THE OOLOGIST 79 
was leaving for another part of the 
country on April 6th, I photographed 
the empty nest which is shown here- 
with. 
Having accomplished my end in find- 
ing the Black-headed gulls in their 
nesting haunts, I now started rowing 
back towards Villeneuve and by keep- 
ing in close to the tall reeds at the 
lake’s edge many other interesting 
whole valley was ringing with their 
liquid songs. Little Brown Grebes 
(Tachybaptes fluviatilis) would occa- 
sionally swim into view from among 
the reeds, diving noiselessly and with- 
out causing a ripple, at the sight of 
my boat. When seen for the first 
time, its small, rounded form, with 
fluffed up plumage, no proper tail, and 
the head nestling between the should- 
No. 44 Nesting territory of Black-headed Gull, Rhone Valley, Apr. 4, 1910. 
Photo by Paul G. Howes, 
birds were noted which might have 
otherwise been overlooked. Pied 
Wagtails (Motacilla lugubris) were 
abundant, and many grey wagtails 
(Motacilla melanope) were’ also 
seen. Redstarts (Ruticilla phoeni- 
curus Chaffinches (Fringilla-coelebs) 
and Green finches (Ligurinus chloris) 
were equally common and that day the 
ers, it could easily be mistaken for 
a duckling. But when upon the barest 
hint of intrusion upon its privacy, it 
dives noiselessly without disturbance 
of the water with the rapidity of a 
flash of lightning, usually to appear 
no more within sight, it will be un- 
derstood that this is an old bird in 
a special sense of the term- 
