358 BIRDS. 



CoLYMBUs*, Lin. 



Or Divers, have for their peculiar character only a smooth, straight, cor/i- 

 pressed and pointed bill, and linear nostrils ; but the differences in the 

 feet have caused them to be subdivided. 



PoBicEFS, Lath. — CoLYMBUs, Briss. and IlUg. 



The toes of the Grebes, instead of being regularly palmated, are 

 widened like those of the Coots, the anterior ones only being united at 

 the base by membranes. The middle nail is flattened, and the tarsus 

 strongly compressed. The semi-metallic lustre of their plumage has 

 caused it to be frequently employed as fur. Their tibia, as well as that 

 of the succeeding subgenera, is prolonged above into a point which gives 

 more efficient insertions to the extensors of the leg. 



These birds live on lakes and ponds, and build among the rushes. In 

 certain circumstances, it appears that they carry their young ones under 

 their wings. Their size and plumage are so much changed by age, as tQ 

 have caused an improper multiplication of species. M. Meyer reduces 

 those of Europe to four. 



Col. cristatus, Gm., Enl. 400 and 944; Frisch, 183; Naum. 69, 

 F. 106; Col. urinator, Gm., Enl. 941; Edw. 36, (The Crested 

 Grebe), is the size of a duck ; blackish-brown above, silver-white 

 beneath; a white band on the wing; it acquires with age a double 

 black tuft, and the adults have in addition a broad red collarette on 

 the upper part of the neck, edged with black. 



Col. cornutus, Enl. 404, 2 ; Col. obscurus, Enl. 942 ; and CoL 

 caspicus, Gm. Vieill. Gal. 281: Edw. 145, (The Horned Grebe), 

 resembles the preceding in form, but the collarette of the adult is 

 black ; its tufts and the front of its neck red. It is much smaller. 

 Col. suhcristatus ; and the young, parotis and rubricollis, Enl. 

 931; Lath. Supp. I, 118; Naum. 70, f. 107, (The Grey-cheeked 

 Grebe), also has the front of its neck red, but the tufts of the 

 adult are small and black, and its collarette very short and grey. 

 Intermediate, as to size, between the two last. 



Col. minor, Gm., Enl. 905, (The Little Grebe), is as large as a 

 Quail, and has neither crest nor collarette; its plumage is brown, 

 more or less shaded with red, the breast and belly excepted, where 

 it is a silver-grey. The throat of the young bird is white -j". 



Hemornis, Bonnaterre. — Podoa, Illig. — Grebifoulques, Buff. 



Have feet lobulate as in the Coots and Grebes, but the tail more de- 

 veloped than in either of the two; the nails also are sharper J. 



* Colymbus, the Greek name of these birds. 



t Add the Gr. de la Caroline {Pod. carolhiensis, Lath.), Catesb. 41, 91; Enl. 93;— 

 the Gr. aux belles joues {Pod. kalipnreus, Less, and Gam.), Voy. de la Coq., Zool. No. 

 45 ; — the Gr. Rolland {Pod. Rollandi), Quoy and Gaym., Voy. de Freycin., Zool. 

 pi. xxxvi. 



X Plotus surinamensis, Gmel., EnL 893; — Heliornis senegalensis, Vieill. Gal. 280. 



