336 BIRDS OF NEW ENGLAND AND EASTERN NEW YORK 



PiED-BiLLED Grebe. PoclUymhus jpodiceps 



13.50 



Ad. in summer. — Middle of throat black ; sides of head gray ; 

 top of head, back, wings, and tail dark grayish-brown ; neck 

 and breast brownish; belly whitish ; bill whitish, crossed in the 

 middle by a black band. Ad. $ in fall. — Upper parts sooty- 

 brownish ; throat whitish ; fore neck, breast, and sides brown; 

 rest of under parts silvery-whitish ; wing often shows a little 

 white when spread. Ad. 9 and Im. in fall. — Similar, but paler. 



Nest, a mass of stalks, sometimes floating, and attached to 

 surrounding reeds. Eggs, dull-white, generally stained. 



The Pied-billed Grebe, Dabchick, or Hell-diver, is a 

 local summer resident of New York and New England. It 

 breeds in quiet lagoons in ponds or lakes, where reedy 

 shores or a growth of water-loving bushes give it shelter. 

 Such conditions are commonest in Maine, but it breeds also 

 in a few ponds in southern New Hampshire and in Berk- 

 shire County, Mass., and undoubtedly in Vermont and 

 northern Connecticut. In the Hudson Valley and in the 

 vicinity of New York it is rare in summer. Throughout 

 New York and New England it is a regular spring and 

 autumn migrant in April, and in September and October. 

 It may then occur on any bit of inland water, particularly 

 where there are sheltered bays, and in the brackish lagoons 

 along the sea-coast. It is rarely seen in the sea itself. 



The ease with which the Pied-billed Grebe dives is 

 notorious ; sometimes it turns a clean pair of " heels," 

 sometimes it sinks gently down till only its bill is exposed. 

 Its notes are extremely loud and striking ; the commonest 

 is a loud cuck-cuck-cuck-cuck, koiu, koia, kow, that sug- 

 gests the notes of a cuckoo. A rarer note is a loud wah'- 

 hoo, ivah'-hoo, vmh'-hoo, suggesting, in the quality of the 

 tone, the call of the Loon. It has also an alarm-note, a low 

 toot, toot, toot. 



The brownish fore neck and upper breast will distinguish 



