

Genus P0DILYMBU8 Lesson. 

 P0DTLYMBU8 PODTCEPS (Linn.). 



4. Pied-billed Grebe. (6) 



Length, VI to 14; Aviiig, about ."> ; ))ill, 1 or les.s ; tarsus. Ir,. Ailitll: — Bill 

 bluish, dusky on the ridge, encircled m ith a Ijlack Ijar ; throat with a long black 

 patch; upper parts black ish- brown ; primaries ashy-brown; secondaries ashy 

 and Avhite; lower parts silky white, more or less mottled or obscured with 

 dusky; the lower neck in front, fore l)reast and sides, washed with rusty. 

 Young lacking the thi'oat-pateh and peculiar marks of the bill, otherwise not 

 particularly different ; in a very early plumage with the hearl curioush' striped. 



Hab. — British Provinces southward to B)-azil, Buenos Ayres and Chili, 

 including West Indies and the Bermudas, bi'eeding nearly throughout its range. 



Nest, a little floating island of withei-ed reeds and rushes mixed with mud, 

 fastened to the aquatic plants, raised two or three inches above watei'. 



Eggs, five to seven, whitish, cloudeil witii gi-een. 



The Dab Chick is not quite so nuiiieious as tlie Horned Grebe, 

 neither is it so hardy, being a little later in arriving in spi'ing, and 

 disappearing in the fall at the first touch of frost. Tt is generally 

 rlistributed, and is the only one of the family which breeds in Hamil- 

 ton Bay, where it may often be seen in the inlets in summer accom- 

 panied by its young with their curiously striped necks. From its 

 small size and confiding manners it is not much disturbed, but if 

 alarmed it has a convenient hal)it of sinking ([uietly under water, not 

 to reappear till danger is past. 



