62 PATAGONIAN EXPEDITIONS : ZOOLOGY. 



The Princeton Expeditions did not procure this species in Patagonia 

 and the description is based on material in the British Museum of Natural 

 History as well as in the Academy of Sciences in Philadelphia, and in the 

 American Museum of Natural History, New York. 



"Mr. Gosse found nests with four eggs in August, but as the birds had 

 almost assumed their full breeding plumage in January, I conclude that 

 the record of August nesting must be that of a second brood. 



"At Priestmans River (Jamaica, W. I.) January 7, 1891, I found this a 

 rather common species apparently mated. A male taken in full plumage 

 had the testes as large as the largest buckshot. At the same locality, 

 January 20, 1891, a male taken (10485) is apparently in the plumage of 

 the first year. No black about the throat and much lighter throughout in 

 color than birds in full plumage. . . . The sides were dull greenish yellow. 

 At the same locality on January 23, 1891, I took four individuals in a 

 shallow pond. Three were females and one a male. The females all 

 appeared about to breed. In one the yolk was almost or quite developed 

 and the first egg would have been laid in a week at latest. The other 

 two would have bred in the next four or five weeks. These four birds 

 were all in full plumage. Many individuals were seen beside those that 

 were captured, and the birds were abundant at this point though of course 

 local in distribution. 



"From Mr. Taylor's notes I add the following: 'Three eggs in my 

 possession were taken in the month of September, 1888, from a pond at 

 "New Works" a few from Linstead in St. Calhumus'" (Jamaica, W. I.) 

 (Scott, Observations on The Birds of Jamaica, West Indies. Auk, VIII. 

 4. PP- 354. 355, 1891.) 



The above details of the breeding period of this grebe in a restricted 

 geographical range seem to show a prolonged breeding season, from late 

 January to September ; or it may be more probably a matter of individual 

 variation as to the breeding time. 



Mr. Frank M. Chapman in the Bulletin of the American Museum of 

 Natural History, Vol. XII. p. 255, December 1899, has described two 

 geographical races oi Podicipcs doniinicits \\h.\c\\ he discriminates as being 

 the mainland representatives of this little grebe. Under the head of 

 Colynihis doniinicus byachyr/iyiichi/s, a bird from Matto Grosso, Brazil, 

 (No. 34872, Coll. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist, male, Chapada, Matto Grosso, 

 Brazil, September 19, 1883. Collected by H. H. Smith), being dis- 



