528 PBOCEEIDINGS OF THE. NATIONAL MUSEUM vol.89 



urge to go to a definite region without regard to equal facilities for 

 food and safety that might be encountered on the way. These latter 

 travelers often seemed to pass in waves as for a day the woodlands 

 would be filled with them and then they would disappear. By the 

 middle of November this southern movement lessened in amount and 

 in fact seemed to end. The migrants encountered later seemed to be 

 settled in their winter homes. 



Family COLYMBIDAE 



COLYMBUS NIGRICOLLIS CALIFORNICUS (Heermann) 



Podiceps Californicus Heermann, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, vol. 7, 1854 

 (Apr. 12, 1855), p. 179 (California). 



On November 9 I saw two on Lake Atitlan, near Panajachel. Other 

 grebes seen were probably this species but were not certainly identified. 



COLYMBUS DOMINICUS BRACHYPTERUS Chapman: Mexican Grebe 



Colymbus dominicus 'brachypterus Chapman, Bull. Ainer. Mus. Nat. Hist., vol. 

 12, Dec. 23, 1899, p. 256 (Lomita Ranch, Lower Rio Grande Valley, Texas). 



On Lake Atitlan these small grebes are common along the shore 

 so that I noted them daily from November 9 to 15. One that I col- 

 lected on November 12 was prepared as a skeleton. One or two pairs 

 lived in a little bay near the hotel and were obviously mating at this 

 season. Frequently I heard from them a low chattering note. 



PODILYMBUS GIGAS Griscom 



rodilymius gigas Geiscom, Amer. Mus. Nov., No. 379, 1929, p. 5 (Panajachel, 

 Lake Atitlan, Guatemala). 



One of the reasons for my visit to Lake Atitlan was to search for 

 this grebe, known only from this body of water. And on the after- 

 noon of my arrival on November 9 I w^as fortunate in securing a fine 

 pair. At the hotel below Panajachel I arranged for a small launch 

 Avith an engineer who was certain that he knew this bird. We cruised 

 along the steep slopes of the east side of the lake, watching carefully, 

 until finally in a little bay in front of a small village I had a glimpse 

 of a thick head and large bill rising in the water 45 yards away and 

 fired quickly to be rewarded by the sight of a wing in the air as my 

 grebe, shot through the neck, turned over in the water. Although a 

 pied-billed grebe in form and color the bird, a male, was truly huge, 

 its size leaving no possible doubt as to its identity. On the return 

 I saw various small grebes and finally had another quick shot at a 

 large one, which I secured. This was a female, decidedly smaller 

 than the male but still larger than the widely distributed Podilymhiis 

 podiceps. 



