THE NIDOLOGIST 71 
Kite sailed quietly away from her nest, which 
was placed in a pecan tree, about fifteen feet 
from the ground. I climbedupand easily secured 
the two eggs, which measured 1.6rx1.32 and 
1.66x1.34. Incubation had begun in these, but 
I managed to get them cleaned out all right. 
In conclusion, I will say that though Mr. 
Davie describes the Mississippi Kite’s egg as 
bluish-white, the eggs I have found are so nearly 
white that I can hardly detect any bluish tinge 
about them. 
One of them was near the color of skimmed 
milk, the balance being plain white. 
Haskell, Tex. W. E. SHERRILL. 
> +> 
Grebe Notes. 
BY A, W. ANTHONY. 
HE last week in June, 1895, found the 
writer, in company with onecompanion, 
camped on the margin of a small inland 
lake in southern California, collecting birds and 
eggs by day and spend- 
with the eggs in a depression in the center, half 
submerged and covered by a handful of wet, 
muddy moss. No Grebes were seen about the 
nests, and it is not improbable that they trusted 
partly to the heat of the sun and decaying veg- 
etation to carry on incubation, as the eggs were 
quite warm, 
On the third day we discovered an old boat 
and started on an exploring expedition three or 
four miles from camp. Halfway down the 
lake the marsh grass was found to extend in a 
broad band entirely across from shore to shore, 
and the water was of a uniform depth of about 
eighteen inches. Forcing the boat into the 
grass, which reached a foot or more above the 
water, we found a number of small circular 
openings one hundred feet or more in diameter, 
each fairly covered with nests of the Eared 
Grebe. As we came upon the first colony, 
dozens of Grebes, all in beautiful nesting plum- 
age, were seen on their rafts of floating grass, 
each frantically endeavoring to reach enough 
moss to cover her eggs before diving out of sight 
ing the hours of dark- 
ness in fighting a villain- 
ous breed of mosquitoes 
that made life a burden 
and death by torture 
only a matter of time. 
The season was ad- 
vanced for most of the 
birds, large flocks of 
young Ducks—Rud- 
dies, Cinnamon Teal, 
and Redheads —skirted 
the tule beds, into which 
they scurried at the 
least alarm, leaving their 
parents to divert atten- 
tion by the time- 
honored deception of 
a broken wing; and 
Black-necked Stilts of- 
ten flew to meet us with 
loud, complaining cries, 
while their young, almost as large as their par- 
ents, squatted in the wet grass and trusted to 
their silence to escape notice. 
Many species, however, had not yet finished 
nesting, and among them was the American 
Eared Grebe. Beginning at the northeast end 
of the lake, where the tules were the thickest 
and most promising, we thoroughly explored 
the most likely places the first two days, taking 
quite a series of Coots’ eggs, selecting only those 
that were likely to prove moderately fresh. 
Only three sets of Grebes were found, all in 
rather isolated, small clusters of tules—a float- 
ing bunch of wet, decaying tule stalks and moss, 
A SCENE IN NORTHERN 
(Courtesy of Sports A field.) 
SOUTH DAKOTA. 
to appear again out in the open water. And 
numerous chicks just from the egg dove hastily 
out of sight and escaped in the thick grass. So 
close together were the nests that often three or 
four sets could be taken without moving the 
boat. Most of the eggs were so far advanced 
in incubation that they were not taken, but by 
selecting the cleanest sets and testing them by 
putting them in the water—the freshest float- 
ing—we secured about seventy-five sets, about 
sixty of which were saved in fair condition. 
The sets ranged from one to five (mostly three) 
while those found at the other end of the lake 
were from six to ten. The nests exhibited sur- 
