East Lexington, Mass.
1900.
May 5
(No 2)
  I took the 8.13 train for East Lexington where I
met O. A. Lothrop by appointment our object being 
to find & photograph some Grebes' nests. Lothrop had
engaged a boat but it proved to be so leaky as to
keep one or the other of us at work bailing most
of the time. It was also too broad to go through
the brush easily. Nevertheless by patience & hard work
we explored practically every flooded thicket in
the entire reservoir. The results were disappointing
for we found only one Greebe's nest. Nor did we
hear any Greebes save the pair to which this nest
belonged. The weather, of course, was not favorable for
them to be calling freely but Lothrop & I both
think that they are less numerous than usual &
that possibly the birds whose nest we found are the
only ones. This nest was built in the center of a
small cluster of leafless button bushes & was floating on
water about 2 feet deep. It rocked to & fro and rose
and fell as the waves reached it from a space of open
water near by. It contained 6 eggs. These were covered
when we found it, wholly uncovered when we visited it
an hour later, entirely covered when we passed it on
our way to the landing in the afternoon. We exposed
a number of plates on it during our second visit
spending nearly an hour in this occupation. During this
time the Greebes called every little while, at first
some distance away, gradually working nearer until
they were within 25 or 30 yards. They gave the Cuckoo
call only. We did not see either of them. 
Nest of
Carolina Greebe
84