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190 THE CONDOR Vol. XXI white spots in the tules across the lake all proved to be Herons, the small white spots at the foot of the tules, l?uddies, and those out on the lake, Gulls. Occasionally during the summer I had caught glimpses of the Eared Grebe on the east side of the lake, so completing the number of those that breed in the northern United States. And on September 2, when, having returned to the farm on north Sweetwater, I drove back with our little school boy to see what was there, I discovered to my great delight? a mother Eared Grebe with the l?ointed crest and dark fall plumage, diving and feeding a half grown young one with a black crown and white throat and breast. Between feedings the little fellow helped himself a bit, putting his head adeptly under water. While I counted the number of times the active mother dived in a minute the school boy held the watch to time her. Six, seven, and six, the record ran, in the three minutes l?efore the pair were hidden by the tules. It was a pretty picture of maternal devotion, the old mother, gentlest and most attractive of all the Grebes, working so tirelessly to care for her little one. The charm of the picture appealed to the child by my side, with a new little brother at home, and as we. turned away he asked gently, "Isn't it dearS" When shown the willow gateway and the platform where the nestling Coot had been, he entered right into the spirit of that, too, as we walked away, saying softly, "That's a nice little place." The morning when the four species of Grebes ?ere disporting themselves outside the tules, hundreds of Ducks passed over from the east about half past nine, an enormous flock of Blue-winged Teal whistling low over my head with their tilting swerving flight, passing on to their feeding grounds at the back of the lake. The Ducks usually began coming earlier in the morning, and when the fields around their open eastern lakes were being harvested, appar- ently fled before the harvesters. As far as I could determine, the Ruddies were not among those who shifted to the open lakes for the night. The largest part of the Ruddy population of the lake, when wind and weather were favorable, were to be found in a quiet cove at the southwestern corner, protected by a border of thick woods and wil- !ows anda wide band of tule. On two days when the cove was empty, it was swept by the wind. My first visit was on a quiet day and with the glass. I counted between a hundred and 'twenty and a hundred and .thirty Ruddies among the brown spots in ?he cove, enumerating only those in which I could actually make out either the white cheek' patches, the ruddy backs, or the spike tails. Another day--August 8--there were still more. There seemed to be a good many females among them and there may have been more than I noted, fop at a distance, unless the spike tails are seen, it is very hard to distinguish these obscure little Ducks. But in my count, the males seemed largely in the majority. Of thirty-nine counted on August 9, twenty-five were adult males, and on August 15, thirty-two males were counted and no females distinguished. From the cove it was an easy swim for the little Ruddies across to the north-west shore. Here there were jungles of cane, six to eight feet high, top- ped with heavy pinkish brown brooms, down whose lanes young families were seen swimming, and patches of high tule leading out with protecting coy-. cr to the main tule islands near the middle of the lake where busy waterfowl were always to be seen. White spots at the base of stands of tule fro m shore to islands attested the popularity of the safe harbor with the Ruddies. Coots and a variety of Ducks were also found here, swimming about with their small families. A Coot who caught sight of me as one of her red-heads started to