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Tolerably common summer resident in Red River Valley, chiefly towards the northward, as follows: Quite common at Shoal Lake, near Lake Manitoba, and less so at Redburn (Hine). A rare summer resident along Red River (Hunter). Breeding in vast numbers at Shoal Lake and Lake Manitoba, not elsewhere (D. Gunn). “Clark’s Grebe,” Shoal Lake (Brewer). Breeding on Lake Manitoba and very abundantly in the marshes of Waterhen River, between it and Lake Winnepegosis. I took great numbers of eggs on Waterhen River and the south end of Waterhen Lake (Macoun).

I did not meet with this bird in any part of western or southern Manitoba, but at Winnipeg I was shown several specimens taken near Redburn, where it is somewhat common, and others from Shoal Lake, where it is quite plentiful. These facts, together with the following statement by Professor Macoun, are the more interesting when we consider that for a long time this grebe has been considered a bird of the Pacific region.

In his work on the Northwest, Professor Macoun writes:

On Waterhen River and Lake the Western and Red-necked Grebes breed in great numbers. Their nests are built on the old sedges and rise and fall with the water. Here the Indians collect large numbers of eggs in the proper season, and one old fellow, last season, astonished me by the remark that he could have fresh eggs all summer. On inquiry I learned that he went regularly to the same nests and never took all the eggs so that he kept the poor bird laying all summer.

Mr. D. Gunn makes the following remarks on this species at the lake in question:

The annual resort of the Podiceps occidentalis to Shoal Lake is, as has been observed, “remarkable.” From the most reliable information that I could obtain from the Indians at this place it has never been seen on the Red River nor on Lake Winnipeg, and I have never heard of its having been seen anywhere in what is commonly known as Rupert’s Land, except at Shoal Lake and Manitoba, and I may add that it is also remarkable that there are very few grebes to be found in any other of the bays connected with the lake, although all these bays abound in reeds and rushes. Possibly these birds prefer the bay on the north point on account of its being sheltered from the wind, and probably a greater facility for obtaining food in that locality may influence them in the choice they make. I am inclined to think that the large grebes feed on aquatic plants; I opened several of their gizzards and found nothing in them but grass. The Western Grebes, when seen in groups on the smooth, unruffled waters of the lake, make a splendid appearance, sometimes raising themselves out of the water, and flapping their wings, their white breasts glistening in the sun like silver. They are not timorous, but when alarmed they sink their bodies in the water, and if the object of their fear still presents itself they plunge head foremost and dive and continue a long time under the water, often disappointing the expectations of their pursuers by reappearing in a different direction from that anticipated. They make their nests among the reeds on the bent bulrushes of the last season; the frame or outer work is of reeds and lined with grass from the bottom and reed leaves. The nest is nearly on a level with the surrounding water and may be said to float at its “moorings,” held there by the reeds. We found hundreds of these nests containing two, three, and four eggs each; I believe six to be the highest number we found in any one. We took thirteen grebes, of which the males were larger than the females; the largest male measured, before skinning, 27¼ by 36¼ inches and 14 inches round the body at the head of the wings. The largest female measured 24½ by 32½ inches. We shot not a few of them in the act of leaving their nests, and most of them on being skinned proved to be males, which fact inclines me to believe that the male bird takes his turn in sitting on the eggs.