48 Dr. R. W. Shufeldt on the Terrestrial 



Grebes he drew upon shore, and in doing so gave them 

 both the erect attitudes, as well as, what may be termed, the 

 ventropodal ones. His figures have been very extensively 

 copied, and are doubtless largely responsible for the ''book " 

 attitudes, to which Mr. Brimley refers. On the other hand, 

 Wilson, who portrayed his subjects more in keeping with 

 the demands of strict ornithological science, figured his 

 Great Northern Diver in the act of swimming, and this 

 figure fortunately has been very extensively reproduced by 

 Coues and other popular ornithologists. A typical example 

 of figuring a Grebe in a thoroughly erect pose may be seen 

 in the case of the Great Crested Grebe {Podiceps cristatus) 

 that illustrates the article '' Grebe " in Professor Newton's 

 ' Dictionary of Birds,^ and another, in the case of the 

 " Loon,^^ in Michelet's work ' L'Oiseau.' The female bird, 

 however, in the latter has the ventropodal attitude. And 

 so it goes all through the literature of the Class, and has 

 been even carried into the osteology of long-extinct pygo- 

 podous birds, for Marsh, in his restoration of the Hesperornis , 

 makes the skeleton of that ancestral type of Divers stand 

 up as erect as any Dabchick that illustrates works on popular 

 zoology for our public schools. When Loons and Grebes 

 go on shore it is rarely for any other jDurpose than to 

 breed, and they never leave the water's edge but for very 

 short distances — usually less than fifty feet. In our western 

 rivers, the Great Northern Diver is frequently seen to pass 

 out of the water on to the sand-bars, where he will stretch 

 himself out in the ventropodal position to enjoy the warm 

 sun and the complete rest from aqueous locomotion. At 

 these times they are never seen to assume the erect attitude, 

 except when they raise up in that position to vigorously fan 

 with their wings for an instant or two. This attitude is 

 beautifully represented in the case of the male Black-throated 

 Diver in the group exhibited in the South Kensington 

 Museum, and so accurately figured in Dr. Shai'pe's excellent 

 article in 'The English Illustrated Magazine' for December 

 1887 (p. 170), on "Ornithology at South Kensington." 

 That is a most life-like group, and represents both the 



