THE-C < .™°R 
jL-sh.KGKzisse.- o: 
«n ass ejm •oi'vi\rsi>oXt o sy- 
Volume XVII I 
September-October, 1916 
Number 5 
MORE BIRD NOTES FROM BIG BEAR VALLEY, 
SAN BERNARDINO MOUNTAINS 
By WRIGHT M. PIERCE 
WITH FIVE PHOTOS BY THE AUTHOR 
T HE TIME from June 19 to June 30, 1916, inclusive, was spent in field 
study by the writer at Big Bear Lake, altitude 6750 feet, in the San 
Bernardino Mountains, California. Most of the time was taken in work- 
ing along the south side of the lake and up into the little canyons in that 
locality. However, trips were made to the east end of Bear Lake and Baldwin 
Lake, and also to Bluff Lake, 7575 feet altitude. From the some sixty or more 
species observed, with many nesting records, the following seem to deserve 
mention. 
Colymbus nigricollis californicus. American Eared Grebe. Eared grebes were 
quite common in many of the little coves and bays, but only two breeding colonies 
were located on Bear Lake, one of probably forty nests containing from one to eight 
eggs each in a little bay near the I. S. Ranch found June 22, and another small colony 
at the east end of Bear Lake, June 26. The nests in the colony near the I. S. Ranch 
were poorly constructed, almost flat with scarcely any cup, the eggs usually lying in 
the water, and the whole loose mass rather insecurely fastened to the branches of sev- 
eral fallen pines floating in the water or in the weeds close to the shore. In the water 
under several of the nests were eggs which had fallen off probably as the birds climbed 
on their frail nest platforms or left them with undue haste. As many as nine eggs 
were found under one nest, and I think it safe to say that at least a hundred eggs in 
this one colony were lodged on the bottom beneath the nests. As we approached in a 
boat I saw several of the birds hastily covering their eggs before leaving. This was 
the main breeding colony on Bear Lake; only a few scattered nests were seen in other 
places and a small colony of perhaps a dozen nests at the east end of the lake. In 
striking contrast to the nests of the above colony were the nests in a colony of prob- 
ably two hundred located at the west end of Baldwin Lake, June 25. Here the nests 
were well built, with a distinct cup, and raised at least four inches from the water. 
Hundreds of the old birds with young were swimming about just off-shore. A few 
