July, 1907 



THE GREBES OF SOUTHERN OREGON 



99 



American Eared Grebe. On both sides of the Klamath River is a vast area of low 

 land covered at this season with two or three feet of water. Here we found an 

 occasional nest of the American Eared Grebe {Colymbus nigricolUs calif ornicus) , 

 but nowhere did this bird nest in colonies. The nests were made of rotten weeds 

 that had been pulled together and left floating- on the surface. During the day the 

 parents always seemed to be away and the eggs were covered with a layer of wet 

 weeds. It had always been a 

 wonder to me how eggs could 

 ever be hatched when they 

 were lying partially in the 

 water and covered with the 

 damp reeds. I pulled off the 

 top covering and felt under- 

 neath, and the platform was 

 warm all the way thru, even 

 to the water below. The 

 heat of the sun on the decay- 

 ing reeds warms the whole 

 nest so that the eggs are kept 

 about at body heat. 



The nests of the Western 

 Grebe were, as a rule, built 

 up of dry reeds higher out of 

 the water than those of the 

 Eared Grebe. I never saw a 

 case where this bird covered 

 its eggs with reeds while it 

 was away. Many times we 

 saw them sitting on their eggs 

 during the day. In other 

 cases, they seemed to leave 

 the eggs to be hatched out 

 partly by the sun. The 

 usual number of eggs we 

 found in a set were three and 

 four, altho we often found six 

 and seven. In several cases, 

 we found places among the 

 dry tules where an extra large 

 set of eggs had been laid. We 

 saw sixteen eggs in one set, 

 but there had been no attempt 

 at a nest, and the eggs had 

 never been incubated. 



On two or three different 

 occasions, we watched one of 

 the little Western Grebes cut his way out of the shell and liberate himself. The wall 

 of his prison is quite thick for a chick to penetrate, but after he gets his bill thru 

 in one place, he goes at the task like clock work and it only takes him about half 

 an hour after he has smelled the fresh air to liberate himself. After the first hole, 

 he turns himself a little and begins hammering in a new place and he keeps this 



NEST OF WESTERN GREBE; ONE EGG SHOWS CIRCULAR 

 ROW OF NICKS, AND IS ALMOST READY TO HATCH 



