36 MICHIGAN BIRD LIFE. 



Family 1. COL YMBID.E.— Grebes. 



KEY TO SPECIES. 



A. Wing more than 5 inches (and less than 9). — B, BB. 

 B. Wing more than 7 inches. — C, CC. 



C. Culmen 2^ inches or more. — -Western Grebe. (Appendix.) 

 CC. Culmen less than 2^ inches. — Holboell's Grebe. No. 1. 



BB. Wing less than 6 inches.— D, DD. 



D. Bill compressed, deeper than wide at base. — Horned Grebe. No. 2. 

 DD. Bill depressed, wider than deep atbase. — Eared Grebe. (Appendix.) 



AA. Wing 5 inches or less. — Pied-billed Grebe. No. 3. 



1. HolboeU's Grebe. Colymbus holboelli (Rcinh.). (2) 



Synonyms: Red-necked Grebe. — Podicops holbellii, Reinli., 1853. — Podiceps grei.segena 

 of many authors. — Podiceps greisegena var. holboelli, Coues, 1872. 



Largest of the so-called "Hell-divers," intermediate in size between the 

 common Grebes and the Loon. To be identified positively only by exact 

 measurements in comparison with detailed description. 



Distribution. — North America at large, including Greenland, also eastern 

 Siberia and southwest to Japan. Breeds in 'high latitudes, migrating 

 south in winter. 



This grebe has been taken in Michigan at widely separated places, 

 but less than a dozen times in all so far as known. The following are the 

 records known to us: One taken at Hillsdale, in the spring of 1890, by 

 Prof. Frank Smith, now in museum of Hillsdale College; one in the collec- 

 tion of B. J. Savage, Monroe, an autumn specimen taken about 1901; one 

 picked up frozen March 12, 1900, at Greenville, Montcalm county, mounted 

 by the late Percy Selous and now in the museum of Agricultural College; 

 one in collection of C. J. Davis, Lansing, taken at Pine Lake, Ingham 

 county, in autumn, exact date not known (This is the specimen recorded 

 in Cook's "Birds of Michigan" as the Western Grebe, J^chmophorus 

 occidentalis) ; another taken at same place (Pine Lake) by T. L. Hankinson, 

 October 30, 1897; one shot at Capac, St. Clair county, February 15, 1904 

 (Swales) ; one in high school collection at Sault Ste. Marie, collected there 

 (1901?) by Stewart Ten Eyck; one mounted specimen in the Barron col- 

 lection at Niles, without data; one said to have been taken at Mitchell's 

 Bay, St. Clair Flats (Saunders). This Grebe is said to be a spring and 

 fall visitor on the Detroit River, by Mcllwraith; observed by Boies about 

 IMud Lake on the east side of Neebish Island, St. Mary's River, in summer 

 of 1893; said to be a rare migrant in Delta county (Van Winkle); and a 

 common migrant in the fall at Ann Arbor (Covert). 



The above records indicate practically all that we know of this species. 

 It comes to us from the north in the autumn, some individuals doubtless 

 remain on the unfrozen waters of the state through the winter, and it re- 

 tires northward be3^ond our limits on the approach of warm weather; the 

 records are too few to give us any idea of its actual migration movements. 

 There is no reason to suppose that it nests anywhere in the state. At 

 Leech Lake, Minn., where a small colony was found nesting in June, 1903, 



