Sometimes they are well concealed in thick clumps of reeds, 

 but usually they can be easily seen, although not so conspicuous as 

 those of the horned or eared grebes. The nests are generally scat- 

 tered and only a few pairs of birds were found in each slough. When 

 located in deep water the nest is strictly a floating affair, but other- 

 wise it is more often partially connected with the bottom. A large 

 amount of material is collected and piled up into a bulky mass, mostly 

 below the surface of the water, often large enough to fill a bushel 

 basket; on top of this, above the water, a smaller and neater nest is 

 built. The material consists of whatever the bird can conveniently 

 find in the vicinity in the way of decayed vegetable matter, dead 

 reeds, flags, rushes, or grasses; sometimes fresh, green flags are mixed 

 in with the rubbish and often the whole structure is plastered together 

 with a quantity of the soft, green vegetable scum which grows in 

 stagnant water. This wet and slimy structure is built up but a few 

 inches above the water, usually from 2 to 4 inches, and measures 

 about a foot in diameter; the nest cavity is but slightly hollowed and 

 the eggs are partially buried in the soft material. 



Eggs. The pied-billed grebe lays from 3 to 10 eggs, but the ex- 

 tremes are rare and the set usually consists of from 5 to 7 eggs. In 

 shape the eggs are "elliptical ovate" or "elliptical oval," sometimes 

 almost "fusiform." The shell is generally smooth, with a slight lus- 

 ter, but sometimes dotted with small excrescences or lumps. The 

 color of the clean, freshly laid egg is dull bluish white or pale olive 

 white, but it soon becomes stained or clouded with various buffy 

 shades; some sets are uniformly stained as dark as "wood-brown" or 

 "Isabella color;" generally more or less mud and bits of nesting ma- 

 terial sticks to the egg, giving it a mottled appearance. The meas- 

 urements of 48 eggs in the United States National Museum collection 

 average 43.4 by 30 millimeters; the eggs showing the four extremes 

 measure 47 by 30, 44 by 32, 39 by 29.5, and 44 by 28 millimeters. 



Mr. C. H. Pease made some interesting observations on the nesting 

 operations of this species at Canaan, Connecticut, during May and 

 June, 1913. He sent the results of his observations to Dr. Louis B. 

 Bishop, who has given them to me. On May 22 he found the nest 

 completed and the first egg laid; on May 28 the eighth and last egg 

 was laid, one having been laid each day. The first two eggs hatched 

 on June 15, one in the forenoon and one in the afternoon; and the 

 last egg hatched at 9.15 in the morning of June 21 ; the record shows 

 that the period of incubation, in this case, was from 23 to 24 days. 

 On June 22, the day after the last egg hatched, only one young bird 

 was left in the nest. On July 3 he saw the whole family of eight, 

 "half grown in less than two weeks." 



Both sexes incubate. So far as I know, only one brood is raised in 

 a season; but there are some very early and very late dates for nesting 



