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442 



THE DIVING BIRDS — PYOOPODES. 



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difficulty (lotormined, since this is not a bird whose presence is easily detected, owing 

 to its quiet and secretive habits. 



Mr. Salvin found this (.Jrebe a resident in Duenas, (Juateniahi, where it breeds in 

 May, making a nest among the reeds of the lake, of a pile of flags, heaped up so as 

 just to raise the edge of the structure above the surface of the water. Tlie eggs were 

 gc^nerally lialf immersed. These were from two to five in number, and of a elialky 

 exterior on an under surface of bluish green, measuring 1.55 indies in length by 1.08 

 in breadth. A specimen was taken by Dr. Cunningham near the Island of Chiloe, in 

 the Straits of Magellan, on the 20th of Marcli. 



Mr. P>ernard lioss met with it as far to the north as the valley of the ^lackenzie. 

 Mr. H. E. Dresser found it not uncommon near San Antonio, Texas, in tlie winter. 

 He observed .several on a pond near Matamoras in August, 1.SG4. Another specimen 

 — a young bird — was obtained from Fort Stockton. 



Dr. Gundlach informs me by letter that he has found this Gre])0 breeding in Cul)a, 

 and he has sent me specimens of its eggs. I have also received its eggs from Jamaica. 

 Mr. Gosse frequently met with it in tlic marshes on the banks of the Kio Cobre. 

 Wlien taken alive it soon becomes reconciled to confinement, and feeds readily on raw 

 chopped fish. A bird of this species, which Mr. liichard Hill kept alive a few weeks, 

 apparently felt great pleasure in lying on the weeds placed for him by the side of a 

 bowl of water, from which he drank. He would there repose hour after hour, doubled 

 up on the grass. The food given to this bird was Guinea-corn, which he ate readily 

 after it had been softened in the water. Leotaud mentions this species as being one 

 of the common birds of Trinidad. Its habits are precisely similar to those of 

 P. ilominlrus. Three examples are recorded by Major Wedderburn as having been 

 taken in Hermuda in 1849 and 1850. This Grebe is abundant in the neighborhood of 

 Calais, Me., where it breeds. 



Mr. J. A. Allen met with it in September in the valley of Great Salt Lake, Utah. 



Mr. N. 13. iloore, writing from Sarasota Bay, Fla., states that in the sjuingof 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 fcmnd 

 another nest on the same pond. The young, five in number, stood in the nest utter- 

 ing a faint peep, something like the cry of a very young duckling. They all toddled 

 overl)oard 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 i)ortion of decayed and Avithered arpiatii; 

 plants, presenting, when found, a wet, black, and soggy bed, to all ajipearances as 

 uncomfortable a nest as ever fell to the lot of delicate and beautiful downy creatures 

 such as these were. The nest was ten . ards from the shore, within the pond, and 

 situated in a thick clump of erect dead stems of the fennel where it rested on the 

 bottom of the pond, the water being about eight inches deep. The part above tlie 

 water was circular, twelve inches in breadth, the central depression being rathei' 

 shallow, and an inch in depth and live or six in breadth. There was no lining, and 

 the whole presented an appearance of solidity resembling masonry. The upper ])art 

 of the rim was only about two and a half inches above the surface of the pond, and 

 could not possibly have floated had the water risen to any height. When about thni 

 weeks old the young dive for their own food, though the mother feeds them lon^ 

 afterward. The young have been caught as late as Sejjtember 15th, and it is probable 

 that this bird lias two or three broods in a season. This (rrcbe winters as far nortli 

 as Tuget Sound, where also it is by no means rare during the summer. Dr. Heernianii 



