CRESTED GREBE. 255 



United States, informs ns that it returns from the north 

 about the beginning of September, and proceeds as far as 

 the Mexican territories, a few only remaining on the lower 

 parts of the Ohio, the Mississippi, and the neighbouring 

 lakes. " They pass swiftly through the air, at a height of 

 about a hundred yards, in flocks of from seven or eight to 

 fifty or more, proceeding in a loose body, and propelling 

 themselves by continued flappings, their necks and feet 

 stretched out to their full length. I have observed them 

 thus passing in autumn, for several years in succession, over 

 different parts of the Ohio, at all hours of the day. When 

 about to alight on the water, these birds glide swiftly down- 

 ward, with their wings half-closed, and produce a sound not 

 unlike that of a hawk stooping toward its prey. Their 

 velocity is so great at this moment, that on alighting they 

 glide on the surface of the water for twenty or thirty yards, 

 leaving a furrow in their wake. In a few moments they are 

 all engaged in washing and cleaning themselves ; after which 

 they dive in pursuit of the fishes on which they feed, and 

 which they secure by following them in the manner of Divers 

 and Cormorants. They are exceedingly quick-sighted, and 

 frequently elude by diving the shot intended for their de- 

 struction, seldom, after being chased, raising more than their 

 bill above the water, and but rarely making for the shore, 

 unless when nearly exhausted. When in ponds, they may 

 easily be caught with fishing-hooks placed on lines near the 

 bottom. They very rarely fly in your presence, and they 

 leave the ponds at night. If forced to rise on wing, they 

 run paddling on the water for several yards before they rise, 

 and fly several times round a pond of thirty or forty yards 

 before they attain the level of the tree tops, for they never 

 fly through the woods. When once high in the air, they 

 move in a direct course with speed towards some other 

 pond or the nearest river. The food of this species consists 

 of fishes, aquatic insects, and small reptiles, together with 

 the seeds of water plants." 



The eggs, three or four in number, are of a rather elon- 

 gated form, two inches and a quarter in length, an inch and 

 a half in breadth, smooth unless at the two ends, greenish- 



