DIVING BIRDS 



3. HORNED GREBE. Colymbus auritus. 



Range. The whole of North America, breeding 

 in the interior from North Dakota northwest; 

 winters along the Gulf Coast. This species is 

 one of the most beautiful of the Grebes, having 

 in the breeding season buffy ear tufts, black 

 cheeks and throat, and chestnut neck, breast and 

 sides. They breed abundantly in the marshy flats 

 of North Dakota and the interior of Canada. 



Buffy white, nest stained 



They build a typical Grebe's nest, a floating mass 

 of decayed matter which stains the naturally 

 white eggs to a dirty brown. The number of 

 eggs varies from three to seven. Size 1.70 x 1.15. 

 Data. Devils Lake, N. Dakota, June 20, 1900. 

 6 eggs much stained. Nest floating in 4 ft. of 

 water, a large mass of rotten rushes and weeds. 

 Collector. James Smalley. 



<k EARED GREBE. Colymbus nigricollis. 



californicus. 



Range. North America west of the Mississip- 

 pi, breeding from Texas to Manitoba and winter- 

 ing along the Pacific Coast of the United States 

 and from Texas southward. 



Eared Grebes differ from the preceding in hay- 

 ing the entire neck blackish. They nest very 

 abundantly throughout the west, in favorable lo- 

 calities, from Texas to Minnesota and Dakota. 

 Their nests are constructed in the same man- 

 ner as the preceding varieties and are located in similar localities. As do all 

 the Grebes when leaving the nest, they cover the eggs with the damp rushes from 



.,, , around the base of the nest. This is prob- 

 ,.- , ably for the purpose of assisting incuba- 



tion during their absence, by the action "of 



. the sun's rays on the wet mass. As they 



.are nearly always thus covered upon the 

 approach of anyone, this may be done also 

 as a protection from discovery. They lay 

 from three to eight bluish white eggs with 

 the , usual chalky and discolored appear- 

 ance. The breeding season is at its height 

 early in June, or earlier, in the southern 

 portion of its range. Size 1.75 x 1.20. Data. 

 Artesian, S. Dakota, June 21, 1899. Nest 

 of rushes, floating in three feet of water. 

 Large colony in a small lake. Collector, F. A. Patton. 



13 



Horned Grebe 



Eared Grebe 



Bluish white, stained 



