IQ HISTORY OF THE 



Colymbus auritus Linn. 



HORNED GREBE. 

 PLATE I. 



Migratory; rare. Arrive the middle to last of April; begin 

 to return in September. 



B. 706. R. 732. C. 848. G. 317, 1. U. 3. 



Habitat. iS'ortliern hemisphere; breeding chiefly north of 



the United States; wintering in the southern States and on the 



Pacific coast south into Lower California. 



Sp. Char. ''Adult, breeding plumage: Head generally (including the fluffy 

 tufts on each side of the upper neck) slightly glossy dull greenish black, becom- 

 ing gradually dull sooty slate on the forehead; lores dull ochraceous rufous, 

 connnunicating with a broad superciliary stripe of bright ochraceous, which 

 continues, gradually widening, to the sides of the occiput; fore neck rich rufous. 

 Upper parts dusky, the feathers sometimes with indistinctly paler margins; sec- 

 ondaries chiefly or entirely white. Lower parts white, the sides mixed chestnut 

 rufous and grayish dusky. Bill bluish black, its tip yellow; short loral space 

 bright carmine, as is the iris, its inner margin white; edges of eyelids grayish 

 blue; feet dusky externally, internally and on anterier and posterior ridges of 

 the tarsus dull yellow; claws dusky. Winter plumage: Pileum, nape and sides 

 of the jiigulum smoky slate; under part and sides of the head, lores, and lower 

 parts generally, white; jugulum faintly shaded with pale grayish, and sides 

 clouded with dark grayish. Upper parts as in the summer plumage, but more 

 slaty. Bill bluish gray, as in the bare loral space; the eye bright carmine, with 

 an inner white edge; the feet bluish gray. Downy young {half grmcn): Pileum 

 and nape dusky; sides of the head with two dusky stripes and several irregular 

 spots of the same color; throat with a dusky streak on each side. Otherwise 

 similar in color to the winter plumage." 



I have had a good opportunity to observe the birds in south- 

 ern California and on the northwest and the northeast coasts, 

 and found them in each locality quite common. July 19th, 

 1880, I found several pairs of the birds nesting in a small, nar- 

 row pond of fresh water, on Grosse Isle, one of the Magdalen 

 group, in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. It was covered with a 

 dense growth of rushes, with the exception of a strip of deep, 

 open water in the center. I shall never forget that day: I was 

 extremely anxious to procure their eggs, and wanted a pair of 



