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192 THI? CONDOR Voh XXl r And then came the best of all--the discovery of a family of three half or three quarters grown young whose mother kept them mostly dose along the protected wooded border of the lake, where, from the high bank above, guard- ing my steps that no crackling twigs might alarm them, and screening mysel? behind tree trunks and low hanging branches, I was able to watch them for teh days, so enjoying one of the pleasantest expe.rienees of the season and see- ing many a pretty family picture as they passed their time as they chose at home, unconscious of observers. The first time I saw them they were followed at a little distance by thc light-cheeked, solitary Horned Grebe that I had often seen swimming quietly by itself about the lake. Unobtrusively the Solitary One followed the Happy Family, as if it enjoyed watching their pretty ways. One of the brood kept close to his mother, talking continuously in weak infantile tones, sometimes hinting that he wanted food or a ride, but more often showing that he just wanted his mother--a real mother's baby! Once their two heads were reflect- ed, making a sweet maternal picture. And again the mother raised her head to let the little one pass under her bill. He swam part of the time dose to her neck, which gave her a sweet protecting air. When another of the brood swam up beside her, Little Talkative kept right on. In preening herself Mother Hol- bcell had left a white feather sticking out on her side and the little fellow catch- ing sight of it swam close and tweaked at it so hard that she had to swim out of his reach. Before starting to feed her brood, the old Grebe, to my amazement and chagrin, deliberately swam out at the lonely little Solitary One with such men- ace that it dived and disappeared from the neighborhood. How could she have done such a thing ? I found myself looking at her with indignant protest. But .--she had probably suffered from hungry onlookers before and was simply fol- lowing Nature's command that the family must be preserved, at whatever cost. It is so easy to ji?dge of one's neighbor quite apart from.her relation to the universe. ' Mother Holbmll, now having the world to herself, began diving for weed. When she came up wet, she sometimes rose and showed big white patches at the back of her wings, and dried her head by rubbing it on her back. When she brought a streamer of green weed she would shake it before passing it on to the young. On rare occasions, greatly to the astonishment of the waiting three, she would swallow it herself. This was undoubtedly because they did not seem very hungry. After eating a little they laid thei heads down on their backs as the Western Grebes do, but in this ease the oval front, instead of white, was a pale reddish brown. While their mother was feeding them, an- other adult whom I surmised was the father of the family, was seen on the out- skirts bathing and diving, after which he swam away with a long narrow wake. When I went on down to the cove I found another Holbmll family there-- a parent with two nearly grown young. One of the young turned on his side to preen, showing the white Grebe breast, and then the brothers swam off by themselves, diving independently. When they had gone far enough, however, a loud peremptory ker'r'r-kar'r-kar'r recalled them, and as their parent wait- ed, with quick obedience they started to swim back. One stopp.ed a moment for a dive,? but then, as if feeling guilty, hurried on with the green weed un- eaten in his bill. Returning along the erest of the .wooded bank, at the highest point I could look off over lake and Conlee, and out across the prairie, with the glass