40 THE OREGON SPORTSMAN 



Third, in executing the above, the boys were required to carry a 

 banner furnished by the association, exhorting all boys to help in the 

 work of preserving wild life. On the pole of the banner were the dead 

 birds unlawfully killed, each species labelled as follows: 

 "Bobins, America's national song bird." 

 "Meadowlark, sweetest singer in New Mexico." 

 ''Flicker, who eats the worm that eats the apple that boys like. ,, 

 Crowds of boys followed the exhibit. After the defendants had 

 executed the judge's orders, they agreed to become members of the 

 Boys Club of the Albuquerque Game Protective Association. ''We will 

 give these boys every opportunity to become protectors instead of de- 

 stroyers of birds," said the secretary of the association. "We recog- 

 nize that every boy has as good a right to hunt as any other citizen, 

 but we insist that in so doing he obey the law and grow up into a good 

 sportsman instead of a mere destroyer." 



WESTERN GREBE 



By William L. Finley 



For years, the lake region of Southern Oregon was the most profit- 

 able field in the West for the plume hunter. The Western Grebe was 

 the greatest sufferer. This diver of glistening-white breast and silvery- 

 gray back was sought not without reason. The grebe hunters call the 

 skin of this bird fur rather than feathers, because it is so tough it can 

 be scraped and handled like hide, and because the thick warm plumage 

 seems more like the fur of a mammal than the skin of a bird. These 

 skins when prepared and placed on the market in the form of coats and 

 capes, brought the prices of the most expensive furs. 



Formerly there were immense colonies of Western Grebes living 

 along the north shore of Tule or Ehett Lake, Lower Klamath Lake and 

 Malheur Lake. Plume hunters, however, sought out these big colonies 

 and shot great numbers of the birds during the nesting season, leaving 

 the eggs to spoil and the young to starve to death. This decreased the 

 numbers so rapidly that within a few seasons the birds were exter- 

 minated in places. 



Malheur Lake is a large body of shallow water surrounded on all 

 sides by great stretches of tules. The whole border is a veritable jun- 

 gle, an almost endless area of floating tule islands between which is a 

 network of channels. Here is the typical home of the Western Grebe, 

 in the edge of the tules, the Grebe gathers tule stems and other vegeta- 

 tion, making a floating raft which is anchored among the tule stems. 

 Around the edges of one of these islands, which was two acres in extent, 

 we found between forty and fifty nests. The usual number of eggs 

 was four or five. 



On several occasions, we watched a grebe chick cut his way out of 

 the shell and liberate himself. After he gets his bill through in one 

 place, he goes at the task like clockwork. He turns himself a little 

 and begins hammering in a new place and keeps this up until he has 

 made a complete revolution in his shell. The end or cap of the egg, 

 cut clear around, drops off, and the youngster soon kicks himself out 

 into the sunshine. It doesn't take his coat long to dry, and before long 

 he is able to leave home. 



The grebe parents have an interesting way of taking their young 

 with them. The chicks ride on the backs of the mother or father just 

 under the wing coverts with the head sticking out. Sometimes one may 



