roniciriD.K — the ouEnEs — dytes. 



437 



re wliiti! 



. These 



geiHirate 



•imous of 

 Musi'uiu 

 ■ imittiial 

 uUy, ami 

 Htiriu the 

 : L. Bel- 



IDSl'll 1>I>V- 



t exaiiii>k' 

 Euroi>oan 



»r. CoiU's), 

 tip of the 

 oiul i>f the 

 s therefore 

 jieuu Mill ; 

 inner \vel>s 

 The ilitfer- 

 ean Mnl. is 

 e the birds 



s alonj; the 

 ifous, wiiile 

 1(1 ilusky is, 

 feathers on 

 lis, while in 

 , in niarkeil 

 imm anion t,' 



the lioston 



reat aiiionnt 



and evi'ii 



mtinnotisly 



inj^-eoverts 



The tivf 



[U'e of white 



,tl!s of the 



;is ti!j;\ifiHl 



nvi'd from 



11 Ih)uiu1o(], 



•ostwanl to 



otli oil the 

 tlu' lUM^h- 



ing it coiii- 

 antl wiutii 

 ileo, ill the 



Dr. Cooper, while at Moiiterov, on tho coast of California, saw, about the middlo 

 of Septt'inbcr, some small Grebes wliieh proved to be of this speeies, and which 

 had apparently only recently come from their breeding-station. r»y the 18th of the 

 month families of about tivo each had become common. Dr. Coojier gives as the 

 liabitat of this species California, and thence northward and eastward to the liead 

 waters of the Missouri Kiver. At Monterey, about the middle of September, 18(!l, 

 he met witli flocks of four or five just arrived from the mountains, and swimnii 'g 

 very tamely close to the shores ; and he found them very numerous during the ensuing 

 winter along the southern coast. Tiiey were generally very fearless, unless they had 

 been repeatedly shot at, swimming and diving actively near the shore, and rarely 

 taking wing, though able to Hy rapidly when startled. 31ost of this siiecies go north 

 in April ; but at Santa liarbara, on the 5th of May. he shot a female — probably an 

 immature or sickly bird. He met with individuals of what he sui)posed to be this 

 species in the Colorado Valley, on a small pond; and Dr. Jleermanu mentions his 

 having frecpiently met with them on fresh water. Dr. Suckley, in ISoJi, shot one 

 on the west side of the Koeky Mountains in about hit. *"° N. ; and they liave been 

 obtained by Dr. Haydeii on tlie Cpiter Missouri Jxiver in September. On one occa- 

 sion Dr. Cooper found an individual in a deep ravine, into which it had probably 

 been blown in a fog. and where it liad been unable to rise from the ground. 



The Californian form of the Eari'd (irebe was found (piite numerous about Den- 

 ver, Col., by Mr. irenshaw as late as the irith of May. The birds were seen occa- 

 sionally in the river, but resorted mostly to certain small luuids not well adapted as 

 breeding-grounds, and they were apiiarently still migrating. Later, on the 2tid of 

 .lune, they were found breeding in the alkali jionds of Southern Colorado, wliere he 

 notii'cd them in several of these jioiids. and i)resuiiied that small cohmies had been 

 formed in each. In tlu only instance in which lie was abU' to inspect their nests a 

 community of a dozen pairs had selected a bed of reeds in the middle of the iMind, 

 isolated from the land by a considerr.ble interval of water. The nests an* described 

 as iH'iiig slightly ludlowed piles of decaying reeds and rushes, just raised above the 

 surface of tlie water, upon which they float. Kacli nest contained three eggs, most 

 of them being fresh, a few only being in a somewliat advanced stage of incubation, 

 lii every instance the eggs were entirely covered by a pde of vegetable material ; 

 mid as in no case were the birds found incubating, even where the eggs contained 

 slight embryos, it seems higlily prcdiable that their liatchiiig is dependent more or 

 less upon the lieat derived from thi> sun's rays. 



I'he eggs are said tt) vary little in siiapi', being considerably elongated, and one 

 end slightly more pointed tliaii the other, and in size varying from 1.70 to I. SO 

 inches in length, and from I.IS to l..'>.'> in bn'adtli. Tlie color is a faint yellowisii 

 wliite, usually much stained by contact with tlie nest. Tiii' te.xture is generally 

 'luiti' smooth, but in some cases roughened liv a clialky deposit. 



Ca))tain Heiidire noted this species as being a common sumnier resident in East- 

 irn Oregon, breeding in colonics in several localities in the neighborhood of Camp 

 Iliiruey. lie found in the summer of J87G ([uite a number of its nests, containing 

 from three to Ave eggs. It was seen by Mr. Guiin breeding in great numbers at 

 Shoal Lake. 



Kggs of this species from C,iliforni:i. and from Shoal Lake, in l?riti.sh America, 

 ivseiiibh' in si/e and sliape. as well as in tlicir ground-colors, tiio.se of the Horned 

 (Irebe. The measurements of four, taken as typical, are : 1.70 by 1.10 inches ; L70 

 liy l.l'u; L7r) by LL"i; and 1.80 by LlT*. 



