Nov., 1903 I 
THE CONDOR 
145 
bushes extended in a narrow belt for about two hundred yards in the otherwise 
open water and in them were perched between two to three hundred birds. At 
our first stop the outstretched necks and changing position of some of the birds 
gave evidence of their uneasiness and as w'e waded .still nearer most of them flew 
clumsily down into the open water. After moving out a hundred yards beyond 
the line of bushes they formed a black line on the water where they remained as 
long as we stayed in the vicinity. When the birds became alarmed at our ap- 
proach they began a curious guttural grunting which came in a low continuous 
chorus from those left in the bushes as well as those in the water. The.se notes 
sounded much like the low grunting of a lot of small pigs while feeding. As we 
waded among the bushes the birds which had remained by their nests pitched off 
into the wmter one after the other and swam out to join the main flock; or took 
wing, and after a short detour, came circling close overhead, uttering at short in- 
tervals their guttural notes of alarm or protest. 
Tlie nests were strong platforms placed on forking branches and measured 
about fifteen inches across and four to six inches deep with a shallow depression 
in the top. They were composed entirely of small sticks compactly arranged as is 
shown in detail in the accompanying photographs. From one to half a dozen 
nests were placed in a bush and we planted our tripods in the muddy bottom and 
standing nearly waist-deep in the water secured good pictures before calling up 
the boat and getting abroad. As the bushes were scattered we had no trouble in 
poling about and examining the nests at leisure. Most of them were just com- 
pleted and contained no eggs. Quite a number had a single egg and in a few 
cases two eggs were found. A series of eighteen eggs were taken. They are 
rather small for the size of the bird and have a pale green ground color overlaid 
with the usual chalky white deposit which gives them a greenish white shade. 
Three eggs representing the extremes of variation out of this series measure 
respectively (in millimeters) 55.4 by 33.2; 52.2 by 41.6 and 53 by 34.3. 
After finishing our inspection of the nests we returned to the large boat so 
late that the day breeze failed and left us drifting about the lake all night and 
prevented our reaching town until late the following day. 
On January 5, 1903, we made another visit to this nesting place and with the 
exception of a single young bird recently hatched the nests of the entire colony 
were absolutely empty, so it was evident that the place had been deserted as the 
result of our former visit. Instead of between 200 and 300 birds which we saw on 
our first visit not more than fifty were seen this time. 
The water in the lake and river was unusuallv low this season which may 
account for the presence of this unexpected colony, for the native fishermen 
agreed in saying that these birds only nest in some trees far up the lake shore, and 
sometimes in large willows along the marshy borders of the Lerma near its outlet 
in the lake. However that may be, it was a stroke of good Christmas luck that 
we made this find since the nesting habits of this species appear to be practically 
unknown so far as I have found in published accounts of the species. 
