THE PIED-BILL GREBE. 563 
part of the breast, and the sides, dull rusty-brown, spotted and rather indis- 
tinctly barred with brownish-black; lower part of breast and abdomen grayish- 
white, mottled with dusky spots; iris brown; tarsi and feet grayish-black. 
Young. — The throat is white and the bill without the transverse black band, the 
under plumage more silvery-white; in other respects the same as the adult; some 
specimens, probably the birds of the year, have whitish lines on the sides of the 
head. 
Length, fourteen inches; wing, five and a quarter; bill, seven-eighths; tarsus, 
one and a half inch. 
Hab,— Atlantic States generally; Texas and New Mexico; California and 
Oregon. 
This is the most common Grebe in New England, where 
it is a summer resident. It undoubtedly breeds in all these 
States, as it is frequently taken in the breeding season; but 
its nest, owing to the secluded habits of the bird, is very 
rarely found. It.is described as being similar to that of the 
preceding species. The eggs, five in number, are covered 
with a calcareous deposit, which gives them a dirty yellow- 
ish-white color: on scraping this off, the shell beneath has 
a bluish-white tint. The form of the egg is exactly ovoidal. 
Specimens in my collection, from Illinois, measure about 
2.17 inches in length by 1.45 inch in their greatest breadth. 
Another, from Wisconsin, is only 1.95 inch in length, and 
1.18 inch at its greatest breadth. 
