BREWSTER : BIRDS OF THE CAPE REGION, LOWER CALIFORNIA. 13 



SYSTEMATIC NOTICE OF THE BIRDS. 



Colymbus nigricollis californicus (Heerm.). 

 American Eared Grebe, 



Dytes nigricollis californicus Belding, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., V. 188.3, 546 (Cape 



Region). 

 Colymbus nigricollis californicus Bryant, Proc. Calif. Acad. Sci., 2d ser., II. 1889, 



249 (Cape Region). 



The American Eared Grebe is a common winter resident in the Gulf of Cali- 

 fornia off La Paz as well as about the islands to the northward, where, during 

 February and March, Mr. Frazar saw it frequently, often in large flocks and 

 occasionally where the water was very deep. At San Jose del Cabo he met 

 with it only once, on October 18, when a single bird- was noted. Mr, Belding 

 also mentions seeing it near La Paz. Mr. Bryant found it "common along the 

 shores of Magdalena Bay, particularly at Magdalena Island. They were seen 

 about the landing swimming in compact groups of from one to two dozen birds, 

 the entire flock would dive almost simultaneously and appear again in a more 

 scattered bunch a short distance away. Their tameness made them objects to 

 be stoned by ]\Iexican boys who occasionally killed and wounded some." 



There is no evidence that the Eared Grebe breeds in any part of Lower Cali- 

 fornia, although the southern limits of its known summer range lie not far to 

 the northward, for it has been found nesting in Califurnia at Elizabeth Lake, 

 Los Angeles county, and abundantly at Bear Valley Lake in the San Bernar- 

 dino Mountains.^ In winter it migrates as far south as Guatemala. 



'D* 



Colymbus dominicus brachypterus Chapman. 

 Short-winged Grebe. 



Tachyhaptes dominicus (not Colymbus dominicus Linnaeus) Belding, Proc. U. S 

 Nat. Mus., VI. 1883, 351 (San Jose', Miraflores, and Santiago). 



Colymbus dominicus (not of Linnaeus) Bryant, Proc. Calif. Acad. Sci., 2d ser., IL 

 1889, 250 (San Jose', Miraflores, and Santiago). 



Of the thirty-one specimens of this Grebe collected by Mr. Frazar at Santiago 

 about one-half are adults, the remaining half being young of various ages from 

 chicks still in their natal down to fully grown birds in fresh winter plumage. 

 On comparing these skins with eight West Indian examples of dominicus (two 

 from Jamaica, three from the Bahamas, and three from Cuba), I find that the 



1 Grinnell, Pub. II. Pasadena Acad. Sci., 1898, 5. 



