38 EEPORT OF NEW JERSEY STATE MUSEUM. 



Order PYaOPODES. 



Diving Birds. 



Family COLYMBID-ffi. 



The Grebes, 



The Grebes are notable as divers, and owe their popular name of 

 Hell-divers to their propensities in this line. Their feet are set well 

 back, the toes broadly lobed (not connected by a web), and both toes 

 and tarsus are exceedingly flat ; the plumage is dense, soft and silky ; 

 wings short and rounded; tail absent — merely a few downy feathers 

 like the rest of the plumage. Three species occur in the State : 



a. Bill slender, more than twice as long as deep, sharp pointed. 



6. Length, 18-20. Holboell's Grebe, p. 38 



65. Length, 12-15. Horned Grebe, p. 39 



aa. Bill stout, length less than twice the depth, upper mandible curved at tip. 



PiED-BiiXED Grebe, p. 40 



2 Coiymbus holboelli (Reinhart). 

 Holboell's Grebe. 



Adults in spring. — Length, 18-20. Wing, 7.30-8.10. Above, black; below, 

 silky white ; top of head, dull black ; rest of head and back of neck, ash gray ; 

 neck rufous in front and on sides ; secondaries, white. 



Adults in winter. — Similar, but lacking the gray and rufous. 



Rare winter visitant along the coast and bay shore, November to 

 March; more frequent in migrations. 



The first record that I find of the occurrence of this species in the 

 State is a specimen in tlie Philadelphia Academy collection, shot at 

 Pemberton, N. J., in 1857, and procured in market by Dr. J. C. Cole- 

 man. Beesley, Abbott and Turnbull each give it as rare, without any 

 definite record. 



The following more recent captures have come to my notice : 

 Delaware Bay ; winter of 1877 or 1878. C. A. Voelker. 

 Atlantic City; found dead February 1st, 1883. Geo. S. Morris.^ 

 Delaware River, opposite Chester; October, 1891. Colla. W. Stone.* 

 Lower Delaware River; February, 1894. C. A. Voelker.* 



Stone, Birds of E. Pa. and N. J., p. 38. 



