The American Eared Grebe 



Taken in Siskiyou County 



Photo by William L. Finley and Herman T. Bohlman 

 PORTRAIT OF EARED GREBE 



the open water or its weedy margins sounds the mellow poo-eep poo-eep of 

 these idyllic swains. The sound is given deliberately with a gently rising 

 inflection, but seems to vanish into silence at the end with a sort of saber- 

 like flourish. Now and again some Romeo, more ardent than his mates, 

 bursts into an excited hicko rick'up, hicko rick'up, hicko rick'up. The 

 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. 



How handsome these creatures really are we shall see by the morn- 

 ing light, when a pair of them, accepted lovers, come into our cove in 

 quest of provender. There is no partiality shown by Nature to either 

 sex in the way of wedding garments. The upperparts and head are of 

 shining black, save for the fan-shaped patches on the sides of the face, 

 which are whitish or straw-yellow above and rufescent below, while the 

 sides of the bird, so prominent in a grebe, are pure rufous. The eye is 

 fiery red, so bright as to appear to impart a glow to the face, visible 

 to the naked eye at forty paces. 



Courtship often makes its victims reckless, but the bird recovers 

 caution as it ventures south to winter. Three of these saucy little 



2053 



