188 
vol. xi r 
NESTING NOTES ON THE ^AMERICAN EARED GREBE AND PIED- 
BILLED QREBE 
By ROBERT B. ROCKWELL 
WITH FIVE PHOTOS BY THE AUTHOR 
I I WOULD be difficult indeed to name a family of common North Amer- 
ican birds which presents more unusual peculiarities in habits and structure 
than does the grebe family. Queer in structure, almost helpless on land, never 
leaving the water except during migration, and bilding a floating nest upon the 
water, where the eggs are hatcht largely by the aid of the sun’s rays, these peculiar 
little spirits of the water present a very radical departure from what the word 
“bird" usually brings to mind. This is particularly true in a semi-arid country 
Fig. 59. NEST AND EGGS OF AMERICAN EARED GREBE: A FEAT STRAGGLING 
AFFAIR OF FLIMSY CONSTRUCTION 
such as Colorado, where suitable habitats are scarce and where the few families of 
similar birds are not found. It was therefore with a great deal of interest that, in 
company with Mr. L- J • Hersey, I studied the habits of these birds for three summers 
among the Barr Lakes near Denver. 
The first birds made their appearance about the middle of April (April 14 is my 
earliest record ) but did not become common until shortly after May 1 . The ear- 
liest nests were noted May 10 (1907) and 11 ( 1908 ) , nests of the American Eared 
( Colymbus n. calif ornicus) and Pied-billed ( Podilymbus pod i ceps) Grebes being 
equally abundant; but as the season) advanced we found that the Pied-billed Grebes 
were nesting in far greater numbers than were their cousins. 
The Eared Grebes’ nests were easily distinguishable by the flimsy and ap- 
parently careless manner in which they were constructed, being very slight, strag- 
