"""im"'] PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. 465 



2. Colymbus holboellii. Holbcell's Grebe. Ked-necked Grebe. 



Summer resident chiefly of the shallow, fish-freqiieated lakes to the 

 northward. Winnipeg : Summer resident; very rare; only 4 specimens 

 taken up to 1885 (Hine). Breeding in considerable numbers at Shoal 

 Lake; comparatively rare in Red River region (D. Gunn). Specimen 

 from Red River settlement in Smithsonian Institution (Blakiston). 

 Breeds abundantly in the marshes of Waterhen River and south end of 

 Waterhen Lake, where I took great numbers of its eggs (Macoun). 

 Duck Mountain ; breeding (Thompson). 



On June 18, 1884, while hunting at Duck Mountain, above Boggy 

 Creek, with my brother, we came to a small lake and parted to go 

 around it in different directions. When we met, he showed me a nest 

 which he had found among the reeds in 2 feet of water. It was a mere 

 floating mass of wet rushes, and had been moored by a few growing 

 rushes whose tops had been incorporated with the structure. It con- 

 tained 3 eggs, which the bird was hastily covering with more rushes 

 when he first saw her. From his description, and from what I could see 

 at 200 yards distance, it was apparently an adult Red-necked Grebe, but 

 the bird was too shy to admit of the identification being completed in 

 the only perfectly reliable way. 



As there are no fish in these isolated mountain lakes, these birds 

 probably live largely on amblystomje, crawfish, and insects. 



3. Colymbus auritus. Horned Grebe. 



Abundant summer resident of general distribution ; very abundant ; 

 breeding at Pembina and the base of the Turtle Mountain (Cones). 

 Lake Winnipeg (Murray). Red River (Kennicott). Common summer 

 resident in Red River Valley (Hunter). Commonabout Winnipeg (Hine). 

 Very common on Red River, and breed in the marshes near Shoal Lake 

 (Gunn). Portage la Prairie ; common summer resident (Nash). Ob- 

 served in the ponds from Turtle Moun.tain to Brandon, in May, 1882 ; 

 commonly breeding in all the ponds about the Big Plain, being the 

 most abundant Grebe of the region ; common also from Carberry to 

 Rapid City and thence west to Fort EUice, and in the whole region on 

 both sides of the Assiniboine, northward to Duck Mountain (Thompson). 

 Abundant on Waterhen River; breeding; they give the name to the 

 river; the common Grebe of the prairie ponds (Macoun). Shell River; 

 1885, first seen, two on May 3 ; afterwards seen every day ; it is common 

 all summer and breeds here (Calcutt). Trout Lake (Murray). 



On July 20, 1883, in a lake near " The Gore," shot a Horned Grebe. 

 It had saved itself once or twice by diving at the puff of smoke, so I 

 sought the cover of the bushes and fired through an opening, and as no 

 smoke was visible I got the bird. It was an adult male; length, 14 

 inches, extent 24 inches; moulting; iris blood red, with an inner circle 

 of white around it; basal region and i>art of lower mandible adjoining 

 Proc. N. M. 90 30 



