GREBES 



longer time, you wonder what they are rinding. If you shoot one, 

 a few tinv hones of minnows in its stomach mixed with the usual 



. 



ball of feathers from its own breast tell part of the story and ex- 

 plain its mermaid habits, slender head, long neck, and spear-like 

 bill. 



But to get to the heart of the grebe's home you should wade out 

 where the tules stand up to their necks in water. Here in the damp, 

 saucer-shaped top of a floating island of tule stems, you find the 

 eggs, warm and hastily covered with material from the sides of the 

 nest, There is no bird in sight, but the large size of both nest and 

 , _ jrg serve to distinguish them from those of the smaller grebes. If 

 you keep still for a little while a slender head and long neck may 

 come up out of the water near you and a pair of keen eyes watch 

 you anxiously fora moment, then quickly sink below again, to come 

 up a little later on the other side. 



The irrebes are rarely seen except on the water, but when, after 

 much kicking and spattering, they are fairly launched on the wing, 

 they have a steady rapid flight, and in migration make long jour- 



VERNON BAILEY. 



GENUS COLYMBUS. 



Characters.- -Dill straight and sharp, never four times as long 1 

 as its depth at base ; neck not nearly as long as body ; head sometimes 

 ted. 



KEY TO SPECIES. 



. Size large, bill over 1.50 holboellii, p. 6. 



\'. Si/.c small or medium. 



2. Small, bill .si* brachypterus, p. 8. 



1 . Medium, bill about l.( H i. 



Hill deeper than wide at base ; bead of adult in breeding plumage 



lie;,vily crested aiiritUS. p. 7. 



Bill wider than deep at base; bead of adult in breeding plumage 

 lightly crested . . . californicus, p. 7. 



Subgenus Colymbus. 

 2 Colymbus holboellii (/,%/////.). IIo,.r, K LL GREBE. 



Hill n. -ails as Inn- as bead; crests inconspicuous or wanting. Breeding 



top of head greenish Mack : hack blackish, -with brown on wings ; 



head anil ttm.at patch white or -ravish ; neck rufous; lower 



part uitl. w l,it,. over gray. Winter plumage, and young: neck 



1.,,,'jth: \ S.IK )-_>(.:,(). wing 7.30-8.10, bill I .<;:>- 



N-ril, America, (ueenland. and eastern Asia, breeding 

 States, migrating south to South Carolina, southern 

 ( olorado. and Monterej l!.-i\. < '.-difoniia. 



, M ",'" "' ""' ""id. attached to growing reeds or 



tnaaoea oi dead vegetable matter. y-.V/s .- I to 5. 



