438 THE DIVING BIRDS — PYGOPODES. 



Genus PODICEPS, Latham. 



Podiccps, Lath. Ind. Orn. II. 1790, 7S0 (part ; type, by elimination and restriction, Colymbus 

 jiuviatilis, Tunst.). 



Tachybaptus, REICHENB. Syst. Av. 1852, p. iii (type, Colymbus minor, Gmel. ,= C. Jiuviatilis, 

 Tunst.). 



Char. Very small (wing not more than 4.00 inches). Neck much smaller than the body ; 

 bill shorter than the head, the culmen less than 3 times the basal depth ; tarsus decidedly shorter 

 than the middle toe without claw ; adult in breeding-plumage without ornamental tufts (or, in the 

 American species, colored patches). 



Although quite different in its coloration from the type of the genus (P. jiuviatilis), which has 

 the head brightly colored in the breeding-season, the American species which we place here agrees 

 very minutely in the details of form. 



Podiceps dominicus. 

 THE LEAST GREBE. 



/ 



Colymbus dominicus, Linn. S. N. I. 1766, 223 (based on Colymbus Jiuviatilis dominiccnsis, Briss. 



Orn. VI. 1760, 64, pi. 5, fig. 2). 

 Podiccps dominicus. Lath. Ind, Orn. II. 1790, 785. — Baird, Rep. U. S. & Mex. Bound. Survey, 



II. 1859, pt. ii. Birds, 28 ; Birds N. Am. ed. I860, pi. 99, fig. 1 ; Cat. N. Am. B. 1S59, no. 



708 (». — Coues, Key, 1S72, 338 ; Check List, 1873, no. 613 ; ed. 2, 1S82, no. 851. 

 Sylbcocyclus dominicus, Coues, Pr. Ac. Nat. Sci. Philad. 1S62, 232. 

 Podiccps (Tachybaptes) dominicus, Coues, Birds N. \V. 1S74, 736. 

 Tachybaptes dominions, Ridgw. Norn. N. Am. B. 1881, no. 734. 



Hab. The whole of tropical America, both continental and Antillean ; south to Paraguay, 

 north to Texas and Lower California. 



Sp. Char. Adult, breeding-plumage : Head and neck dark grayish or dull plumbeous, the 

 pileum slightly glossy greenish black, the chin and throat dull black ; remaining upper parts dusky 

 brown, the remiges light brownish gray, with their inner webs chiefly white. Lower parts white, 

 clouded, chiefly beneath the surface, with grayish dusky, the sides and crissum uniform grayish 



brown, the jugulum similar, sometimes tinged with ferruginous. Bill deep black, the tip paler ; 

 iris orange ; legs and feet blackish. Winter plumage: Similar to the preceding, but chin and 

 throat white, and the lower parts more uniformly white. Downy young : Head and neck marked 

 with white and dusky black lines ; upper parts uniform dusky, lower grayish white. 1 



Total length, about 9.00 inches ; wing, 4.00 ; culmen, .90 ; depth of bill at base, .35 ; tarsus, 

 1.30 ; middle toe, without claw, 1.50. 



1 The downy young are thus described by M. Taczanowski, in Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond. 1882, p. 49 : — 

 " The young ones in down, collected in July, have the top of the head black, with a rufous spot in the 

 middle and a series of white stripes disposed in the following manner : a median stripe in front of the 



