10 BULLETIN 107, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 
Nesting.—Throughout the month of June, 1918, we found a great 
many nests of this grebe in various localities in this region. Al- 
though it frequented the vicinity of the same swamps, 1n which the 
western grebes and horned grebes were breeding, we did not find any 
nests of Holbecell’s grebe actually in the canes (Phragmites com- 
munis). All of the nests we found were in more open situations 
and were more or less widely scattered. On June 7 we found, what 
might almost be called a colony, seven nests, in an extensive tract of 
short, dead, broken-down flags and reeds which extended out into 
the lake for a hundred yards or more near the entrance to the river. 
As the water was 3.or 4 feet deep, I had to work from a canoe.and _ , 
experienced some difficulty in photographing the nests; for, with the 
tripod standing in the water, the camera was but little above the 
surface. Even in such an open situation the nests were surprisingly 
inconspicuous and it required the practised eye of my guide to locate 
most of them. They were generally placed where the broken-down 
reeds (Scirpus lacustris) were thickest and often where they were 
so matted together that it was difficult to push a canoe through them. 
They were low, flat, carelessly built structures, raised but slightly 
above the surface, in which the eggs were wet and almost awash, 
and were made of dead and rotten reeds and flags, water mosses, 
algae and other drift rubbish. The eggs were usually wholly or 
partially covered with the nesting material. During several visits 
to this locality I saw but one Holbeell’s grebe near its nest and only 
occasionally in the distance; though I lay in wait for them for a 
long time at some little distance in the canes. 
It is certainly one of the shyest of the water birds. Its hearing 
must be very acute; for only rarely could I surprise one in the 
marshes, when it would disappear instantly. What few birds I saw 
were generally swimming at a distance, singly or in pairs, often far 
out on the lake, where they always dove long before I could get 
within gunshot range. Only once did I succeed in surprising one 
on its nest and get a fleeting glimpse. Mr. Herbert K. Job had 
located a nest in a little cove on a nearby pond; we approached it 
cautiously, paddling silently around a little point and into the cove; 
we were just in time to see the grebe stand up in the nest, hastily 
attempt to cover the eggs, glide off into the water, and disappear in 
the reeds so quickly that we could hardly realize what had happened. 
This was a larger, better built, and probably a more typical nest than 
those described above; it was floating in water about 3 feet deep 
and anchored near the edge of growing flags (Typha latifolia) and 
reeds (Scirpus lacustris); it measured 24 inches in diameter, the 
inner cavity was 6 inches across and slightly hollowed, and the rim 
was built up 2 or 8 inches above the water; it was made principally 
of dead reeds and flags, with a few green stems of the same, matted 
