490 



ZOOLOGY BIRDS. 



The nests were slightly hollowed piles of decaying weeds and rushes 

 just raised above the surface of the water, upon which they floated. 

 Each nest contained three eggs, most of them being fresh, but a few were 

 somewhat advanced. As in every case the eggs were entirely covered by a 

 pile of vegetable material, and as in no case the birds were found incubat- 

 ing, even where the eggs contained slight embryos, it seems highly probable 

 that their hatching is dependent more or less upon artificial heat, which 

 must be induced by the effect of the hot sun. 



The eggs vary little in shape, are considerably elongated, one end 

 being slightly more pointed than the other. They vary in length from 1.70 

 to 1.80; in breadth, 1.18 to 1.33. Color a faint yellowish-white, usually 

 much stained by contact with the nest. The texture is generally quite 

 smooth ; in others roughened by a chalky deposit. 



PODILYMBUS PODICEPS, Liuu. 

 Carolina Grebe. 



Golymbus podiceps, LINN., Syst. Nat., i, 176G, 223. 



Podilymbus podiceps, LAWR., Birds N. A., 1858, 898. COOP. & SUCKL., P. R. R. Rep., 

 xii., pt. ii, 18GO, 283. COUES, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila,, 18G6, 101 (Colo- 

 rado River). ALLEN, Bui. Mus. Comp. Zool., iii, 1872, 183. SNOW, Birds 

 Kan., 1872, 16. YAKKOW & UENSHAW, Rep. Orn. Specs., 1872, Wheeler's 

 Exped., 1874, 33. 



Podilymbm carol inensis, WOODH., Sitgreave's Exp. Zufii & Col. Riv., 1854, 104. 



Podilymbus lineatus, HEEBM., P. R. R. Rep., x, pt. ii. 1859, 77, pi. ix. 



Quite numerous at Rush Lake in September, where they swam about 

 in small parties of five or six, generally when feeding keeping in the shallow 

 water close to shore, and diving among the weeds. 



