PODICiriD^E — THE GREBES — DYTES. 



435 



Hab. The typical form restricted to the Pala3arctic Region and Greenland ; var. californicus 

 distributed over Northern and Western North America, north to Great Slave Lake, south to Guate- 

 mala, and east to the Mississippi Valley. Breeds nearly throughout its North American ran<'-e. 



Sp. Char. Adult, breeding-jjlumage : Head, neck, and upper parts dull black; on each side 

 of the Lead, behind the eyes, and occupying the whole of the postocular and auricular regions 

 a flattened tuft of elongated, narrow, and pointed feathers of an ochraceous color, those of 

 the lower part of the tuft inclining to rufous or ferruginous, those along the upper edge straw- 

 yellow or buff, sometimes, but rarely, forming a rather well-defined streak ; fore part of the head 

 sometimes inclining to grayish or smoky dusky. Upper parts blackish dusky, the secondaries — 

 sometimes also the inner primaries — mostly or entirely white. Lower parts satiny white, the 

 sides mixed chestnut-rufous and dusky. Bill deep black ; iris bright carmine, with an inner 

 whitish ring ; legs and feet " dusky gray externally, greenish gray on the inner side " (Audubon). 

 Winter plumage : Pileum, nape, and iipper parts fuliginous-slate or plumbeous-dusky ; malar 

 region, chin, and throat white ; auricular region white, sometimes tinged pale grayish buff or 

 light grayish ; fore part and sides of the neck pale dull 

 grayish; lower parts satiny white, the sides plumbeous- 

 dusky. " Upper mandible greenish black, growing pale ashy 

 olive-green on basal third of the commissure (broadly) and 

 on the culmen ; lower mandible ashy olive-green, paler be- 

 low, and more yellowish basally ; iris bright orange-red, more 

 scarlet outwardly, and with a fine thread-like white ring 

 around the pupil ; tarsi and toes dull blackish on the outer 

 side, passing on the edges into olive-green ; inner side dull 

 light yellowish green; inner toe apple green." ^ Yotmg, first 

 plumage : Similar to the winter adult, but colors more brown- 

 ish. Doivny youjig : Top of the head, as far down as the 

 auriculars, dusky, the forehead divided medially by a white 

 line, which soon separates into two, each of which again 

 bifurcates on the side of the crown (over the eye), one 



branch running obliquely downward and backward to the sides of the nape, the other continued 

 straight back to the occiput ; middle of the crown with a small oblong or elliptical spot of bare 

 reddish skin. Suborbital, auricular, and malar regions, chin, and throat immaculate white ; 

 foreneck pale grayish ; lower parts white, becoming grayish laterally and posteriorly ; upper parts 

 dusky grayish. 



Total length, about 13.00 inches ; extent, 21.00 ; wing, about 5.20-5.50 ; culmen, .95-1.10. 



With four adults and two yovuig birds of true nigricollis, and a very large series of American 

 specimens (P. '■'■californicus" Lawr.), we notice certain differences, already pointed out by Dr. 

 Coues (" Pr. Philad. Acad." 1862, p. 231), which distinguish the birds of the two continents, with 

 the very notable exception of a single specimen of the American series, from California, in which 

 the chief supposed peculiarity of the European form is vastly exaggerated. Were it not for this 

 solitary exception to the rule, we should have little hesitation in separating the American birds as 

 a distinct S23ecies. It should be borne in mind in this connection that the series of European speci- 

 mens is very small, so that a conclusion based uijon their comparison with the American series 

 would hardly be a fair one. All the European examples we have seen, both old and young, have 

 stouter bills, with the gonys more decidedly ascending ; and the latter are more darkly colored 

 than the young of the American form. 



The main difference supposed to distinguish the American from the European birds of this 

 species is stated by Dr. Coues to be as follows : " In the American Eared Grebe all the primaries 

 are throughout their whole extent dark chocolate-brown, with a more or less notable amount of 

 dull reddish in the adult. The two first secondaries are of the color of its primaries, and bordered 

 with white ; and the basal portions and shafts of all, for the greater part of their length, are of the 

 same chocolate-brown. In all the specimens of the European type examined, the characters of 

 the wing are very different. The four inner primaries are wholly pure white ; the next is white, 

 with a sprinkling of brown on the outer web ; the next is white, its outer vane brown; and all 



1 Oni. Fortieth Parallel, p. 642 ; from a male killed, December 21, at Pyramid T.ake, Nev. 



