"2AO Stejneger, Analecta Ornithologica. [October 



XXX. Colymbus nigricollis, not a North American Bird. 



Colymbus nigricollis (Brehm) proper — that is to say, the 

 Paloearctic form — has crept into the lists of North American 

 birds by a mistake, caused by the uncertainty as to which form 

 authors meant by the name " Podiceps auritus." 



" Podiceps auritus" was first introduced into the North 

 American fauna by Audubon — Orn. Biogr. V, 1839, (P- IoS ' 

 pi. 404) ; Syn., 1839, (P- 35 s ) i B - Am -> VII i l8 44> P- 3 22 > 

 pi. 4S2 — who described and figured specimens lent him by his 

 " noble and kind friend the Right Honorable the Earl of Derby, 

 who received them from North America, where, as I am assured, 

 it is not uncommon, although it has not been my good fortune to 

 meet with it." This is the black-necked or ' eared ' species ; but, 

 judging from the plate and the description (" the wings greyish- 

 brown with a bi"oad patch of white, the secondary quills being 

 of that color"), in all probability the American race, P. calif or- 

 nicus Heerm., as already indicated by Dr. Coues, who puts the 

 references to Audubon in the synonymy of the latter form (B. 

 Northwest, p. 733). 



Mr. Lawrence, in Baird's 'Birds of North America' (1858, 

 pp. 896, 897), enumerates both californicus and auritus as 

 American, the latter solely on Audubon's authority, and copying 

 his description. Hence the two names appear again in the 

 Smithsonian 'Catalogue,' first octavo edition, 1859, as Nos. 707 

 and 708. It should be remarked, however, that at that time the 

 relation of the ' California Grebe' to the black-necked or ' eared' 

 species was not suspected, as only winter specimens were known. 

 It was therefore compared with P. cormitus, the ' horned ' Grebe, 

 and not with the ' eared ' one. 



More recently C. nigricollis has been regarded as North 

 American on account of the supposed occurrence of this form in 

 Greenland. Professor Newton has been quoted as the authority, 

 reference being made to his ' Notes on Birds which have been 

 found in Greenland' (Arctic Manual, 1875, p, no). Here is 

 what he says : 



"(51.) Podiceps auritus. Horned Grebe. 



".A few immature specimens have been obtained in the southern part of 

 Greenland." 



