The American Eared Grebe 



Colonial nesting is more characteristic, and identification under such 

 circumstances is easy. I have touched a dozen nests with an ordinary 

 two-bladed paddle while my canoe was at rest. On the other hand, 

 solitary nests may occur almost anywhere, even miles from conspecific 

 neighbors. The eggs of the two species are absolutely indistinguishable 

 in size and color, but the Eared Grebe is a little less prolific. Four or 

 five eggs usually constitute a set, as against the seven or eight of 

 P. podiceps. Nests are usually placed in open water, and are oftener 

 floating islands than solid pyramids of decaying vegetation. The mater- 

 ials used are fresher, consisting of the uptorn roots of sedges and the 

 stems of various water-plants, especially those of the Yellow Water-weed 

 {Jussiaa calif ornica) . This floating platform is shallow, scarcely in- 

 dented, and not sufficiently elevated to lift the eggs altogether clear of 

 the water. Incubation is by sufferance of several kindly fates: a sun 

 warm, but not too hot; water not too cold and not too rough; and, above 

 all, absence of those skulking terrors, muskrats and raccoons. 



In all this a dozen points of contrast and difference from P. podi- 

 ceps arise; and yet the author is willing to wager a choice set of supposed 

 Eared Grebe eggs, that the first grebe's nest you find in water, say, 

 three feet deep, will stump you for identification. 



Taken in Santa Barbara 



FRATERNIZATION 



PIED-BILLS TO LEFT, EAREDS TO RIGHT. 



Photo by the Author 



2056 



