174 NESTS AND EGGS OF NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



burrows in the ground ; depositing one egg, white, sometimes spotted with 

 purplish, occasionally in a ring around the larger end; size about i.io 



by . o4' Hab. North and South Atlantic and Southern Oceans. 



723. Leach's Petrel — cvimochorea leucorkhoa. Chalky white, dot- 

 ted finely on the larger end, often in a ring, with purplish red and lilac. 

 Only one egg is laid, size about 1.25 by .90. This is the most abundant 

 of the petrels along the North Atlantic coast; breeding from New England 

 northward. It nests in burrows in the ground, often under some old tree 

 trunk or log that has lain for years. When irritated, this species, like 

 many others of the petrels, ejects from its nostrils an oily fluid that has a 

 sickening odor. 



725. Ashy Petrel — cymochorea homochroa. This rare and Httle 

 known species inhabits the coast of California. Messrs. A. M. IngersoU 

 and W. O. Emerson collected three specimens of the eggs of this 

 Petrel on South Farallone Island, off the coast from San Francisco, in 

 June, 1885. These are probably the only eggs at present known. Mr. 

 IngersoU, in the "Ornithologist and Oologist " for February, 1886, de- 

 scribes a specimen as dull, creamy-white, with a circle of reddish dots 

 around the larger end, so fine as to be almost indistinct. The large 

 end is somewhat flattened, like the large end of an acorn. It measures 

 1. 18 by .94. This was deposited on the bare rock, in a natural hollow 

 formed by a large rock which had fallen in such a manner as to leave 



a cavity. Hab. Coast of California. 



729. Western Grebe — .echmophorus occidentalis. This Western 

 Grebe is the largest in this country and is common throughout West- 

 ern United States. Its general habits and nesting are like those of the 

 Thick-billed Grebe, No. 735. The eggs are larger, averaging about 2.50 

 by 1.45. They are narrow and elongated; a shape common to the eggs 



of birds of this family. Hab. Western North America, Eastward to Manitoba. 



731. American Red-necked Grebe — podiceps holbolli. Greenish 

 or yellowish-white, narrow-elongate; dimensions from 2. to 2.40 long by 

 1.35 to 1.40 broad; six to ten in number. This Grebe inhabits North 

 America at large and breeds in the Arctic regions. The general habits 

 and nesting are like those of common Dabchick. 



Hab. North America at large, including Greenland. Also Eastern Siberia, and southward to Japan. 

 Breeds in high latitudes, migrating southward in winter. 



732. Horned Grebe — dytes auritus. Uniform bluish or yellowish- 

 cream color"; four to seven in number, ordinarily four or five; size from 



