218 General Notes. [ April 



GENERAL NOTES. 



Horned Grebe Rising from the Ground. — The possibility of any 

 grebe rising from a hard, level surface seems so generally doubted, that the 

 following account (taken from my field notebook) of an actual instance 

 appears to me worthy of permanent record. Of course it does not prove 

 that any other species of the family can do so. Even HolboelPs Grebe, of 

 the same genus, may not have the ability, as Mr. F. Seymour Hersey tells 

 me that it is much more loth to rise from the water than its smaller brother; 

 he has approached by boat many of each species, and while the Horned 

 Grebe has frequently flown away, Holboell's has invariably dived. There 

 are also published stories of Holbcell's and other species that were unable 

 to leave after coming down onto a frozen lake or on the land. 



On October 28, 1917, at Long Beach, Nassau County, Long Island, N. Y., 

 Mr. Walter Granger and I met a gunner who had just shot a Horned Grebe 

 (Colymbus auritus). A little further on we found another Horned Grebe 

 sitting on the beach, on the hard part but well away from the water, in a 

 horizontal, swimming position, not upright like an auk. On our approach 

 it raised itself, and when we were within a few feet uttered a little, whining, 

 protesting note, then scuttled rapidly away several yards, into the rather 

 brisk wind and away from the water. On our second approach it repeated 

 the performance, but kept on going, and rose from the hard beach into the 

 wind. Flying strongly and swiftly, though it seemed to wobble somewhat, 

 it made a circle to the right several hundred yards in diameter, turned and 

 again with the wind came down onto the hard sand on the inner side of 

 the bar. It landed on a long slant but so hard that it rolled over and over, 

 until it finally sat up and settled itself comfortably. It was still there 

 when we passed again about two and a half hours later. — Charles H. 

 Rogers, American Museum of Natural History, New York City. 



Pied-billed Grebe (Podilymbus podiceps) in Chester Co., Pa., in 

 Summer. — Opposite my home at Cheyney, Chester Co., Pa., is an exten- 

 sive calamus marsh, with a public road running along the edge of it. On 

 June 13, 1917, a man passing along this road found an adult male Pied- 

 billed Grebe, which had evidently just been killed by a passing automobile. 

 The specimen was given to me and is now in the collection of the Academy 

 of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. From the date and the condition 

 of the bird there seems little doubt but that it was nesting. — Spencer 

 Trotter, M. D., Swarthmore College, Pa. 



Breeding of the Pied-billed Grebe (Podilymbus podiceps) near State 

 College, Center Co., Pa. — On May 14, 1917, I found on a small pond 

 at Scotia six miles from State College, Pa., a nest of the Pied-billed Grebe 

 that held six slightly incubated eggs. The pond was open except at one 



