44 GAME BIRDS, WILD-FOWL AND SHORE BIRDS. 



History. 



The Horned Grebe is known niuinly as a salt-water bird, 

 but is not by any means rare in fresh-water lakes and streams. 

 Formerly a few summered in Massachusetts, according to Dr. 

 J. A. Allen, who states that he has seen a pair in breeding plum- 

 age in June at Springfield. Probably it is now rarely seen 

 inland here, except when driven in from the sea by severe 

 storms. I remember that no longer ago than the 70's and 

 80's large numbers occasionally came into ponds of Worcester 

 County on such occasions and remained for several days, or 

 until killed off or driven out by constant persecution. Mr. 

 Ralph Holman records in his notes that during the first week 

 in November, 1886, a large flight of Grebes of all three native 

 species came into North Pond, Worcester, after a severe six- 

 day northeast storm, and a great many birds were killed there. 

 All except the cripples left on the night of November 3. 

 Probably few alight in that pond now, but along the coast 

 they are still common in tidal streams and off the beaches. 

 They are usually most numerous in October, but are common 

 along rocky shores in winter. Brewster notes them occasion- 

 ally in the ponds of the Cambridge region, and Dr. John C. 

 Phillips regards them as not very common on Wenham Lake. 



The expressive common names given this and other Grebes 

 were suggested by their mysterious disappearances and the 

 facility with which they seem to escape the charge of the gun 

 by diving at the flash. The flint-lock was a poor weapon to 

 use against them, and even with modern guns and smokeless 

 powder the bird sometimes escapes. If it is at long range, 

 heading toward the hunter, it is very likely to be mostly 

 under water when the charge arrives. It then offers a very 

 small mark, and even if it is hit the shot may glance from the 

 feathers and bones of its back. In diving hurriedly it usually 

 leaps forward and shoots beneath the water like a flash, but 

 it can settle quietly down and disappear, leaving hardly a 

 ripple to mark the spot. Sometimes it apparently remains 

 under water nearly a minute, and it can swim or float indefi- 

 nitely, with only the bill protruding above the surface. Dr. 



