NEaTS AND EGGS OF 



vicinity of the nesM, and they 

 Bwam away with their heads and 

 necks above water, making a 

 Knd of cackling noise. In their 

 habits they resemble the Loon, 

 diving or swimming under water 

 ■with the greatest ease; and, when 

 on the wing, they fly with won- 

 derful rapidity for birds of their 

 nature. The eggs of this species 

 are from 2' to 5 in number, ellip- 

 tical oval in shape, very pale 

 "bluish green in color; and, like all 

 Grebes' eggs, the surface is 

 stained a light brown, or very 

 much soiled by contact with the 

 decomposed vegetable matter of 

 the nests. Mr. Walter B. Bryant, 

 of Oakland, Gala., has a set of 5 

 eggs in his collection, which were 

 taken at Washoe Lake, Nevada, 

 in the laj;ter part of May. These 

 measure as follows: 59k39, 63s33, 

 58.5x38, 60x38, 59x39.5 'mm.* 

 Three sets in my collection, two 

 of five eggs and one of four, taken 

 by Mr. Stebbins, measure: 2.32x 

 1.58, 2.40x1.57, 2.50x1.63, 2.46x1.58, 

 2.48x1.60; 2.14x1.48, 3.21x1.54, 2.30 

 Xl.63, 2.29x1.58, 2.28x1.53; 2.44x1.52, 2.37x1.47, 2.52x1.44, 2.45x1.47. The bird known as 

 Clark's Grebet is probably the female of JE. occidentalis.t - Its habitat is given as 

 Western North America, chiefly along the Pacific coast. The bird and its eggs are 

 recorded as averaging smaller than types of oocidentaUs. 



h Western Gtsebe. 



S. HOLBCELL'S GREBE. Colymbus noTbaillu (Reinh.) Geog. Dist— North 

 America at large, includihg Greenland. Also Eastern Siberia, and southward to 

 Japan. Breeds in high latitudes, migrating south in winter. 



In the large bodies of water, the little bayous and sloughs, rivers and grassy 

 pools from "Northern Maine to Greenland; from the swamps of the Red River Valley 

 of the North, and again, westerly, and northward to the margins of the placid lakes 

 that border the great Yukon River in Alaska, and beyond, this Grebe makes its sum- 

 mer home.§ In the Pur Countries it breeds in lonely and retired places, such as in the 

 tussocks of wiry grass that border the Waterhen River and Long Lake in Manitoba. 

 It is said to breed abundantly at these places, and often where it is quite common 

 during the breeding season, its presence may not be detected after many weeks' stay 

 about its haunts. The nest Id built similar to that of the common Dabchick, and like 



* 2.32x1.54, 2.48x1.50, 3.36x1.50, 2.32x1.56 inches. 



t Placed In the "Hypothetical List" cC t:--5 A. O. IT. Check-List. 



tCt. Henshaw, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Club, M, 1881, pp. 214-218; B. B. and B., Water BlldS 

 N. Am., H, p. 423; Bryant, Auk., II, pp. 313-314. - 



§ The sunjmer home of a bird is generally understood to be its breeding plane. 



