WINGED ROBBERS AND NEST-BUILDERS. 1 59 



of birds is content to call his home, and here in its 

 lofty stronghold, year after year, if undisturbed, it 

 returns, and with more or less repairing of the old 

 house, rears again its young. 



The eggs have very thick shells and are usually 

 three, though sometimes not more than two are 

 laid. They are dull white, and many specimens 

 are blotched with brown. In the breeding season 

 these robbers are noisy, as if protesting against the 

 home restraint. What a wild, savage scream is 

 that sent forth from its carnivorous throat ! " like a 

 prolonged blast or whistling of the wind through 

 a crevice in the sky." It is the counterpart of the 

 howl of the wolf or the screech of the panther ; a 

 voice that suggests excessive pain and tearing of 

 flesh. I imagine at such times the hare leaps 

 swiftly to its covert and the doe becomes anxious 

 for the safety of her young and tender fawn. 



All of the grebes have interesting habits. Al- 

 though they are great water lovers and very skill- 

 ful swimmers and divers, they do not have webbed 

 feet like the ducks, gulls, petrels, and many other 

 water fowl. The toes are connected only at the 

 base, but are widely margined on the inner side 

 with tough skin, rounded and broader at the nail- 

 like claws, each resembling an oar blade. 



