2 ) 



NOTES ON THE BREEDING HABITS OF THE 

 SLAVONIAN GKEBE.* 



BY 



ALEXANDER D. DuBOIS. 



(Plate i.) 



The present observations were made in a temporary marsh 

 formed by the flooding of a meadow in the extremely rainy 

 spring of 191 7. It lay in a crescent-shaped depression some 

 ten or twelve acres in extent, curving about a knoll upon 

 which stands a homesteader's cabin, in the south-eastern 

 portion of Teton County, Montana, in the prairie region 

 east of the Rocky Mountains. 



On the open water of this pond two Grebes were seen on 

 several days in May. On the third of June, while walking 

 around the pond scanning its surface with a field-glass, I was 

 suddenly amazed to see a Grebe sitting upon a nest which 

 protruded above the water amid the scant vegetation. Care- 

 ful examination showed the bird to be a Podiceps auritus. 

 She slipped from the nest, as I slowly waded toward her, 

 and swam about in the open water, anxiously watching my 

 every movement. The interest was mutual. After watching 

 the bird for some time I went up to the nest and found that 

 it contained two eggs. Subsequent visits showed that the 

 eggs were deposited at intervals of two days. 



Whenever I appeared at the edge of the slough, it was the 

 custom of the two Grebes to float about upon the area of 

 open water with an air of supreme unconcern. They busied 

 themselves constantly with their toilets, preening the feathers 

 of all parts of their bodies and very frequently tipping or 

 rolling themselves in the water to reach their under parts 

 with their bills. In this half-capsized posture they would 

 float for several seconds, exposing to view the strikingly 

 prominent white area that is normally below the water-line. 

 This preening and floating in different positions, on the part 

 of both birds, proceeded without interruption during my 

 entire stay, each day that I visited them. It became very 

 evident that it was practised as a ruse to hold the attention 

 of the intruder and thus divert him from their nest. 



* This article has been abridged from a paper which appeared in 

 the Auk, Vol. XXXVI. , pp. 170-180, by kind permission of the author 

 as well as of the Editor of the Auk, to both of whom we are also much 

 indebted for permission to reproduce the accompanying photographs. — • 

 EdS' 



