. The birds of Ohio; a complete scientific and popular description of the 320 species of birds found in the state . is reason is almost unknown to eye in its own breed-ing haunts. Dr. Langdons account of their breeding in the northern part of the state^is still the best extant, and I repeat a few paragraphs by permission: 1 Summer Birds of a Northern Ohio Marsh by Frank W. Langdon. Journal of the Cincinnati Snc nfNat. Hist. Vol. III., No. 3, October, 1880; p. 231. -innau aoc. ot THE PIED-BILLED GREBE. 633 The little floating island of decaying vegetation held together by mudand moss, which con
. The birds of Ohio; a complete scientific and popular description of the 320 species of birds found in the state . is reason is almost unknown to eye in its own breed-ing haunts. Dr. Langdons account of their breeding in the northern part of the state^is still the best extant, and I repeat a few paragraphs by permission: 1 Summer Birds of a Northern Ohio Marsh by Frank W. Langdon. Journal of the Cincinnati Snc nfNat. Hist. Vol. III., No. 3, October, 1880; p. 231. -innau aoc. ot THE PIED-BILLED GREBE. 633 The little floating island of decaying vegetation held together by mudand moss, which constitutes the nest of this species, is a veritable ornithologicalcuriosity. Imagine a pancake of what appears tO be mud, measuring twelveor fifteen inches in diameter, and rising two or three inches above the water,which may be from one to two feet in depth; anchor it to the bottom with afew concealed blades of saw-grass, in a little open bay, leaving its circum-ference entirely free; remove a mass of wet muck from its rounded top, andyou expose seven or eight soiled brownish-white eggs, resting in a depression. Taken on the Licking Reservoir. ttioto by the Author. IN THE HAUNTS OF THE GREBE. the bottom of which is less than an inch from the water; the whole mass isconstantly damp. This is the nest of the Dabchick, who is out foraging inthe Marsh, or perhaps is anxiously watching us from some safe cover near anchoring blades of coarse saw-grass or flags, being always longerthan is necessary to reach the bottom, permit of considerable lateral and ver-tical movement of the nest, and so effectually provide against drowning ofthe eggs by any ordinary rise of the water level, such as frequently occurs dur-ing the prevalence of strong easterly winds on the lake. A small bunch ofsaw-grass already growing in a suitable situation is evidently selected as anucleus for the nest, and the tops bent so as to form a part of it. 634 THE LOON. During the day we invariably found the eggs c
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