EAST LEXINGTON, MASSACHUSETTS 
1899 
^May 6 
Took the 8,34 train to East Lexington where I met 
0. A. Lothrop and A. H. Hathaway by appointment. They had 
brought their boat in a wagon and had launched it in the 
flooded meadow where we were to spend the forenoon looking 
from 
for Grebes* nests. Within fifteen minutes j>f the time we 
Nesting; of 
left the shore we found two, one with 7, the other with 8 
Pied-bill 
eggs. Both were in thickets of Sweet Gale, within thirty 
Grebe 
• 
yards of the railroad embankment, anchored securely among 
the stems of the bushes but floating in clear water about 
two feet deep. The set of seven was uncovered, that of 
eight almost completely hidden by a thin layer of moss and 
water-plants which the bird had evidently drawn over the 
eggs just before leaving them. Both nests were very neat 
and compact and very buoyant, also, as I found by pressing 
them down with my hand. The eggs lay in a saucer-shaped 
depression, the bottom of which was only slightly (less than 
an inch) above the surface of the water. The entire nest 
was soaking wet and its materials fresh and green save on 
the very top where there was a thin layer of light brown 
material that gave it the appearance of floating meadow 
"trash". Each nest was almost perfectly round and the 
covered one was slightly dome-shaped but its top rose 
scarce two inches above the water and it would not have 
attracted the attention of any one who was unfamiliar with 
the Grebe's peculiar manner of nesting. Indeed I did not 
see either nest until it was pointed out to me, although 
