560 ORNITHOLOGY AND OOLOGY. 



shy, and difficult of approach ; and, when apprehending 

 danger, it immerses its body, and swims with nothing but 

 its head above the surface. This trick I have noticed in 

 other allied species ; and it is, I think, common in all birds 

 of this class. It breeds in the most northern portions of 

 the continent, where it forms the same kind of nest " as 

 that of the Crested Grebe, and lays three or four eggs." 

 Audubon describes an egg in his possession as being two 

 inches in length by one and a quarter inch in breadth, and 

 of a uniform pale greenish- white. 



PODICEPS CRIST A.1US. Latham. 

 The Crested Grebe. 



Podiceps cristalus, Nuttall. Man., II. (1834) 250. Aud. Orn. Biog., III. (1835) 

 595. 76., Birds Am., VII. (1844)308. 



DESCRIPTION. 



Adult. Front, upper part of the head, and long occipital tufts dark umber- 

 brown, the base of the tufts brownish-red ; the ruff is bright brownish-red on the 

 upper portion immediately under the tufts and anteriorly, on the hind-part brownish- 

 black ; upper plumage dark umber-brown ; humeral feathers white ; primaries umber- 

 ' brown; secondaries mostly white; throat and sides of the head white; forepart 

 and sides of the neck adjoining the ruflf brownish-red; under plumage silvery-white; 

 sides dusk)', tinged with reddish-brown; bill blackish-brown, tinged with carmine; 

 bare loral space dusky-green; iris bright-carmine; tarsi and feet greenish-black 

 externally, greenish-yellow internally; webs grayish-blue. 



Young. Upper part of head dark-brown; hind-neck brownish-gray; back and 

 wings brownish-black ; humeral feathers white ; primaries dark umber-brown on the 

 outer webs, paler on the inner; lower parts silvery-white, sides brown; upper man- 

 dible brownish-black, pale at the end, and yellow on the sides at the base ; lower 

 mandible yellow, with the sides dusky. 



Length, twenty-three and one-half inches; wing, seven and three-quarters; bill, 

 two and one-sixteenth ; tarsus, two and a half inches. 



This is not uncommon as a summer resident in northern 

 New England; and, according to Mr. George A. Boardman, 

 it breeds about the lakes in the neighborhood of Calais, 

 Me. The nest is placed in a retired spot, in a swamp or 

 marsh, near the water; and is constructed, according to Dr. 

 Richardson, of " a large quantity of grass, placed among 

 the reeds and carices." The eggs are generally four in 



