The Submerged Tenth 



water. Every Grebe dove ; but in a few moments 

 we saw them emerge in large numbers out in the 

 open water beyond. 



Here were the slums of a larger Grebe city than 

 I had seen before, and this time I was in better con- 

 dition to inspect it. There were over a hundred of 

 the little wet mounds close together in a compact 

 area, and no knowing how many more further in 

 through the grass. I did not like to push the boat 

 in, as it would involve the overturning and destruc- 

 tion of a great many nests, so was content with a 

 somewhat superficial examination of the colony. 

 The birds had been able in every case to cover their 

 eggs before retreating. Pulling off the layer of wet 

 debris from a number of the nearer nests, we found 

 that the usual number of the eggs was three, the 

 largest five. Other nests were empty, or with only 

 one or two eggs. 



Then as we looked off, we saw, some distance 

 away, hosts of other Grebes sitting or standing upon 

 their floating nests, and realized that what we were 

 inspecting was only the suburbs of the real city. 

 Toward this we directed the boat. The Grebes, 

 seeing us approach, slid off into the water while we 

 were still at quite a distance, and in squadrons 

 paddled out farther into the lake. Reaching the 

 place, we found that a lane of water, "Broadway," 

 I called it, divided the city into an east and west side. 



On the "east side," along the edge of a tract of 

 grass, the nests were crowded, four or five deep, for 

 some distance. A mass of them, perhaps about 

 thirty, extended in a sort of neck out into the open 

 water. Conditions here, as might be expected, were 



9 



