1058 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — PYGOPODES — PODICIPEDES. 



species over 5.60 ; traces of ruffs are less appreciable ; the fore neck is scarcely lighter than hind 

 neck; back rather deeper colored and more uniform. The shape of the bill, however, furnishes 

 the most reliable character. Western North America, the commonest Grebe breeding in pools 

 west of the Mississippi ; N. to Great Slave Lake ; E. to Illinois ; S. to Guatemala in winter. 

 Eggs not distinguishable from those of C. auritus. As I first pointed out in 1862, Proc. Phila. 

 p. 231, californicus is simply the American form of the European Eared Grebe, differing iu 

 much less extent of white on the wings. In the European, all the primaries have some white, 

 and the 4 inner ones are all white, like the secondaries : compare above. In the 2d-4th eds. 

 of the Key, I presented both forms, on the strength of a queried Greenland reference for the 

 European one ; but this does not seem to be confirmed, and I now drop nigricollis proper, as 

 the A. 0. U. has also done. Our bird is P. auritus of some American writers ; P. californicus 

 Heerm, 1854, Lawr. 1858; P. (Proctopus) californicus Coues, 1862; P. auritus califor- 

 nicus of the Key, orig. ed. 1872, p. 337, later eds. p. 796; Colymhus (Dytes) nigricollis califor- 

 nicus, A. 0. U. Lists, 1886-95, No. 4. 



{Subgenus Podicipes.) 



C. (P.) domin'icus. (Of St. Domingo.) St. DoMiNGO Grebe. White-winged Grebe. 

 (Representing a subgenus apart from the foregoing, commonly called Tachyhaptes or Sylheo- 

 cyclus, but most closely related to the European Dabchick, C. fluviatilis, which is type of 

 Podicipes as now restricted by elimination. ) Bill very short, much less than head, scarcely 

 over half the tarsus, stout, little compressed, rather obtuse ; lateral outlines nearly straight ; 

 culmen slightly concave at nostrils, elsewhere convex; commissure almost straight ; under out- 

 line straight to angle, gonys thence straight to tip, angle well defined. Wings short, with 

 abrupt attenuation of outer primaries. Tarsus stout, about | middle toe and claw ; outer lat- 

 eral about equal to middle toe. Size very small ; body full ; neck short ; no decided crests 

 or ruffs. Adult (J 9 > in breeding plumage: Iris orange; bill mostly black; feet blackish. 

 Crown and occiput deep glossy steel-blue ; sides of head and neck all around dark ashy-gray, 

 darkest behind, where tinged with bluish ; chin and throat blackish. Upper parts brownish- 

 black, with glossy-greenish reflections. Primaries chocolate-brown, the greater portion of 

 inner vanes of all, and nearly all of the inner 4 or 5, together with all secondaries, pure white. 

 Under parts silky-white, thickly mottled with dusky. Adults in winter, and young : Upper 

 mandible dusky, the lower mostly yellowish. Plumage less pure and glossy ; top of head like 

 other upper parts; chin and throat ashy, varied with white or quite white. Downy young 

 have the head and neck spotted and striped with black, white, and rufous. Length 9.50- 

 10.00; extent about 16.00; wing 3.60-4.00; culmen 0.70; gape 1.00; tarsus 1.25; middle 

 toe and claw 1.75. Warmer parts of America, N. to the Lower Rio Grande of Texas and to 

 Lower California. Eggs usually 7, 1.35 X 0.95. 



PODIJjYM'BUS. {Podi{cipes-\- Co)hjmhus.) Thick-billed Grebes. American Dab- 

 chicks. Bill shorter than head, stoutest in the family, compressed, with obtuse e^^ignathous 

 tip ; culmen about straight to nostrils, thence declinato-convex ; gonys regularly convex with- 

 out decided angle ; commissure slightly sinuate at base, then straight, then much deflected. 

 Upper mandible covered with soft skin to nostrils, between which are two fossae, the anterior 

 shallow, oblong, the other deep, triangular, separated from bare loral space by an intervening 

 ridge. Nostrils broadly oval, far anterior. No crests or ruffs, but shafts of frontal feathers 

 prolonged into bristles. Eyelids peculiarly thickened. Outer 3 or 4 primaries abruptly sinu- 

 ate near the end. Tarsus stout, about J as long as middle toe and claw. Middle and outer 

 toes nearly equal. Basal semipalmation of toes extensive. Lobe of hind toe moderate. 

 P. podic'ipes. (For podicipes, see note under Podicipedidce, p. 1051. A. 0. U. uses podiceps.) 

 Pied-billed Grebe. American Dabchick or Dobchick. Dipper. Didapper or 



