6 NOTES ON THE 



and have many reports of its presence in several others. As 

 long since noticed by bird observers, the young of the Red- 

 necked and Crested Grebes resemble each other so much as to 

 make their differences impossible to define. 



SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 



Upper plumage blackish brown, the upper part of the head 

 and neck behind, black; primaries ashy- brown; secondaries 

 mostly white, except a few of the inner ones which are dark 

 ash; cheeks and throat ash gray; a white line from the lower 

 mandible under and beyond the eye; forepart and sides of neck 

 rich, brownish red; lower parts silvery white, sides dusky; bill 

 black, pale at the end, and bright yellow at the base; iris car- 

 mine; tarsi and feet externally greenish black, internally yel- 

 low. 



Length, 18; wing, 7; bill, 1.25; tarsus. 2. 



Habitat, North America at large. 



Note. Since writing the above I have learned more of the 

 local habits of this Grebe and can add that its food is mostly 

 aquatic worms and lai'vte with some minnows. It is no 

 trivial thing to bag one of them on account of his unremitting 

 vigilance, and his expertness in diving and remaining seem- 

 ingly a long time submerged, which however is not so long as 

 it seems, for when he returns to the surface he only exposes 

 the bill and enough of the head to bring his eyes into use while 

 the body is kept completely concealed. The power to do this 

 continuously for a considerable time, belongs to the entire 

 family, and to few if any others so perfectly. In this sub- 

 merged condition they will swim so gently and so evenly as to 

 elude the observation of most persons until they have learned 

 to detect them, after which there is little difficulty. 



C0LYMBU8 AIRITUS L (3.) 

 HORNED GREBE. 



Although not universally distributed throughout the state, 

 the Horned Grebes are fairly common in many sections. Pools, 

 ponds and sloughs in open districts and bottom lands are its 

 favorite localities for breeding Hence, I am not surprised to 

 have Dr. Hvoslef report it as breeding in the vicinity of Lanes- 

 boro, Fillmore county, along our southern borders, and would 

 have expected Mr. Washburn to do so along the Red River, as 

 Dr. Coues* had done several years earlier. Indeed I have 

 had individuals sent to me by hunters from a dozen or more 

 localities, most of which have been in prairie regions to the 

 north and west of Minneapolis and St. Paul. It breeds occa- 

 sionallj^ in the vicinity of Waseca * * and at Bigstone Lake. 



