iss 5 .| General Notes. 313 



where, in company with a pair of the old birds, they constitute one of" 

 the most attractive of the many 'natural groups' which adorn Mr. Sharpe's 

 department. 



Lieut. A. W. Greely, U. S. A., Commander of the late Expedition to 

 Lady Franklin Sound, succeeded in obtaining the long-sought-for egg of 

 this species; and has had the extreme kindness to ask me to publish the 

 first account of it. 



Lieut. Greely writes me : "The specimen of bird and egg were ob- 

 tained in the vicinity of Fort Conger, latitude 8i° 44' N. The egg was 

 1. 10 inch [28 mm.] in the longer axis, and 1 inch [25.40 mm.] in the 

 shorter. Color, light pea green, closely spotted with brown in small 

 specks about the size of a pin-head." — C. Hart Merriam, Locust Grove, 



n. r. 



Southern Range of Rissa tridactyla kotzbuei. — In the last number of 'The 

 Auk' (Vol. II, p. 222), Mr. N. S. Goss mentions the capture of Rissa tridac- 

 tyla kotzbuei in Washington Territory, and thinks it to be its most south- 

 ern record. We have, however, received it from Mr. Charles A. Allen, 

 taken at Nicasio, Cal. — Southwick & Jencks, Providence, R. I. 



The Relationship of Podiceps occidentalis and P. clarkii. — About four 

 years p.go Mr. Henshaw * discussed the relationship of Podiceps occiden- 

 talis and P. clarkii, as shown by a series of eleven skins collected by me 

 in San Francisco Bay, Cal. Owing to lack of specimens from different 

 localities, and from the breeding grounds of these forms, I am unable to 

 give a definite opinion respecting the conclusion arrived at by Mr. Hen- 

 shaw, but will leave the now generally accepted belief of the specific iden- 

 tity of the two forms until they can be studied from fresh specimens on 

 the breeding grounds. From my own investigations I decidedly incline to 

 the opinion that the differences which, prior to Mr. Henshaw's investiga- 

 tions, were supposed to characterize different species or varieties, are in 

 reality only sexual. 



Of the twenty skins of this bird which I have prepared fifteen are 

 females, and can easily be distinguished from the males, the female differ- 

 ing from the male in size and in the general appearance of the bill. In 

 fact, I find no difficulty in distinguishing the sexes in the fresh bird before 

 skinning. The color and curvature of the bill as seen in skins are of little 

 aid, as the bill so warps in drying that a bill slightly recurved in life may 

 become very much recurved in the dried skin. The color of the bill, also, 

 soon changes after death, especially if the bird be suspended by the legs 

 for a time before skinning. Through the courtesy of the authorities of 

 the National Museum I was kindly afforded an opportunity to examine 

 twenty-five specimens of these Grebes in the collection of the Museum, 

 and with one exception I correctly determined the sex at sight by the 



* On Podiceps occidentalis and P. clarkii. By H. W. Henshaw. Bull. Nutt. Orn. Club, 

 VI, pp. 214-216. 



