THE BIRDS OF IOWA. 



Class AVES. 



Subclass CARINAT.^. Birds with keeled sternum. 

 Order PYGOPODES. The Diving Birds. 

 Siiborder PODICIPIDES. Grebes. 

 Family PODICIPID.E. Grebes. 



The Grebes are usually classed as having the lowest type of 

 organization and structure among birds. They are the most emi- 

 nently aquatic of birds, possessing marvelous powers of diving. 

 The short legs, placed at the posterior extremity of the body, make 

 their movements on land very awkward, and the}- rarel}- leave the 

 water. Grebes feed largely on fish, which are pursued and caught 

 under water. 



Genus ^chmophorus Lawrence. 



1. (i).* .■P.c/iDwp/iorus occidoifalis (Li^wrenco). Western Grelie. 

 This large W^estern species was reported from Iowa b}- two 



observers. "Two or three accidental specimens noted in Black- 

 hawk county in early spring. Recorded by my father, George D. 

 Peck, the last time about seventeen years ago. The specimens 

 were not taken, but his familiarity with Iowa birds is such that I 

 think the record trustworthy." (Morton E. Peck.) Dr. Trostler 

 reports it as a rare migrant in Pottawattamie and Mills. The 

 species has been taken twice at Lake Koshkonong, Wis. (Kum- 

 lien and Hollister); reported twice from Nebraska, once from Cut- 

 off Lake, near Omaha (Rev. Bds. Neb., p. i6), twice from Minne- 

 sota: Red River and Big Stone Lake (Hatch). Rev. P. B. Pea- 

 body found two nests at Heron Lake, Minn., June 2, 1894 (Oolo- 

 gist, xii, i, 1895, 15). From the last record it appears probable 

 that it may rarely occur in summer in western Iowa. 



Genus Colymbus Linnaeus. 

 » 



2. (2). . ColyviMis holbcelli (Reinh.). Holboell Grebe. 



This .species appears to be ver}^ rare in Iowa. It was listed bj- 

 J. A. Allen (White's Geol. of Iowa, 1870), and reported from 



*The numbers at the left are the Iowa numbers and those in parenthesis are the A. 

 O. U. numbers of the species. 



