A.CHMOPHORUS.—PODICTPES. 44] 
1. Aichmophorus occidentalis. 
Podiceps occidentalis, Lawr. in Baird, Cassin, & Lawr. Birds N. Amer. p. 894°. 
“Echmophorus occidentalis, Ferrari-Perez, Pr. U. S. Nat. Mus. ix. p- 179°; Baird, Brewer, & 
Ridgway, Water-Birds N. Amer. ii. p. 421°; A. O. U. Check-l. N. Amer. Birds, 2nd ed. 
p- 1*; Grant, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. xxvi. p. 551°; Oates, Cat. Eggs Brit. Mus. i. 
p. 138°. 
Podiceps clarkii, Lawr. in Baird, Cassin, & Lawr. Birds N. Amer. p-. 895 7. 
ichmophorus occidentalis clarkii, Baird, Brewer, & Ridgway, Water-Birds N. Amer. ii. p. 423°. 
Supra brunneus, griseo marmoratus, plumis singulis griseo marginatis ; pileo colloque postico saturate griseo- 
brunneis, crista nuchali vix evidente ; facie laterali et colli lateribus, cum corpore toto subtus, sericeo- 
albis, corporis lateribus brunneo marmoratim maculatis; tectricibus alarum dorso concoloribus; remigibus 
brunneis, intus graduatim albis; secundariis albis, extus brunneo marginatis: rostro flavo, culmine et 
genyde virescentibus ; pedibus sordide cerulescenti-viridibus, intus nigris; soleis nigris, palmis medialiter 
flavicanti-carneis; iride aurantiaca, coccineo tincta. Long. tota circa 22:0, ale 7°9, culm. 2°9, tarsi 3:1. 
(Descr. maris adulti ex Washoe Lake. Mus. nostr.) 
Hab. Wustern Norra America}, eastward to Manitoba, south to Central Mexico 4— 
Mexico, Chihuahua (Clark‘§), Valley of Mexico (Le Strange*), Chapala, Jalisco 
(Richardson *), Laguna de Epatlan, Puebla (Ferrari-Perez 2). 
This is the largest of the Central-American Grebes. Mr. Dunn says that it nests 
in vast numbers on Shoal Lake in Manitoba, breeding also in many other places in 
the Western United States. So far as we know, it is only a winter visitor to Central 
America. . 
In habits . occidentalis resembles the rest of the family, riding lightly on the 
water with its neck upraised, and diving with extreme celerity. The nest, which is 
said to be made of bulrushes, floats on the water, but is kept, by the stems of the 
rooted plants to which it is fastened, from drifting away from its moorings °. 
PODICIPES. 
Podiceps, Lath. Gen. Syn., Suppl. p. 294 (1787). 
Podicipes, Grant, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. xxvi. p. 502 (1898). 
We have followed Mr. Grant in his classification of the Grebes and in his recog- 
nition of the extent of the genus Podicipes, though the variation in the shape of the 
bill and the form of the tippet, in addition to other features assumed by the birds 
during the breeding-season, have been regarded by several ornithologists as sufficient 
for the separation of several genera or subgenera. None of the true Grebes show the 
bristly feathers found in the members of the genus Podilymbus, nor have they such 
a thick bill, though in other characters they resemble them. ‘The bill is usually long, 
straight, and pointed, though in a few instances upturned. 
The Grebes are universally distributed, except in the extreme Arctic Regions. 
BIOL. CENTR.-AMER., Aves, Vol. I1I., Apri] 1904. 56 
