OF THE UNITED STATES 169 



over with loose weeds and grass, so as to nearly or quite conceal 

 them from view. A set of these usually numbers from six to 

 eight, being smooth, unmarked, plain, and of a whitish color, or 

 creamy. They are elongated or of an ellipsoidal form. 



The Horned grebe is a bird of powerful flight, and during the 

 seasons of migration makes long aerial journeys, often at con- 

 siderable heights. On land, however, he is an awkward fowl, 

 with a waddling locomotion, and when at rest generally assum- 

 ing the erect attitude with his curiously lobed feet spread out in 

 front of him, and the body supported on the backs of the tarsi 

 and on the distal end of the body the true feathery tail being 

 absent and represented only by a downy tuft, quite rudimentary 

 in character. Nestlings, when placed on the ground, crawl about 

 in a peculiar manner, reminding one very much of the action of 

 bats under similar conditions. Many years ago, when out in a 

 boat shooting on a lake in Wisconsin, I came upon several of 

 these grebes in an open space among the reeds near the shore. 

 One or two of them dived, but their companions quietly sank in 

 the water until only their beaks were to be seen above that ele- 

 ment, and in this position they stealthily swam into the denser 

 vegetal growth of the border of the lake. Nearly all grebes re- 

 sort to this peculiar means of making their escape when thus 

 alarmed. They will dive, and as quick as a flash, at the slightest 

 provocation, thus often rendering them difficult birds to kill even 

 with a gun. These dives often extend for some considerable dis- 

 tance, and they pop up again at the most unexpected places. 

 Grebes feed upon small fish, frogs and reptiles, as well as the 

 seeds of certain water plants, Crustacea and aquatic insects. In 

 speaking of the Horned grebe, Audubon has said : " I have ob- 

 served in the stomachs of almost all that I have examined, a 

 quantity of hair-like substances rolled together like the pellets 

 of owls, but have not ascertained whether or not these masses 

 are disgorged. They certainly cannot pass through the intes- 

 tines. But unless birds of this kind are kept in an aviary and 

 watched, this matter must remain unknown." This question is 

 not referred to in any other ornithological work the writer hap- 

 pens to have at hand at this moment, and it would seem to be one 

 into which an examination would not be altogether uninterest- 

 ing. 



Our loons are all of the genus Urinator, there being five species 

 of them. These species are known as Urinator imber, the Loon; 



