262 BIRDS OF ILLINOIS. 



Colymbus comutns Gmel. S. N. i, pt. ii, 1788, 591. 



Podiceps comutus Lath. Ind. Orn. ii. 179;), 783— Sw. & Rich. F. B.- A. ii, 1831, 411.— Nutt. 

 Man. ii, 1834, 254— Aud. Orn. Biog. iii, 1835. 429, pi. 259; Synop. 1839, 357; B. Am. 

 vii, 1844, 316, pi. 481— Lawe. in Baird's B. tf . Am. 1838, 895— Baied, Cat. N. Am. B. 1859, 

 No. 706-Coues, Key, 1872, 337; Check List, 1873, No. 611; Birds N. W. 1874, 731. 



Podicipes comutus Coues, 2d Check List, 18S2, No. 848. 

 Colyrnbu.i obscurus Gmel. S. N. i, pt. ii, 1788, 592. 



Colymbus caspicus S. G. Gmel. Reise, iv, 1771-1784, 137— Gmel. S. N. i, pt. ii, 1788,593. 

 Podiceps bicornis Beehm, Vog. Deutschl. 1831, 96. pi. 44. tig. 4. 



Hab. Northern hemisphere in general. Breeds in the northern United States and 

 northward. 



Sp. Chae. Adult, breeding-plumage: Head generally, including the fluffy tufts 

 on each side of the upper neck, slightly glossy dull greenish black, becoming grad- 

 ually dull sooty slate on the forehead; lores dull ochraceous-ruious, communicating 

 with a broad superciliary stripe of bright ochraceous. which continues, gradually 

 widening, to the sides of the occiput: fore-neck rich rufous. Upper parts dusky, the f jath- 

 ers sometimes with indistinctly paler margins; secondaries chiefly or entirely white. 

 Lower parts white, the sides mixed chestnut- rufous and grayish dusky. ' 'Bill bluish 

 blacR, its tip yellow; short loral space bright carmine, as is the iris, its inner margin white; 

 edges of eyelids grayish blue; feet dusky externally, internally, and on anterior and pos- 

 terior ridges of the tarsus dull yellow; claws dusky" (Audubon).* Winter plumage: 

 Pileum, nape, and sides of the chest smoky slate; under part and sides of the head, 

 lores, and lower parts generally, white; chest faintly shaded with pale grayish, and 

 sides clouded with dark grayish. Upper parts as in the summer plumage, but more 

 slaty. "Bill bluish gray, as in the bare loral space; the eye bright carmine, with an 

 inner white edge; the feet bluish gray" (Audubon). Downy young (half-grown): Pileum 

 and nape dusky; sides of the head with two dusky stripes and several irregular spots of 

 the same co.or; throat with a dusky streak on each side. Otherwise similar in color to 

 the winter plumage. 



Total length, about 14.75 inches; extent, 25.50; wing, 5.75; culmen, 1.00; tarsus, 1.75. 



The Horned Grebe is said to breed in northern Illinois, but 

 in other portions of the State is only a winter resident. 



Colymbus nigricollis californicus (Heerm.) 



AMERICAN EARED GREBE. 



Popular synonyms. California Grebe; Zambullidor de pico delgado (Mexico). 



Podiceps auritus Nutt. Man. ii, 1834, 256 (nee Colymbus auritus Linn.).— Aud. Orn. Biog. 



v, 1839, 108, pi. 401; Synop. 1839, 358; B. Am. vii, 1814, 322, pi. 482— Lawe. in Baird's B. 



N. Am. 1858, 897 (excl. syn.). 

 Podiceps californicus Heeem. Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila. 1854, 179; Pacific R. R. Rep. x, 



1859, 76, pi. 8 (young).— Lawe. in Baird's B. N. Am. 1858, 896.— Baied, Cat. N. Am. B. 



1859, No. 707. 



*An adult male killed at Washington, D. G, April 21, 1885, had the unfeathered parts 

 colored somewhat differently, as follows: Bill black, with the tip and a considerable por* 

 tion of the base of the lower mandible pale lilac-gray; line of bare skin runningfrom rictus 

 to eye, pale lake-red; iris scar let -lake, with a narrow ring of white next to pupil; outer side 

 ot tarsus ami under side of toes, black; inner side of tarsus and upper surface of toes gray- 

 ish white, tinged with bluish, especially on toes, the innermost of which was tinged with 

 salmon-color. 



