Grebes 



Season — Common migrant in spring and fall. Winters from New 

 Jersey and southern Illinois southward. 



The most abundant species of the family in the eastern United 

 States, particularly near the Atlantic, the pied-billed grebes are 

 far from being maritime birds notwithstanding. Salt water that 

 finds its way into the fresh-water lagoons of the Gulf States, or 

 the estuaries of our northern rivers, is as briny as they care to 

 taste; and although so commonly met with near the sea, they are 

 still more common in the rivers, lakes, and ponds inland, where 

 tall reeds and sedges line the shores and form their ideal hunting 

 and nesting grounds. The grebes and loons are not edible, nor 

 are they classed as game birds by true sportsmen; nevertheless 

 this bird is often hunted, although the sportsman finds it a wary 

 victim, for there is no bird in the world more difficult to shoot 

 than a "water-witch." One instant it will be swimming 

 around the lake apparently unconcerned about the intruder; 

 the next instant, and before aim can be taken, it will have 

 dropped to unknown depths, but presumably to the infernal re- 

 gions, the sportsman thinks, as he rests meditatively upon his 

 gun, waiting for the grebe to reappear in the neighborhood, which 

 it never dreams of doing. It will swim swiftly under water to a 

 safe distance from danger; then, by keeping only its nostrils ex- 

 posed to the air, will float along just under the surface and leave 

 its would-be assassin completely mystified as to its whereabouts 

 — a trick the very fledglings practice. It is amazing how long a 

 grebe can remain submerged. In pursuing fish, which form its 

 staple diet; in diving to escape danger, to feed, to loosen water- 

 weeds for the construction of its nest, among its other concerns 

 below the surface, it has been missed under water for five minutes, 

 and not at all short of breath on its return above at the end of that 

 time. Fresh-water mollusks, newts, winged insects, vegetable 

 matter, including seeds of wild grain and some grasses, vary the 

 bird's fish diet. 



Ungainly and ill at ease on land, in fact, almost helpless 

 there, a grebe rarely ventures out of the water either to sleep or to 

 nest. The young rest on their mother's back after their first swim- 

 ming lessons that are begun the hour they are hatched ; but they 

 quickly become wonderfully expert and independent of every- 

 thing except water: that is their proper element. Nevertheless 

 they can fly with speed and grace, though with much working 



12 



