92 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



tarsi compressed, scutellate, the rear edge serrate; nails broad, flat and 

 blunt; tibio-tarsal (heel) joint naked; bill straight or sometimes curved 

 at the tip; a naked strip from the eye to base of bill; tail rudimentary; 

 wings weak, conspicuously concavo-convex ; fifth cubital wanting ; primary 

 feathers 12 in number, 11 being developed and several emarginate, con- 

 cealed when closed by the elongated inner secondaries. Like the loons 

 they have a large apophysis of the tibia which renders it difficult to ixn joint 

 the knee in the usual manner when dissecting. Carotids single. Eggs 

 often as many as 7 or 9. Young praecocial. 



These are the "Hell -divers," or lobe-footed divers, so well known to 



our youthful gunners. The Western grebe which is not found in New York 



furnished most of the grebes' breasts so extensively used on ladies' hats 



and muffs a few years ago. It is a curious fact that a grebe's stomach 



usually contains, at least during the spring migrations, a compact mass of 



the bird's own feathers, probably swallowed during the molt. Although 



grebes can scarcely be called beneficial birds, we can well spare the small 



fry which they destroy as a return for the lively entertainment which they 



furnish all visitors to our lakes and bays. 



Colymbus holboelli (Reinhardt) 

 Holboell Grebe 



Plate I 



Podiceps holboellii Reinhardt. Vid. Med. 1853. p. 76 



Podiceps cristatus and P. rubricollis DeKay. Zool. N. Y. 1844. pt 2, 



p. 275, 276 

 Colymbus holboellii A. O. U. Check List. Ed. 2. 1895. No. 2 



colym'hus, Lat., a diving bird; hol'boelli, in honor of C. Holboell 



Description. Slimmer plumage: Upper parts glossy greenish black, 

 feathers on the back edged with grayish; secondaries white with black 

 shafts and brownish tips; throat patch and side of head white, tinged with 

 silvery ash; under parts silvery white, each feather with a dusky shaft 

 and terminal spot, producing a peculiar dappled appearance; front and 

 sides of neck and upper breast deep brownish red; bill black, yellowish at 

 base of lower mandible; iris carmine; crest and ruff rather inconspicuous. 

 Winter adult and immature: Crests scarcely discernible; upper parts brown- 

 ish black; throat, sides of head, and under parts white, mostly without 

 spots; front and sides of neck, and sides ashy; bill yellowish, dusky toward 

 tip. 



