270 



PODICEPS AURITUS. THE EARED GREBE. 



Colymbus aiiritus. Linn. Syst. Nat. I. 222. 



Podiceps auritus. Lath. Ind. Ornith. IL 781. 



Eared Grebe. Mont. Ornith. Diet, and Supplt. 



Grebe Oreillard. Podiceps auritus. Temm. Man. d'Ornith. II. 725. 



Eared Grebe. Podiceps auritus. Selby, Illustr. II. 167. 



Podiceps auritus. Eared Grebe. Jenyns, Brit. Vert. Anim. 253. 



Podiceps auritus. Bonap. Comp. List. 64. 



Male about thirteen inches long, with the hill much shorter 

 than the head, nearly an inch in length, rather slender, de- 

 pressed at the base, compressed and a little recurved toivard 

 the end, black tinged with blue ; two slight dusky occipital 

 tufts, a short black ruff, and a. tuft of elongated orange-red 

 feathers from behind each eye ; the upper parts greyish-black, 

 the lower silvery -ichite, the sides light red streaked with black. 

 Female similar, but someivhat smaller. Young without tufts, 

 the tipper parts blackish-brown, the loiver silvery ivhite ivith the 

 sides dusky, the throat and part of the cheeks greyish-white, 

 j)art of the fore neck brownish-grey. 



Male. — Somewhat inferior in size to the Sclavonian 

 Grebe, this species is distinguished from it by the pecuHar 

 form of its bill, -which is curved a little upwards at the end, 

 and depressed at the base. The body is elliptical and de- 

 pressed ; the neck long and slender ; the head small, oblong 

 and compressed. The bill is shorter than the head, slender, 

 as broad as high at the base, compressed and slightly re- 

 curved toward the end. The upper mandible has the dorsal 

 line slightly declinate and straight to near the middle, then 

 direct or a very little elevated, and at the tip slightly decli- 

 nate, the ridge convex, as are the sides, the edges inclinate, 

 and the tip rather acute. The lower mandible with the 

 angle long and very narrow, the outline of the crura slightly 



