GREBES 139 
is now an obsolete expression. In diving, Grebes spring partly from the 
water and plunge downward, headfirst, or sink quietly backward, 
leaving scarce a ripple behind. Returning, they may pop suddenly 
from beneath the surface, or rise slowly and expose only the bill above 
the water, a habit which accounts for many apparently mysterious dis- 
appearances. When under water, Grebes progress usually by aid of the 
feet. With other diving birds, they control their specific gravity by 
inhaling or exhaling air, and it has lately been suggested (Townsend, 
“Labrador Spring,” p. 191) that, by compressing their feathers and expell- 
ing the air between them, the birds become less buoyant when diving. 
Grebes’ nests are usually rafts or islands of water-soaked vegetation. 
They lay from three to nine dull white eggs, which they generally cover 
with the nest-material before leaving. The young are born covered with 
down, which, in most species, has a boldly striped pattern. They swim 
soon after hatching, using the back of the parent as a resting-place. 
Grebes feed chiefly on fish, but eat also various small forms of aquatic 
life and some vegetable matter. Their stomachs usually contain feathers, 
often in astonishing numbers. I have found 331 body feathers of the 
adult Western Grebe in the stomach of a young bird of this species not 
more than three days old. This feather-eating habit has not, I believe, 
ever been explained. The close-plumed, satiny breasts of Grebes have 
long been used for turbans, muffs, capes, etc., and their slaughter for 
commercial purposes, added to the shrinkage in the area of their haunts, 
due to draining and land reclamation, has greatly reduced their numbers. 
KEY TO THE SPECIES 
A. Depth of bill at nostril over °35. 
a. Wing over 6°00 ........-. oes... 2, Hovpawy’s Grese. 
b. Wing under 6:00 .......... ..... 6 Prep-BILLED GREBE. 
B. Depth of bill at nostril lessthan'35.......... 3. Hornep Gress, 
1. Hechmophorus occidentalis (Lawr.). WESTERN GREBE. Neck long 
and slender; no seasonal difference in plumage. Ads.—Crown and hindneck 
black; back brownish gray; underparts satiny white; ee ee of wing- 
quills more or less white. L., 26°00; W., 7°50; B., 2°6 
Range.—W.N. A. Breeds from B. C. +) 8s Sask., aha s. Man. s. to n. 
Calif., Utah, and n. N. D.; winters from s. B. C. s. to cen. Mex., casual 
e. to Nebr., Kans., Wisc., Minn., and Que. 
Nest, in colonies of the stems and leaves of aquatic plants; an attached 
but floating raft, or an island. Eggs, 3-5, pale bluish overlaid with chalky 
white, 2°39 x 1. 55. Date, Devil’s Lake, N. D., June 1. 
The long, slender neck gives to this species a singularly stately 
and swanlike appearance. It is an exquisitely graceful creature, and 
there is to me more beauty in the satiny white and shining black of 
its neck and head than in the ornate breeding costumes of some other 
Grebes. While preening their plumage they often lie on one side in the 
water, when the light flashes from their glistening breasts as it would 
from a mirror. Their call is a loud, double-toned, grating, whistle 
c-r-r-ee, c-r-r-ee—which can be clearly heard when the bird is out of 
