4 INTRODUCTION^. 



water, and thus there is no white wing patch. By watching 

 the bird a little while it will be seen to dive often. It also 

 sinks slowly beneath the water, sometimes keeping the head 

 and neck only above the surface. 



Keeping this last mentioned habit in mind when consult- 

 ing the key, it will be seen that there are two groups that 

 possess the power of sinking slowly beneath the water; the 

 Grebes and Anhingas. The latter named are confined to the 

 southern part of the United States and southward, and have 

 long bodies and tails. Hence the Grebes, with their short, 

 tailless bodies, remain, regardless of the location in which 

 the bird in question is observed; and upon reading the char- 

 acters of the order, given on page 11, it becomes evident that 

 our bird belongs to this group. Under family characters, 

 which should now be consulted, it will be found that the 

 bird is not a Slender-billed Grebe, as all of these not only 

 have slender bills but also a white wing patch, and other 

 ^characters given do not agree with our observations. Hence 

 we find that our bird must belong to the Thick-billed Grebes, 

 and consequently, there being but a single species, must be 

 •a Pied-billed Grebe. By reading the description of this spe- 

 tjies it will be found to agree with the facts observed. 



We have ascertained that the Pied-billed Grebe belongs 

 to -A., the order of Grebes; B, the family of Thick-billed 

 Grebes ; a, the genus of Black-throated Grebes ; it is species 

 No. 1 in this genus. This species is always designated in 

 this book as, A, B, a, 1 ; a method which links the species 

 with its order, family, and genus, and no other species has 

 exactly this same combination of letters and number, for the 

 letter of the order is never rejDeated. For examples of this 

 method as applied to the Pied-billed Grebe, see letters and 

 figures under figs. 1, 2, and 6. Additional fractional figures, 

 as 1-15 under fig. 1, indicate the comparative size of the fig- 

 ure to that of the life-sized bird, thus it will be seen that the 

 cut of the Pied-billed Grebe is only one fifteenth the size of 

 life. Figures that do not have the fraction following the si)e- 

 cific number are life-sized; examples, figs. 4, 6, and 6. 



