Page:Condor21(1).djvu/7

 THE CONDOK Vol, XXI mentous water plant that suggested fine green seaweed, and waiting to see if the little fellow could manage it, finally helped him out with it. When one Red Top had had his portion, sometimes another would come up to take his turn, and once two of the quaint little Cootlings came together to swim close to their mother's bill. Several times when fed they dropped part )f what she had given them and she had to reach down and pick it up for them. A pretty picture she made when reaching around one by her si. de to feed him--as if she were putting a motherly arm around him. But the most interesting thihg I saw was when she was diving a few feet out from the bank. Several times as she started away from the brood, one of the small Red Tops climbed up on her back for a ride. When he had gone far enough, she would rise and give a shake, and off he would go; whereupon she would dive and he would swim back to the bank. When both parent,s started to swim across the Coulee at one time, the rear one had a youngster on his back; and in the same way, when part way across, the small rider was quietly un- seated. '['he parent which I imagined to be the father--down the canes a few rods --went out and dived several times and when his followers did not appear, ate what he had brought, himself; though later he dutifully hunted them up to feed them. After a time, however, when the mother, if it were she, was diving by the shore, the father, if it were he, swam off alone across the Coulee to take a well-earned rest. Meanwhile a young Coot, doubtl'ess belonging to another brood, as it had lost most of the red of the head and was larger than those I had been watching, on sceing a motherly looking Duck swim by, started to follow; upon which tle old Coot who was still patrolling the shore immediately swam down the line of canes and recalled all straying nestlings. That she vas patrolling the shore and teaching caution was very evident. When a familiar Duck flew close o'erhead no one paid any attention, but when a'strange hoarse note--probably from a Holbcell Grebe--was heard, the young promptly disappeared in the canes. And when a Marsh Hawk flew over calling, the mother made a perti- nent remark that apparently kept the brood close to the protecting cover, while she swam outside looking carefully both ways. When a red necked Hol- bcell came up from below on her side of the Bridge, she eyed him intentiy, swimming alongside the canes with her brood till entirely satisfied. When a Bittern with wide brown wings flapped low across the water, the Coulee was suddenly bare of all inhabitants, and I inferred that he was an unusual visitor. The Grebe which excited the scrutiny of the mother Coot, was seen two or three times from the Bridge, and its cluck was given as it came up from be- low, its black crown so wet that it flattened widely. Beside its cli. ck its "crow note" was heard once. In preening it leaned over showing the characteristic white Grebe breast, and when it went below, large ripples circled out from its vanishing point. It was probably a visitor from the west Sweetwater lakes, for when 1 saw it last it was swimming down the Coulee toward the lake. As it swam it helped itself in the familiar manner, moving its neck back and forth. While the Coulee was bare, one day, two small Grebes with the pointed crests and gentle ways of the Eared came up from below and swam along side. by side, a line of light running down their wake over the water. Looking just alike, diving simultaneously, coming up nearly together and swimming so close together that they made the point of a wedge for one ripping wake, they sug-