28 BULLETIN 107, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 
birds spread freely all over the lake irrespective of their nesting haunts, and 
so numerous are they that at times they maintain a chorus of the volume and 
persistency of that furnished by a first-class frog pond in March. 
Nesting —In the shallow, marshy lakes of the western plains the 
eared grebe breeds in extensive colonies, populous thickly settled 
communities, which my companion, Mr. Herbert K. Job, used to call 
“cities of the submerged tenth.” None of the other small grebes 
breeds in such large or such densely populated colonies, in which it 
is often impossible to pole a canoe, or even to wade, without over- 
turning the nests. Often times there are only narrow lanes of 
water, through which the inhabitants may come and go to their 
respective, domiciles; yet they never seem to quarrel in the narrow 
streets or experience any difficulty in finding their own homes. When 
disturbed, by human intrusion, they slip off their nests into the 
water, often without diving and swim out into the lake, where they 
gather in a large flock and quietly watch proceedings. They are 
always in evidence about their nesting colonies and are not nearly 
as shy as the pied-billed grebes. The pied-billed grebe nests in small 
scattered colonies and the horned grebe usually singly or in widely 
separated nesting sites. Neither of them ever nests, so far as I know, 
in dense colonies like the eared grebe. Moreover the nests of the 
eared grebe are almost always in open situations, whereas the nests 
of the other two species are usually more or less concealed in some 
kind of vegetation. The nests of the eared grebe are also smaller 
and less elaborately built than those of the pied-billed or the horned 
grebes. Mr. B. F. Goss (1883) gives us a very good illustration of 
this, as follows: 
The eared grebe breeds in communities. The first colony that I found was in 
a small lake in northern Dakota. The nests were built on floating débris about 
15 rods from shore, where the water was perhaps 3 feet deep. Old flag leaves, 
rushes, reeds, etc., had been driven by the wind into the point of a bay, forming 
a mass 2 or 3 inches deep and several square rods in extent. This mass was 
firm enough to hold up the birds in most places, but was full of holes where they 
could dive through. There were at at least 25 nests on an area of 10 by 20 
feet. They were made of partly decayed moss and reeds brought up from the 
bottom, and were small, not more than a handful of material to a nest. 
Mr. A. W. Anthony (1896) describes a colony in southern Cali- 
fornia as follows: 
Halfway down the lake the marsh grass was found to extend in a broad 
band entirely across from shore to shore, and the water was of a uniform depth 
of about 18 inches. Forcing the boat into the grass, which reached a foot or 
more above the water, we found a number of small circular openings 100 feet 
or more in diameter, each fairly covered with nests of the eared grebe. As we 
came upon the first colony, dozens of grebes, all in beautiful nesting plumage, 
were seen on their rafts of floating grass, each frantically endeavoring to 
reach enough moss to cover her eggs before diving out of sight to appear 
