rODICiriDvE — TUE GREBES - TODILYMBUS. 



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states that it is found in winter about nuusliy lakes throughout California, and that 

 it also breeds there. Tlu; nest is built near the edge of the water. One of the nests 

 whieh J)v. Cooper found was floating in water over two feet deep, but was held in its 

 plaee l)y the stalks of living plants, to which it was fastened by the aid of the rushes 

 of which it was eoniposeil Its shape was conical, and it was a foot wide at the 

 bottom and nine inches at the top, where it was slightly hollowed out. The eggs 

 — four in number — were white, with brownish incrustations, and of nearly etpial 

 size at both ends. The eggs found on the llth of June at I'uget Sound were just 

 ready to hatch. 



These birds are usually perfectly fearless, swimming quite near to the spectator, 

 and trusting to their power of diving to escajje from danger. They become suspicious, 

 however, aiter having been shot at. They can swim to a long distance under water, 

 merely raising the l)ill al)ove the surface occasionally, and they are somewhat noc- 

 turnal in habit. In tlie spring they )uake a loud and sonorous braying noise. They 

 feed on small fish and insects, and i>refer to hunt for them in places covered with 

 dense aquatic vegefaition, being chiefly fresh-water birds, though seeking the bays in 

 the winter. This bird has the singular habit, in ccmunon with all the other (Jrebes, 

 of sinking down gradually and b;ickwards into the water until it entirely disappears, 

 not leaving a ripjde on the surface. This it does in order to esca[)e, when not 

 compelled to dive quickly. 



Mr. John Xantus foiuid this Grebe at Manzanilla Bay, in Western Mexico, where 

 it was not abundant. 



In Southern Wisconsin this species goes by the nanu; — more emphatic than 

 euphonious — of " Hell-diver."' Mr. Kumlien informs me that it breeds there both in 

 the lake and in the mill-pond, the nest lu'ing very bulky. Of these birds in the full 

 pi mnge he has seen only a single specimen, altlumgh he has obtained a great many 

 individuals. They exhibit greater variations in size than any bird with which he is 

 acquainted. They are found from April 13 to October L'O. 



!Mr. ]i. F. Goss writes me that he has fouiul this bird common on the lakes of 

 Wisconsin, nesting about the I'Oth of May, on rushes of the i)revious year, in water 

 from one to three feet deep. In such situations the old rushes are piled upon each 

 other until the fabric rises to the top of the water; a nest formed of moss and 

 weeds gathered from the bot:om is raised but little, and is always wet except when 

 the water has receded and left it higher than it was originally built. It ai)pears like 

 a circular mass of weeds and moss, about the si/.e of a dinner i)late, floating on the 

 water, and when fllled with eggs and carefully covered, it resembles a floating ball, 

 and would be passed without notice by one unacipiainted with its peculiarity. It 

 does not, however, really float, as its foundations rest more or less perfectly on the 

 bottom. The eggs — Ave in innnber — are white at lirst; but are soon stained by 

 contact with the wet nest. Sometimes the shell is quite rough, and has a calcareous 

 incrustation. In the absence of the bird the eggs are usually carefully covered, 

 'i'liis is done with surjn-ising quickness when the nest is approached, the bird always 

 escaping unseen. The many nests Mr. Goss has examined were always alike, always 

 in shallow water, and constructed of rushes, never of flags, grass, or weeds, however 

 alnnulant these might be. The bird is very shy in the l)ree(ling-sea.son, keeping out 

 of sight ; and even where abundant its i)resencc may renuiin unsuspected. He sjjent 

 si'veral days among its haunts, and found nunuM-ous nests without seeing a single 

 bird; and it was onlyl)y concealing himself, and watching the nest with a fleld-gliuss, 

 that he was able to identify the sp ' s. 



Eggs of this si)ecios from Cuba, \ Great Slave liake, Michigan, Illinois, nnd 



