The nests and eggs are described, as they often lead to the identity of a bird. We would suggest that you neatly, and with ink, make a cross against the name of each bird that you see in your locality, and also that you write at the top of the page the date of the arrival and departure of each bird as you note it; these dates vary so much in different localities that we have not attempted to give them. As many will not wish to soil their books we would suggest that they have a leather-covered copy for the library and a cloth one for pocket use.
BIRDS OF THE ROCKIES AND WEST TO THE PACIFIC
DIVING BIRDS—Order Pygopodes.
GREBES—Family Colymbidæ.
WESTERN GREBE.
1. Æchmophorus occidentalis. 25 to 29 inches.
This is the largest of the grebe family. In summer the back of the neck is black, but in winter it is gray like the back.
Nest.—A floating mass of decayed rushes, sometimes attached to the upright stalks; 2 to 5 pale bluish white eggs are laid, usually much nest stained (2.40 × 1.55). Breeding in colonies.
Range.—Western North America, from the Dakotas and Manitoba to the Pacific, and north to southern Alaska.