402 Dr. A. Hall on the Mammals and Birds 



P. comatus. Horned Grebe. 

 Cohjmhus cornufus of Gmelin. 

 Podiceps cornutus. Baird ! 



V. s. p. Bill shorter than the head, bhiish black with a white 

 tip ; legs and feet brown pale anteriorly ; irides red ; orbits and 

 rictus lake colour ; eggs 3 to 4 white spotted brown. 



Dorsal aspect. Crown of head, nuchal region and cheeks black, 

 with a greenish iridescence ; space between eyes and nostrils ches- 

 nut ; upper part of the ruff commencing above the eye buffy 

 orange, the remainder of the ruff black ; interscapulary region 

 and scapulars black, the feathers margined with whitish ; great 

 and small wing coverts and primaries clove brown ; secondaries 

 white ; rump blackish brown. 



Ventral aspect. Chin, upper part of throat, cheeks and auri- 

 culars glossy greenish black ; lower part and sides of the throat 

 glossy chesnutof a very deep tint; vent and tail coverts cinereous; 

 flanks (ihesnut brown mixed with black ; the remainder of this 

 aspect glossy white sometimes tinged with yellow. 



2nd primary longest ; long scapulars longer than the primaries ; 

 length 16^ inches ; alar expanse 19 inches ; middle toe nail pecti- 

 nate. The young bird is deficient in the ruff; its chin and cheeks 

 with the ventral aspect is white ; all the other parts except the se- 

 condaries are brownish cinereous. This young bird forms the Po- 

 diceps obscurus et caspicus of Latham and the Colymhus nigricans 

 of Scop, and var. A. of Latham. 



P. cristatus. Crested Grebe. 

 Colymhus urinator of Gmelin. 

 Podiceps cristatus. Baird ! 



V. s. p. Bill longer than the head about two inches, reddish 

 white at the point ; legs and feet blackish, interiorly yellowish 

 white ; naked space from the bill to the eye red ; irides carmine ; 

 eggs 3 to 4 greenish white waved with deep brown. 



Upper surface of head, occipital crest and lateral ruff, shining 

 black ; bases of the latter and sides of the nape tinged with ru- 

 fous ; back of neck, dorsal plumage and wings blackish brown ; 

 upper border of the wing teriiaries and all the secondaries, except 

 3 or 4 posterior ones, a spot before the eye, chin, sides of head 

 and under plumage of the neck and body, white silvery below ; 

 length 23 to 24 inches. (Nuttall), — I have never met with the 

 old bird, but a young bird beside me has the following distinc- 

 tive characters : 



