PODICIPEDID.E: GREBES. 1055 



moderately stout, usually more or less compressed, equalling or shorter than head or tarsus. 

 Tarsus obviously shorter than middle toe and claw; outer lateral toe a little longer than 

 middle. Size medium. Head in breeding season with colored crests or ruffs, or both. The 

 leading genus: Podiceps or Podicipes of authors, as of former editions of Key. Colymhus, 

 A. 0. U. 



Note. — Believing C. cristatus may have been hastily eliminated from our fauna, I analyze and describe it with the 



rest. 



Analysis of Subgenera and Species (adults). 



Large : Length over 15.00 ; wing over COO. Bill more or less nearly equalling head or tarsus in length. (Coltmbus 

 proper. ) 



Crests, and especially ruffs, long and conspicuous. Neck without red or gray in front ; under parts pure silky- 

 white. Tarsus averaging equal to middle toe without claw cristatus 



Crests moderate ; ruffs inconspicuous. Neck with red or gray in front ; under parts watered with dusky (some- 

 times but slightly). Tarsus averaging less than middle toe and claw holbitlli 



Medium : Length under 15.00, over 11.00 ; wing 5 00-0.00. Bill much shorter than head ; little over half the tarsus. 

 (Dytes.) 

 Bill compressed, higher than broad at nostrils. Crests and ruffs very conspicuous ; neck red in front . aurilus 

 Bill depressed, broader than high at nostrils. Crests in form of auricular tufts ; neck black in front 



nigricollis californicus 

 Small : Length under 11.00 ; wing under 5.00. Bill as before. (Podicipes.) 



No crests or ruffs dominicus 



P. crista'tus. (Lat. cristatus, crested.) Crested Gbebe. Tippet Grebe. Gaunt. Adult (f 5, breeding plu- 

 mage : Crown and long occipital crests glossy black ; end of ruff the same, the rest reddish-brown, fading into silky-white 

 of throat and sides of head. Neck behind and upper parts dark brown, the feathers with gray margins. Primaries choco- 

 late-brown, with black shafts ; tips of inner ones white, as are all the secondaries, excepting a little of the outer webs ; 

 greater wing-coverta white on iimer webs. Under parts pure silky-white, without a trace of dusky mottling ; sides of 

 neck and body tinged vrith reddish, and on flanks mixed with dusky, where the feathers have dark shaft-lines. Length 

 about 24.00; extent 33.00 ; wing 7.00; bill 2.00, the gape 2.70 ; tarsus 2.50. Europe, Asia, etc. North America? (Not 

 authentic ; not recognized by A. O. U.) 



(Subgenus Colymbus.) 



C. hol'boelli. (To C. HolbajU.) American Red-necked Grebe. Holbcell's Grebe. 



Adult (J 9 , breeding plumage : Crests short, and ruffs scarcely apparent. Iris carmine. Bill 

 black ; tomia of upper mandible at base and most of lower mandible yellowish. Crown and 

 occiput glossy greenish-black ; back of neck the same, less intense, and upper parts generally 

 the same, with grayish edgings of the feathers. Wing-coverts and primaries uniform chocolate- 

 brown ; shafts of the latter black. Secondaries white, mostly with black shafts and brownish 

 tips. Lining of wings and axillars white. A broad patch of silvery-ash on throat, extending 

 on sides of head, whitening along line of juncture with the black of the crown. Neck, except 

 the dorsal line, deep-brownish-red, which extends diluted some distance on breast. Under 

 parts silky-white, with a shade of silvery-ash, each feather having a dark shaft-line and ter- 

 minal spot, producing a peculiar dappled appearance. Winter adults, and young : Crests 

 scarcely appreciable. Bill mostly yellowish, the ridge more or less dusky. Red of neck re- 

 placed by brownish-ash of variable shade, from quite dark to whitish. Ash of throat and sides 

 of head replaced by pure white. Under parts ashy-white, the mottling not so conspicuous as 

 in summer. Length about 19.00; extent 32.00; wing 7.60; culmen 1.90-2.40; gape 2.40- 

 3.10; height of bill at nostrils 0.55; tarsus 2.50; middle toe and claw 2.85. This bird could 

 only be confounded with cristatus in immature dress : it is smaller, more tliick-set, with stouter 

 bill, nebulated under plumage, less white on the wing, and usually has rather shorter tarsi — 

 only about * the middle toe and claw, instead of about equal to middle toe alone, as in cristatus. 

 The American holbtrlli is larger than the European griseigena ; bill, especially, disproportion- 

 ately longer, differently shaped and colored ; tarsus longer, both absolutely and relatively to 

 length of toes. North America at lariie and Greenland ; portions of Siberia and Japan ; com- 

 mon in U. S. in winter; breeds iu Washington, Montana, N. Idaho, North Dakota, northern 



