LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN DIVING BIRDS. 17 



the horse gutteral croaks and grunts of the coots, with many varia- 

 tions, furnished the necessary accompaniment to the chorus. But 

 the real striking features of the concert, the solo parts, were the 

 weird cries of the Holbcell's grebes, heard only at infrequent inter- 

 vals. The performance begins with a series of loonlike wailing 

 cries, loud and piercing at first, and then runs off into a series of 

 short, plaintive, vibrating wails, " ah-ooo, ah-ooo, ah-ooo, ah-ah-ah- 

 dhrohf sometimes it ends in a more staccato, chattering trill and 

 might be indicated thus: ^'■whaaa, whaaa, whaaa, whaaa, wJiaaa, 

 chitter-r-r-r-r-r-r." There is considerable variation in the length 

 and form of the song in different individuals. The love song of the 

 Holbcell's grebe may be heard at any time during the day or night, 

 but it is indulged in more freely in the early morning and toward 

 the dusk of evening. 



Mrs. Lizzie T. Burt described the notes of an adult bird, which 

 was captured on the ice near my home on February 14, 1913, as loud 

 trumpetings, suggesting the cries of the loon and resembling the 

 sound made by what is known as a Gabriel's horn on an automobile. 

 This grebe has several other notes, one of which is aptly described by 

 Mr. SiUoway (1902), as follows: 



It is a coarse, prolonged nasal quonk, the nasal quality being most pre 

 nounced, the intonation being very suggestive of the braying of a donliey. 

 Indeed, the natives call this grebe the " jack driver," and anyone familiar 

 with the nasal volume of tone produced by G. holboelU will readily admit the 

 appropriateness of the popular name. 



Mr. W. L. Dawson (1909) refers to its notes as follows : 



Owing to the furtive habits of the various swamp dwellers, it is often diffi- 

 cult to distinguish notes, but I have attributed a harshly raucous oatoack, 

 wwwack caaimorrack heard in June upon the Pend d'OrelUe Kiver to this 

 species. It is generally similar to the yark of the horned grebe but has several 

 times the volume. 



Mr. Allan Brooks (1903) says that in British Columbia, where 

 both species are abundant, the Holboell's grebe " wages incessant 

 war upon" the horned grebe, "the large birds diving and coming 

 up beneath the smaller ones time and again to the terror of the poor 

 little fellows, who often desert their nests in consequence." It must 

 be a formidable foe with such a sharp and powerful beak. When 

 once it has passed the downy young stage it must be weU able to 

 defend itself and escape from its enemies. 



Pall, — ^During the migrations I have always found this grebe to 

 be a solitary species, but, according to others, it seems to be more 

 or less gregarious at times. Mr. John Macoun (1909) speaks of 

 " large flocks seen on Prince Edward Island, August 7, 1888." On 

 the Pacific coast it more often congregates in flocks on the migra- 

 tions and during the winter, though I doubt if it actually flies in 



