THE BIRDS OF ONTARIO. 



Oedee PYGOPODES. Diving Birds. 



Suborder PODICIPEDES. Grebes and Loons. 



Familv PODICIPID^. Grebes. 



(Jenus COLYMBUS Lixn. 



Subgenus C0LYMBU8. 



COLYMBUS HOLBCELLII (Reimi.). 



*1. Holbcell's Grebe. (2)t 



Tarsus about foui -tiftlis the middle toe and claw; bill little shortei- than 

 tarsus; crests and rufi' moderately developed. Length, about 18; wings, 7-8; 

 bill, 1§ to nearly 2; tarsus, 3; middle toe and claw, 2§. Adult: — Front and 

 sides of neck rich brownish-red ; throat and sides of liead ashy, whitening 

 where it joins the dark color of the crown, the feathers s/ujhf/y ruffed ; top of 

 head with its -iliffld occipital crest, uppei- parts generally, and wings dark 

 brown, the feathers of the back paler edged ; primai'ies brown ; part of inner 

 (luills white; lower parts pale silvery-ash, the sides watered or obscurely 

 mottled, sometimes obviously speckled with dusky ; bill black, more or less 

 yellow at base. The young may be recognized by these last cliaracteristics, 

 joined with the peculiar dimensions and proportions. 



Hab. — North America at large, including ( Jreenland. Also Eastern Siberia, 

 and southward to Japan. Breeds in high latitudes, migrating south in winter. 



Nest, a floating Llum|) of vegetable material fastened to the reeds in shallow 

 water. 



Eggs, two to five, lough-dull white, sluided with greeuisli. 



In. Ontario, the Red-necked Grebe is only a transient visitor, its 

 summer home being far to the north of this province, and its winter- 

 ijuarters to the south. 



It breeds abundantly along the borders of the Yukon River in 

 Alaska, and has also been found by Macoun so engaged on the 

 Waterhen River and south end of Waterhen Lake. 



' Current number. t Number in American Oniithologists' Union "Check List." 



