PODICIPID.E THE GREBES. 265 



on the malar region) ; lower parts silvery white, brownish laterally and posteriorly ; uppor 

 parts as in the summer plumage. Bill horn-color, becoming blackish basally and on the 

 culmen; lower mandible more lilaceous, with a dusky lateral stripe ; iris of three distinct 

 colors, disposed in concentric ring*, the first (around the pupil) clear milk-white, the next 

 dark olive-brown, the outer pale ochraceous-brown, the dark ring reticulated into the 

 lighter; tarsi and toes greenish slate, the joints darker. 1 Young, first plumage: Similar to 

 the winter dress, but sides and under part of the head white, indefinitely striped with brown, 

 the throat sometimes immaculate. Downy young: Head and neck distinctly striped with 

 white and black ; a spot of rufous on the middle of the crown, one on each side the occiput, 

 and one on the upper part of the nape; the latter confluent with two white stripes running 

 down the nape, tho others entirely surrounded with black; upper parts blackish dusky, 

 marked with four longitudinal stripes or lines of grayish white running the whole length 

 of the body; lower parts immaculate white medially, dusky grayish anteriorly, laterally, 

 and posteriorly. 



Total length, about 13.25 to 15.00 inches : extent, 20.0023.00; wing, 4.50-5.00 ; oulmen..75; 

 depth of bill at base, .45; tarsus, 1.40; middle toe, without claw. 1.80. 



I am unable to discover any tangible difference between several South American ex- 

 amples, in different stages of plumage, and North American specimens, and can therefore 

 see no reason for admitting the so-called P. antarcticus (LESS.). 



The Pied-billed Grebe, according to Professor Cooke, 2 "winters 

 wherever there is open water, from Illinois southward, and breeds 

 from southern Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, and eastern Kansas 

 northward." It breeds, however, very much farther southward 

 than the limit above indicated, environment far more than lat- 

 itude being the controlling factor. 



"Mr. N. B. Moore, writing from Sarasota Bay, Florida, states 

 that in the spring of 1870 he killed a bird of this species in 

 which he found an egg of nearly full size; and in a day or two 

 afterward found her nest, containing one egg. In April, 1873, 

 he found another nest on the same pond. The young, five in 

 number, stood in the nest uttering a faint peep, something like 

 the cry of a very young duckling. They all toddled overboard 

 on his approach. The terrified mother in the meanwhile was 

 swimming rapidly about, frequently diving and uttering sad 

 notes of alarm, with scarcely a feather of her back above the 

 water. The nest was composed of broken stems of dog-fennel, 

 matted together with a large portion of decayed and withered 

 aquatic plants, presenting, when found, a wet, black, and soggy 

 bed, to all appearances as uncomfortable a nest as ever fell to 

 the lot of delicate and beautiful downy creatures such as these 

 were. The nest was ten yards from the shore, within the pond, 

 and situated in a thick clump of erect dead stems of the fennel 



'From a specimen killed November 18, 1867, at Truckee Meadows. Nevada. 

 *Bird Migration in the Mississippi Valley, page 64, 



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