2 BULLETIN 1196, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
the sportsman with heavier equipment, and have earned for grebes 
the common appellations of water-witch, hell-diver, and didapper. 
In diving suddenly grebes spring forward and disappear head fore- 
most, moving so quickly as to be below the surface before a charge 
of shot can reach them. When not alarmed grebes often sink slowly 
beneath the surface, and may remain for some time with only the 
head projecting, maintaining their position through a lateral, rotary 
motion of the strong, broadly lobed feet. 
Under normal conditions grebes are quiet birds, spending their 
time during most of the year, when not feeding, in swimming slowly 
about, resting quietly, or in preening and caring for their plumage. 
During the breeding period they become more active and exhibit | 1) 
many pleasing habits and mannerisms unsuspected from their de- 
meanor at other seasons. Several species have a peculiar “ dance ” 
in which both birds, treading water and calling excitedly, stand bolt 
upright on the surface in an attitude resembling miniature penguins. 
DESCRIPTION. 
The entire form of grebes has been modified in adaptation to their 
watery habitat. The body is long, rather slender, and compressed, 
the plumage close and dense, wholly impervious to moisture, and the 
strong, heavy. legs are at practically the posterior end of the body. 
The apparent position of the legs is accentuated by the form of the 
tail, which is represented by only a few filamentous feathers, so that, 
save on close examination, it appears to be absent. 
The wings are short, and small in surface compared to the weight | 
of the body, so that grebes prefer to trust to their marvelous agility 
in diving to escape pursuit rather than attempt to fly. When flight 
is necessary the birds rise in the air only after gaining momentum by 
paddling with swiftly moving wings and feet for a hundred yards 
or more along the surface of the water. When in the air they have 
a direct, strongly sustained flight which carries them for long dis- 
tances during their extended spring and fall migrations. In diving. 
grebes usually hold the wings in closed position at the sides, but 
they have also been observed to use them in swimming under water. 
NESTS, EGGS, AND YOUNG. 
The nests of grebes are made of masses of decaying vegetation 
piled up in shallow water to form a mound that barely projects above 
the surface. The eggs, laid in a depression on the summit of this 
heap, lie almost in the water; they are often passed unnoted, as the 
female invariably covers them carefully with some of the nest ma- 
terial before leaving, unless frightened away by the sudden appear- 
ance of an intruder. 
On hatching, the down-covered young birds swim readily, with 
the foreneck and breast submerged, so that only the head and 
posterior portion of the back project above the water. They tire 
easily, however, and with plaintive whistles approach the mother, 
who depresses her back, allowing the young to scramble up on this 
living raft, where they take refuge under the long inner feathers 
of her wings while she swims slowly away. (See fig. 4, p. 19.) In 
a few days the young become more expert in the water and hide 
5 a 3 PN IE ER, ge APS 6 he 
— » iy, > 
