AMERICAN EARED GREBE 



4. Colymbus nigricollis californicus. 13 inches. 



This is a western species rarely found east of the 

 Mississippi. In sunlmer, it differs from the last in hav- 

 ing the entire neck black: in winter it can always be 

 distinguished from the Horned Grebe by its slightly 

 upcurved bill, while the upper mandible of the last is 

 convex. In powers of swimming and diving, grebes are 

 not surpassed by any of our water birds. They dive 

 at the flash of a gun and swim long distances before 

 coming to the surface; on this account they are often 

 called u devil divers." They fly swiftly when once a-wing, 

 but their concave wings are so small that they have to 

 patter over the water with their feet in order to rise. 



Nest. They nest in colonies, often in the same sloughs 

 with Horned' and Western Grebes, laying their eggs 

 early in June. The 4 to 7 eggs are dull white, usually 

 stained brownish, and cannot be separated from those 

 of the last. 



Range. Western X. A., breeding from Texas to Mani- 

 toba and British Columbia; winters in western U. S. 

 and Mexico. 



