LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN DIVING BIRDS. 7 
Focd.—Very little seems to be known about the food of the west- 
ern grebe, but it probably lives largely on fish and other aquatic 
animals. Prof. John Macoun (1909) mentions a specimen “that 
had an amphibian (Ambdlystoma navortiwm) 104 inches long in its 
stomach.” It has been known to feed on aquatic grasses, and on the 
seacoast it pursues the schools of small herring. It has a peculiar 
habit, which has never been satisfactorily explained, of filling its 
stomach with great wads of its own body feathers. Dr. Frank M. 
Chapman (1908) says on this subject: 
Possibly the adults may swallow the feathers secured through their fre- 
quent preening, but I am at loss to understand why chicks not more than 
3 days old should have their stomachs tightly stuffed with a ball of their par- 
ents feathers. In the stomach of one I found a compact wad of 238 feathers, 
and in another there were no less than 331. 
Behavior—This grebe, like others of its family, experiences con- 
siderable difficulty in rising from the water, but when once 
under way it is a strong and rapid flyer. It is a curious looking 
bird in flight, with its long neck and slender body stretched out in a 
straight line, with big feet dragging behind and small wings vibrat- 
ing at high speed. It could not be mistaken for anything else, for 
it is in a class by itself. Col. N. S. Goss (1889) writes: 
The birds ride the water lightly, and their silky plumage, slender build, 
long-waving necks, and graceful carriage can but attract the attention of the 
most indifferent of observers. Like all of the race they are expert swimmers 
and divers, and can quietly sink out of sight in the water without an appar- 
ent motion, but their ordinary manner of diving is to spring forward with 
a stroke of their feet, almost clearing the water and disappearing about 3 
feet from the starting point. They are at home on the waves, and it is almost 
impossible to force the birds to take wing, but when in the air they fly with 
great rapidity, with neck and feet stretched out to their full extent, and in 
alighting, often do not attempt to slacken their speed, but strike the water 
with partially closed wings with a force that carries them on the surface 
from 20 to 40 feet. 
It has always been difficult for me to separate the notes of the 
western grebe from the grand chorus of sounds in a thickly popu- 
lated slough, teeming with yellow-headed blackbirds, coots, and 
other water birds, but as nearly as I could learn, it has two dis- 
tinct notes, a shrill piping whistle, suggesting the whistling alarm 
note of the osprey, and a short, rolling croak in a subdued tone. 
Doctor Chapman (1908) says: 
The swan grebe’s voice is a loud, double-toned, whistled ¢-r-r-ee-er-r-r-ee, 
which can be heard distinctly when the bird is beyond reach of the eye in 
the open waters of the lake, and even a poor imitation of this far-reaching 
call brings the lakes of the prairie or plain more clearly before me than the 
memory of the note of any other of their bird inhabitants, 4 
