NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 5 



tending from the Valley of the Rio Grande southward into the tropical 

 regions, nesting in the wild herbage of the lakes and ponds of Mexico 

 and Central America, in many of the islands of the West Indies, and 

 the slonghs of the immense level, tropical plains and pampas of South 

 America. Its entire life is spent in the water, and it possesses the same 

 aquatic habits peculiar to all the Grebes. 



Dr. James C. Merrill was the first to establish the claim of this 

 species as belonging to our North American fauna. He found it a 

 rather common resident in Southwestern Texas. On May 16, 1877, he 

 found several nests, undoubtedly belonging to this species, in a salt 

 rnarsh a few miles from Fort Brown. "They were made of water 

 plants and pieces of reeds slightly fastened to one or two tule stalks, 

 and forming a wet, floating mass. No eggs were obtained."* 



The eggs are described as a " pale, chalky, greenish white," with 

 the usual discolorations. They vary in size from 1.25 to 1.50 long by 

 .85 to i.oo broad. 



6. Podilymbus podiceps (LINN.) [735.] 



Pied-billed Grebe. 



Hab. British Provinces southward to Brazil, Buenos Ayres, and Chili, including the West Indies and 

 the Bermudas, breeding nearly throughout its range. 



Thick-billed and Carolina Grebe, Pied-bill Dabchick, Dipper, 

 Water-witch, "Devil-diver," and "Hell-diver" are some of the names 

 applied to this Grebe. Most of these refer to its wonderful powers of 

 disappearance under water, and by one or more of these names it is 

 known to every boy who has wandered with a gun along any of our 

 creeks and rivers. It is a common bird throughout its range. 



The nest of the Dabchick is a little floating island of decaying 

 rushes, reeds or grass, mixed with mud and debris brought up from 

 the bottom of the slough or reedy pool in which it is built. The 

 structure is fastened to the flags and aquatic plants ; these are pulled 

 down and piled upon each other till the nest rises two or three inches 

 above the water. 



Mr. A. M. Shields informs me that in the neighborhood of Los 

 Angeles, Cal., this species is very abundant any lake or pond without 

 the presence of two or three little Grebes seems very barren indeed. 

 It nests about the middle of May. 



The number of eggs laid by this species ranges from six to nine ; 

 the complement, however, is usually seven, and their average size is 



* Notes on the Ornithology of Southern Texas, being a list of Birds observed in the vicinity of Fort 

 Brown, Texas, from February, 1876, to June, 1878. By James C. Merrill, Assistant Surgeon U. S. Army. 

 Proceedings of the United States National Museum. Vol. I, pp. 118-173. 



