£. Lexington.' 
£ aatol4 ge, Mass 
A4 
I took lay first turn on the Great Meadow, East Lexington, In 
a boat this morning, and found a Pied-billed Grebes nest within 
15 minutes, it contained 5 eggs, which 1 delivered to Denton 
this afternoon. The nest, which 1 shall get tomorrow morning, is 
on the water, but attached to button-bushes, perfectly exposed. I 
-i.st and the eggs in it several rods away. The Gallinule 
story over again. i.Iy boat was leaking to the point of sinking, 
so that 1 was unable to look around the meadow further. 
Walter Faxon (letter April 27, 1392 ) v 
£>, Lexington, Mass. 
The Grebe.s nest now reposes before me in a milk-pan It is 
11 4 ” 1U dia “ 0te r> S inches thick; depression for eggs, S inches 
in diameter and 2 '/ % inches deep. The bottom of tho cavity was on 
the level ox the water. The nest is composed of what;I take to be 
yellow water-lily stems mixed with pond-weed and bunches of grass 
etc. pulled up by the roots with the soil attached so that the 
whole mass contains a good deal of mud, which gives to the nest 
great solidity and weight. The whole structure was attached to a 
few stems of button-bush. By sawing off these stems under the nest 
I was able to lift up the whole thing, with the button-bush stems 
lh place. The water in that place was 2> 6- deep. As the nest 
lies on the water it has the appearance of an almost submerged 
Husk-rat ’ s nest, or of a big pan-cake with a shallow cavity nr -w 
in the middle with one*s fist. 
Walter Faxon (letter April 29, 1892). 
7 ? 
