BIRDS FOUND IN BAYOUS AND MARSHES 87 



to support it. It is fastened securely, and usually rises several inches 

 above the surface of the water. 

 : 5 to 10 ; soiled greenish white, Size 1.70 X 1.18. 



This, the most abundant of the grebes, is the one 

 usually shot for its plumage. It breeds commonly in 

 Los Angeles County, California, and about San Fran- 

 cisco Bay. Its common names express well its mar- 

 vellous powers of diving and remaining for a long time 

 under water, where it swims easily and rapidly with just 

 the tip of its bill exposed. On land it is, like all grebes, 

 awkward and helpless, and, as one author says, looks 

 more like a tiny kangaroo than a bird. Possibly on 

 account of its helplessness when on tlie nest, it has 

 formed the habit of covering the eggs with decaying 

 vegetation during the daytime and leaving them to be 

 cherished by the artificial heat, and of returning to brood 

 them during the night. Certainly these little Grebes are 

 never found on their nests during sunny days, and in 

 California June days are always sunny. In Oregon, on 

 dark cold days, they are close sitters, and it is an odd 

 sight to see them jump into the water at any distance 

 and disappear with scarcely a ripple. They breed 

 abundantly throughout California in the more sheltered 

 ponds and inland lakes, requiring only that there shall 

 be tule, rushes, or flags to form a platform for the slimy 

 structure called a nest. The young Grebes attempt to 

 dive as soon as hatched, but rarely succeed in submerg- 

 ing their entire bodies at the first trial ; and their plumage, 

 like that of the adults, seems to be waterproof, for never 

 a wet feather do they show on emerging. The Pied- 

 billed Grebe is a much shyer bird than either the West- 



