558 ORNITHOLOGY AND OOLOGY. 
Young. — Upper part of the head and hind-neck dull-gray, streaked with grayish- 
white;- back and wings blackish-gray, profusely marked with oval-shaped white 
spots, there being two on each feather, smallest on the upper part of the back and 
largest on the tertiaries; quill feathers and tail blackish-brown, the latter edged 
with white; sides of the neck white, speckled minutely with gray; under plumage 
silky-white, crossed on the lower part of the abdomen by a dusky band; bill bluish- 
gray, dusky on the ridge and flesh-colored at the base. 
Length, twenty-seven inches; wing, eleven and a half; tail, two and a half; bill, 
two and a quarter; tarsus, two and three-quarters inches. 
Hab. —During the winters as far south as Maryland; inhabits as far north as the 
arctic seas; found also on the Pacific coast. 
This bird, although pretty common on our coast during 
the winter, is much more northern in its breeding habits 
than the Loon; seldom passing the season of incubation 
south of Labrador, where it begins to lay early in June. 
The nests are placed on small islands in fresh-water ponds, 
a short distance from the sea. ‘ These nests consist merely 
of a few blades of rank grasses loosely put together, and 
are quite flat, without any down to warm or conceal the 
eges at any period of incubation.”” They are placed within 
a few feet of the water, and are approached by well-beaten 
paths, like those of the preceding.’ The eggs are usually 
three in number. They exactly resemble those of the 
Loon in form, color, and markings, but are much smaller ; 
varying from 3 to 2.65 inches in length, and from 1.90 
to 1.75 inch in breadth. 
Sub-Family Popicieinz.— The Grebes. 
Bill generally long, compressed on the sides, and pointed; lores usually naked; 
aostrils placed in a groove, oblong and narrow. Wings short, the second quill 
longest, shorter than the scapulars; the tail is represented by a tuft of downy feath- 
ers; tarsi much compressed and rather short; toes long, the outer longest, broadly 
and evenly lobed, most so on the inner side; claws short, broad, and obtuse; tarsi 
with plates on the sides, in front with a single, behind with a double, longitudinal 
series of projecting scales; toes and their lobes plated above. 
The plumage is very soft, and on the under surface silky: they are remarkably 
active on the water, and when alarmed remain below the surface, exposing only 
the bill. 
