Song Birds and Water Fowl 



interesting pied-billed grebe, whose nest is one 

 of the curiosities of bird-architecture, its foun- 

 dations laid, not in a tree, nor on the ground, 

 but in shallow water, in the form of a heap of 

 matted material, which, as it emerges above the 

 liquid, is hollowed out and finished off with a 

 neatly rounded edge — almost a floating island- 

 home for the five or six chicks that soon appear. 

 The grebe's facility for instantly darting under 

 water and remaining there a long time has given 

 to it the more expressive than elegant f«»^r('- 

 ^«if/ of "Hell-diver." 



But the largest and handsomest specimen 

 among diving birds is the common loon, or 

 great northern diver, breeding farther north, 

 but in winter found throughout the United 

 States. This is of a rich black color, with 

 numerous curious white spots, and partly 

 iridescent violet and green. I will add only 

 one more name to this catalogue — that of the 

 murre, one species of which comes down to 

 our latitude in winter. Multitudes of them 

 gather in their breeding-places on rocky isl- 

 ands, and they are called "egg -birds" for 

 the reason that the eggs are so abundant as to 

 be of great value, and are found lying thickly 

 together, with little or no pretence of a nest. 



68 



