BIRDS OF PENNSYLVANIA. 



ORDER PYGOPODES. DIVING Brai)S; ; 



SUBORDER PODICIPEDES. GREBES. 

 FAMILY PODICIPID-ffi. GREBES. 



THE GREBES. 



Grebes during the spring and fall migrations are very generally distributed 

 throughout the state, and during niild winters birds of this family are often seen 

 about the larger lakes, ponds and rivers in different sections of the commonwealth. 

 Although these birds are generally observed singly or in pairs, occasionally, a good- 

 sized flock is to be found. In relation to the Grebes in general it can be stated that, 

 unless flying, they are almost always to be seen in the water. The several species 

 of this family, owing to the posterior situation of their legs, move with considerable 

 difficulty when on the ground, over which they go in a slow, floundering manner. 

 Grebes, like some other kinds of aquatic birds when wounded, will conceal them- 

 selves in weeds and grasses, which grow so luxuriantly in their favorite watery 

 retreats, where they will remain for a considerable period of time with only their 

 slender, tapering bills above the water's surface. They swim and dive with the 

 utmost facility ; when swimming beneath the water's surface, either in quest of prey 

 or to escape capture, it is said they use their wings in the same manner as when 

 flying in the air. Their well-known habit of diving when alarmed, and particularly 

 if shot at, has won for them the common name of u Hell-divers." The Grebe's nest 

 consists of a thick, matted mass of vegetation, such as reeds, flags, grasses, etc. 

 Sometimes the nest is built close to the water, but usually, according to Mr. Ridg- 

 way,* it is to be found "floating upon the surface of the water in grassy or sedgy 

 ponds or marshes." The same eminent authority describes the eggs as follows : 

 "2-5, dull white, bluish white, or very pale bluish green, usually stained more or 

 less (often quite deeply) with light brown, by contact with decomposed vegetable 

 matter." With the exception of the Pied-billed Grebe (Podilymbus podiceps), rep- 

 resentatives of this family occurring in Pennsylvania breed, generally, north of the 

 United States. Grebes subsist chiefly on fishes, frogs, various aquatic insects 

 especially beetles and to a limited extent on different water plants. They confer 

 no special benefits, nor are they in any particular detrimental to agricultural inter- 

 ests. Their flesh, quite tough and disagreeable to the taste, is seldom eaten, the 

 feathers, however, are considerably used by milliners, and by furriers for muffs, etc. 

 For these purposes the beautiful silvery-white plumage of the breast and abdomen 

 is taken. 



Bill acute and hard, variable in length, straight or decurved at end ; higher than 

 wide. Head with a naked loral space, and furnished either with bristly or variously 

 elongated feathers, usually called tufts or crests. These crests, which render the 



* A | Manual | of | North Americun Birds. | by | Robert Ridgway. | illustrated by44 outline drawings of 

 the generic characters. | Philadelphia. | J. B. Lippincott Company. | 1887 | . 



1 BIRDS. 



