THE HORNED GREBE. 561 



number. They are, when first laid, of a white color ; but 

 they quickly become dirty and stained by the habits of the 

 bird and the nature of the nest. They are of an ovoidal 

 form, and average about 2.16 by 1.48 inch in dimensions. 



PODICEPS CORNUTUS. — Latham. 



The Horned Grebe, 



Podtceps cornuius, Nuttall. Man., II. (1834) 254. Aud. Orn. Biog., III. (1835^ 

 429; V. (1839) 623. lb., Birds Am., VII. (1844) 316. 



Description. 



Adult. — Upper part of the head, cheeks, throat, and ruff, glossy-black ; a broad 

 band running from the bill over the e3-es,*nd the elongated occipital tufts behind 

 them, yellowish-red, deepest in color adjoining the bill ; upper surface brownish-black ; 

 the feathers margined with gray; primaries brownish-ash; secondaries mostly white, 

 some of the outer one dark-ash; the fore -neck and upper part of the breast bright 

 chestnut-red, sides of tlie same color, intermixed with dusky; abdomen silky-white; 

 bill bluish-black, yellow at the tip; loral space bright-carmine; iris carmine, with an 

 inner circle of white ; tarsi and feet dusky-gray externally, dull-yellow internally, 

 and on both edges of the tarsus. 



Young. — The whole upper plumage grayish-black, darkest on the head, feathers 

 of the back with gray margins; throat, sides of the head, a broad space on the sides 

 of the neck, nearly meeting behind, breast, and abdomen, silvery-white; sides and 

 lower part of abdomen dusky. 



Length, about fourteen inches; wing, live and three-quarters; bill, one; tarsi, 

 one and three-quarters inch. 



Mab. — Generally distributed from the Atlantic to the Pacific coast. 



The Horned Grebe is not uncommon in our lakes and 

 rivers, and in the waters on our coast, in the spring and 

 autumn. It breeds in more northern localities than New 

 England, but is not invariably an arctic breeder. Audubon 

 says,— 



" Although the greater number of these birds go far 

 northward to breed, some remain within the limits of the 

 United States during the whole year; rearing their young on 

 the borders of ponds, particularly in the northern parts of 

 the State of Ohio, in the vicinity of Lake Erie. Two nests 

 which I found were placed at a distance of about four yards 

 from the water's edge, on the top of broken-down tussocks 



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