I 



THE PIED-BILL GEEBE. 563 



part of the breast, and the sides, dull rusty-brown, spotted and rather indis- 

 tinctly barred with brownish-black; lower part of breast and abdomen grayish- 

 white, mottled with dusky spots; iris brown; tarsi and feet grayish-black. 



Young. The throat is white and the bill without the transverse black band, the 

 under plumage more silvery-white; in other respects the same as the adult; some 

 specimens, probably the birds of the year, have whitish lines on the sides of the 

 head. 



Length, fourteen inches; wing, five and a quarter; bill, seven-eighths; tarsus, 

 one and a half inch. 



Hob. Atlantic States generally; Texas and New Mexico; California and 

 Oregon. 



This is the most common Grebe in New England, where 

 it is a summer resident. It undoubtedly breeds in all these 

 States, as it is frequently taken in the breeding season; but 

 its nest, owing to the secluded habits of the bird, is very 

 rarely found. It is described as being similar to that of the 

 preceding species. The eggs, five in number, are covered 

 with a calcareous deposit, which gives them a dirty yellow- 

 ish-white color : on scraping this off, the shell beneath has 

 a bluish-white tint. The form of the egg is exactly ovoidal. 

 Specimens in my collection, from Illinois, measure about 



2.17 inches in length by 1.45 inch in their greatest breadth. 

 Another, from Wisconsin, is only 1.95 inch in length, and 



1.18 inch at its greatest breadth. 



