July, x9o 7 THE GREBES OF SOUTHERN OREGON 99 American Eared Grebe. On both sides of the Klamath River is a vast area of low land covered at this season with two or three feet of water. Here we found an occasional nest of the American Eared Grebe ( Colymbus nigricollis californicus), but nowhere did this bird nest in colonies. The nests were made of rotten weeds that had been pulled together and left floating on the surface. During the day the parents always seemed to be away and the eggs were covered with a layer of wet weeds. It had always been a wonder to me how eggs could ever be hatched when they were lying partially in the water and covered with the damp reeds. I pulled off the top covering and felt under- neath, and the platform was warm all the way thru, even to the water below. The heat of the sun on the decay- ing reeds warms the whole nest so that the eggs are kept about at body heat. The nests of the Western Grebe were, as a rule, built up of dry reeds higher out of the water than those of the Eared Grebe. I never saw a case where this bird covered its eggs with reeds while it was away. Many times we saw them sitting on their eggs during the day. In other eases, they seemed to leave the eggs to be hatched out partly by the sun. The usual number of eggs we found in a set were three and four, altho we often found six and seven. In several cases, we found places among the dry tules where an extra large set of eggs had been laid. We saw sixteen eggs in one set, but there had been no attempt at a nest, and the eggs had never been incubated. On two or three different occasions, we watched one of NEST OF WESTERN GREBE; ONE EGG SHOWS CIRCULAR ROW OF NICKS, AND IS ALMOST REAI) ? HATCH the little Western Grebes cut his way out of the shell and liberate himself. The wall of his prison is quite thick for a chick to penetrate, but after he gets his bill thru in one place, he goes at the task like clock work and it only takes him about half an hour after he has smelled the fresh air to liberate himself. After the first hole, he tums himself a little and begins hammering in a new place and he keeps this
