1 054 SYSTEMA TIC SYNOPSIS. — PYGOPODES — PODICIPEDES. 



Large : Length (extreme) 29.00 ; wing 8.00 ; bill and tarsus each 3.00. Bill equal to tarsus, straight, dark olivaceous 

 brighter yellowish at tip and along cutting edges. Under outline of bill straight from base to the slight angle, 

 gonys thence straight to tip. Lores ashy-gray occidentalis (} 



Small: Length 22.00 ; wing 7.00; bill 2.25 ; tarsus 2.75. Bill shorter than tarsus, slightly recurved, under outline 

 curved from base to tip, with barely appreciable angle. Lores pure white clarki 9 



.35. occidentalis. (hiit. occidentalis, western.) Western Grebe. Adult (J: Bill obscurely 

 olivaceous, brighter along edges and at tip. Iris orange-red, pink or carmine, with a white 

 ring. Hard parts of palate like bill ; soft parts purplish or lavender. Outer side and sole of 

 foot Vlackish, rest dull olivaceous, more yellowish on webs. Forehead and lores dark silvery- 

 ash. A short occipital crest and puflFy cheeks, but neither bright-colored, agreeing with white 

 and dark colors of the respective parts. Top of head and line down back of neck sooty-black- 

 ish, changing on upper parts into a lighter, more brownish-black ; feathers of back witli grayish 

 margins. Primaries mostly dark chocolate-brown, with white bases, their shafts white at base. 

 Secondaries mostly white, but more or fewer of them dark on most or all of the outer webs. 

 Sides under wings washed with a pale shade of color of back. Lining of wings and whole under 

 parts from bill pure white, with satiny gloss. Length 24.00-29.00; extent 40.00 or there- 

 abouts: wing about 8.00; bill, tarsus, middle toe and claw, each, about 3.00; gape 3.60; 

 height of bill at base 0.50. Eggs usually 3-5 in number, measuring 2.40 X 1-55; nestlings 

 in down are grayish-brown above, white below, without special markings on the head. As 

 here described, the bird is given in its purest character; but it grades in size directly into the 

 next, and some of the larger individuals have a mostly yellow, somewhat recurved bill, with 

 white lores. Western U. S. and adjoining British Provinces; common, especially in the 

 interior, E. to Manitoba, S. to Mexico and Lower California. 



^JE. clark'i ? (To John H. Clark.) Clark's Grebe. Adult 9 , in breeding plumage : 

 Bill about as long as head, shorter than tarsus, slightly recurved, extremely slender and acute ; 

 culmen a little concave ; under outline almost one unbroken curve from base to tip. Under 

 mandible, and tip and cutting edges of upper, chrome-yellow, in marked contrast to black of 

 culmen. Loral bare strip leaden-blue. Crown, occiput, and hind neck grayish-black, almost 

 pure black on hind head, fading gradually along neck into the lighter blackish-gray of the 

 upper parts generally. Lores broadly pure white, as are the entire under parts, with a sharp 

 line of demarcation along sides of head and neck. A decided occipital crest, the feathers about 

 an inch long and quite filiform — but not colored apart from the general pattern; no decided 

 rufl's — no colored ruffs at all; but the white feathers of sides of head behind and across throat 

 longer and fuller than elsewhere — about as in griseigena or holhodli. Wings and general 

 coloration (except white lores) exactly as in occidentalis. Winter dress not materially different. 

 Length 22.00; extent 28.50; wing 7.00; culmen 2.30; gape 2.75; height of bill at nostrils 

 0.40; tarsus and middle toe with claw, each, about 2.75; thence grading up to occidentalis. 

 With only extremes before us, we might well consider them distinct species ; but other speci- 

 mens show intergradation ; we frequently find specimens as small as typical clarki, with equally 

 slender bill, yet vvith bill wholly olivaceous and lores ashy, as in typical occidentalis. Individuals 

 said to be more frequently observed on the Pacific coast of the U. S. Podiceps clarkii Lawr. 

 1858. JEchmophorus clarkii Coues, 1862; A. 0. U. Hypothetical List, 1886-95, No. i, as 

 probably 9 of occidentalis. Podiceps {^chmopJwrus) occidentalis var. clarkii, of the Key, 1st 

 ed. 1872, p. 336; ^. o. clarki of later editions, 1884-90, p. 794. See especially Coues, Pr. 

 Phila. Acad. Sept. 1862, p. 404 ; Henshaw, Bull. Nutt. Club, 1881, pp. 214-218 ; Bryant, 

 Auk, 1885, p. 313. 



COLYM'BUS. (Gr. Kokvfi^os, kolumbos, Lat. colymhus, a diving-bird, perhaps a Grebe; 

 also Kokvix^as, kolumhas, KoKvfi^is, kolumbis, and /toXv/x/Srjrjj?, kolumbeies, of same meaning and 

 application, like Lat. urinator. The name colymhus has usually been given to the genus of 

 Loons ; but the A. 0. U. code requires its application to a genus of Grebes.) Grebes. Bill 



