BIRDS OF NEW YORK 97 



Elk lake near Mt Marcy in the Adirondacks. It has been recorded as a 

 summer resident by Giraud on Long Island; Merriani, in Lewis county; 

 Meams in the Highlands; Davison in Niagara county; Chapman near New 

 York; Short in western New York, and Fisher at Ossining. It is also 

 reported by correspondents as breeding in Cayuga, Erie, Monroe, Ontario, 

 Orleans, Yates, Onondaga and Fulton counties. It is, however, much less 

 commonh' distriljutcd through the State, than fomicrly, before so man}- 

 marshy ponds and streams had been drained and our lakes and streams 

 frequented bv fishermen and pleasure seekers. During the spring and 

 autumn it is found on all the waters of the State. It is a species of wide 

 distribution in America, ranging from Argentina to Hudson bay. 



Migrations. This grebe is a rare winter bird in the southern part of 

 the State, but is mostlv a migratory species arriving from the south about 

 the 6th of April in the vicinity of New York and from the 23d of March to 

 the 15th of April in Monroe county and other parts of western New York. 

 Migrants have passed to their breeding grounds from the ist to the 15th 

 of May and return from the north again the last of August to September 

 15th. The greater number have departed to the south by the first of 

 November, but an occasional straggler is sometimes found in December 

 and Januarw I have seen one which was captured in a barnj'ard watering 

 trough during the first week of February, when the mercury was below 

 zero and the ground was deeply covered with snow. 



Haunts and habits. Marshy lakes, ponds and bavs and sluggish streams 

 bordered with flags and grown over with i:)ondweed, water crowfoot and 

 eelgrass are the favorite haunts of this species. Here it makes its nest 

 and rears its }-oung. When approached, it sinks gradually out of sight 

 b)- compressing or expelling the air from its lungs and air sacks or dives 

 Avith a quick motion of the neck and legs, and swims rapidh- beneath the 

 surface to reappear some distance from where it disappeared, or rising 

 among the weeds remains invisible, sometimes with onh* its nostrils above 

 the water beside some stick or plant, thus completely evading its pursuers. 

 It is rarely found in the open deep water where our other grebes find their 



