PODICIPID.fi — THE GREBES — DYTES. 437 



Dr. Cooper, while at Monterey, on the coast of California, saw, about the middle 

 of September, some small Grebes which proved to be of this species, and which 

 . had apparently only recently come from their breeding-station. By the 18th of the 

 month families of about five each had become common. Dr. Cooper gives as the 

 habitat of this species California, and thence northward and eastward to the head 

 waters of the Missouri River. At Monterey, about the middle of September, 1SG1, 

 he met with flocks of four or five just arrived from the mountains, and swimming 

 very tamely close to the shores ; and he found them very numerous during the ensuing 

 winter along the southern coast. They were generally very fearless, unless they had 

 been repeatedly shot at, swimming and diving actively near the shore, and rarely 

 taking wing, though able to fly rapidly when startled. Most of this species go north 

 in April ; but at Santa Barbara, on the 5th of May, he shot a female — probably an 

 immature or sickly bird. He met with individuals of what he supposed to be this 

 species in the Colorado Valley, on a small pond ; and Dr. Heermann mentions his 

 having frequently met with them on fresh water. Dr. Suckley, in 1853, shot one 

 on the west side of the Rocky Mountains in about lat. 47° N. ; and they have been 

 obtained by Dr. Hayden on the Upper Missouri River in September. On one occa- 

 sion Dr. Cooper found an individual in a deep ravine, into which it had probably 

 been blown in a fog, and where it had been unable to rise from the ground. 



The California!! form of the Eared Grebe was found quite numerous about Den- 

 ver, Col., by Mr. Henshaw as late as the 15th of May. The birds were seen occa- 

 sionally in the river, but resorted mostly to certain small ponds not well adapted as 

 breeding-grounds, and they were apparently still migrating. Later, on the 23d of 

 June, they were found breeding in the alkali ponds of Southern Colorado, where lie 

 noticed them in several of these ponds, and presumed that small colonies had been 

 formed in each. In the only instance in which he was able to inspect their nests a 

 community of a aozen pairs had selected a bed of reeds in the middle of the pond, 

 isolated from the land by a considerable interval of water. The nests are described 

 as being slightly hollowed piles of decaying reeds and rushes, just raised above the 

 surface of the water, upon which they float. Each nest contained three eggs, most 

 of them being fresh, a few only being in a somewhat advanced stage of incubation. 

 In every instance the eggs were entirely covered by a pile of vegetable material ; 

 and as in no case were the birds found incubating, even where the eggs contained 

 slight embryos, it seems highly probable that their hatching is dependent more or 

 less upon the heat derived from the sun's rays. 



The eggs are said to vary little in shape, being considerably elongated, and one 

 end slightly more pointed than the other, and in size varying from 1.70 to 1.80 

 inches in length, and from 1.18 to 1.33 in breadth. The color is a faint yellowish 

 white, usually much stained by contact with the nest. The texture is generally 

 quite smooth, but in some cases roughened by a chalky deposit. 



Captain Bendire noted this species as being a common summer resident in East- 

 ern Oregon, breeding in colonies in several localities in the neighborhood of Camp 

 Harney. He found in the summer of 1876 quite a number of its nests, containing 

 from three to five eggs. It was seen by Mr. Gunn breeding in great numbers at 

 Shoal Lake. 



Eggs of this species from California, and from Shoal Lake, in British America, 

 resemble in size and shape, as well as in their ground-colors, those of the Horned 

 Grebe. The measurements of four, taken as typical, are : 1.70 by 1.10 inches ; 1.70 

 by 1.25 ; 1.75 by 1.15 ; and 1.80 by 1.25. 



