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II0 THE CONDOR Vol. XXI not time the diving then, but later, when she seemed to be feeding much more slowly, she dived and fed five times in a minute. She often dived with a splash that sent the ripples circling out, so that when she came up she fed the little one inside the rings. Generally the mother swam over or handed the food to the little one, but sometimes he reached out to take it for himself. While this Coot, on the opposite side of the Coulee from me, proeui?ed food mainly by div- ing, a parent in the thick water plants o? my side of the Coulee fed exclusively, so far as I observed, from the surface plants; and as I found both parents and young in the same places doing the same things at different visits, I inferred that each adult had its favorite method and feeding ground. Out in the clear water of the middle of the Coulee,. one day, I found two old Coots a few feet apart, diving and feeding hairy young, one a single one, the other, two. The value of the conspicuously colored heads of these nestling chicks was demonstrated when a family was being fed in the dark shade of the cat-tails; for I, at least, could never have differentiated them from their shadows. When the nestling plumage is lost, the young are better able to fend for, themselves, besides which they talk so much that it would be hard indeed for their parents to lose track of them. A half grown, gray-headed youngster, crossing the Cou- lee, one day, seemed to keep its bill set open, giving vent to incessant weak cries. Its parent, following a short distance behind acted as if the iteration got on its nerves, swimming at the loquacious one with such an exasperated tlqreat- ing ?nanner that it dived to get out of the way. In this Coulee nursery, the Coots were so generally seen doing something strenuous, forging ahead with curved neck outstretched expectantly, or rapidly diving and feeding young, that'it was a pleasure to see one standing at rest, round and gray in a green eat-tail doorway, looking motherly and comfortable. The voices of young Coots and Pied-billed Grebes were those most com- monly heard along the Coulee. One of the striped necked Pied-bills that I hap- pened on was revolving around its parent's bill, teasing in infantile tones; but the hard-hearted parent continued to plume her feathers as if unconscious of its presence. Two other young Pied-bills made a pretty picture sitting side by side on the water between the foot of a cluster of cat-tails and its reflection. After a little they followed their parent into the green labyrinth, coming out into a cat-tail cove where they sat apparently enjoying the sun, as well they might, for although it was August 11 by the calendar, my fingers became cold writing down notes. A Pied-bill to which I came too close fidgeted so nervously that a self-possessed Ruddy Duck, sitting on the water behind it watched it scornfully--if one dare judge by attitudes--and finally made a rush at it for its foolishness, at which it disappeared below. Ruddies dominated one section of the narrow part of the Coulee. Quite a little fleet went swimming by one day--eight downy young with dark crowns and dark lines through the eye, five adult drakes, and three ducks. Much to my surprise some of the blue-billed drakes were going through the curious an- tics that had marked the June season of courtship, and although this was Aug- ust, the rattle of their castanets was often heard. Once I saw two drakes facing each other, going through their ludicrous performances. Another time when a peaceable looking neighbor Ruddy was sitting quietly on the water doing noth- ing to provoke him, a belligerent drake went through the whole role--did chin exercise, his haughtily arched head and forward pointing spike tail almost meeting, ruffled up the feathers of his back, pressed down his tail and made an excited rush through the water at the onlooker.