282 ZOOLOGY. 



Sp. Ch. — Adult : Upper part of the head, cheeks, throat, and ruff, glossy black ; a broad band runnhig from the bill over 

 the eyes, and the elongated occipital tufts behind them yellowish red, deepest in color adjoining the bill ; upper surface 

 brownish black, the feathers margined with gray ; primaries brownish asli, secondaries mostly white, some of the outer onea 

 dark ash ; the fore neck and upper part of tlie breast bright chestnut red, sides of the same color, intermixed with dusky ; 

 abdomen silky wbite ; bill bluish black, yellow at the tip ; loral space bright carmine ; iris carmine, with an inner circle of 

 white ; tarsi and feet dusky gray externally, dull yellow internally, and on both edges of the tarsus. 



Length, about 14 inches ; extent, 21 ; wing, 5J ; bill, 1 ; tarsi, IJ. 



Young : The whole upper plumage grayish black, darkest on the head, feathers of the back with gray margins ; throat, 

 sides of the head, a broad space on the sides of the neck, nearly meeting behind, breast and abdomen, silvery white ; sides 

 and lower part of abdomen dusky. 



ffab. — Generally distributed, specimens being in the collection from the Atlantic States, the interior ones, and the Pacific 

 coast. 



The horned grebe is abundant between the parallels of 45° and 49° north latitude, from the 

 Mississippi river to the Pacific. I obtained specimens at St. Paul, Minnesota, also in western 

 Minnesota, near Nebraska, and from the salt waters of Puget Sound. Many birds of this 

 species breed on the saline lakes so abundant in the western portion of Minnesota. It is a 

 winter resident of Puget Sound, where it is known as the Ho-lnvhy by the Nisqually Indians. 



Like other species of the genus this grebe has the power of remaining for a considerable 

 time under water. It dives very quickly, and is very difficult to capture when wounded. I 

 have not noticed it float about entirely submerged, excepting the bill and head, as others do 

 when anxious to avoid detection, but suppose that this instinct is as common to it as the other 

 habits, which are so similar between the different species. — S. 



The horned grebe appears along the coast in September and October in large numbers. It 

 has the usual habits of the grebes, living on fish, for which it dives, and depending less on its 

 wings than its feet for escape, though able to fly well when compelled to. One which I 

 opened had its stomach full of a marine grass. In April they retire beyond the Territory. 

 Their only cry is faint and bleating. — C. 



PODICEPS CALIFORNICUS, Heermann. 



The California Grebe. 



Podkeps cali/oTniais, Heerm. Proc. Acad. N. Sc. Phil. VII, 1851, 179. — Baird & Lawrence, Gen. Kep. Birds, 896. 



Sp. Ch. — Winter Fhimage : The entire upper plumage is blackish brown, nearly black on the head ; primaries brownish ash, 

 some of the inner ones tipped with white ; secondaries w hite, with their basal portions dark ash ; under parts silky white, 

 the neck in front light ash, and the sides and lower part of abdomen brownish ash ; under linings of the wings white ; bill 

 dark brown, the base of the lower mandible yellowish, and its tip light horn color ; iris yellowish gray ; tarsi and feet 

 externally dark green, on the inside yellow. 



Length, 12 inches ; wing, 5 ; bill, f ; tarsus, 1^. 



Eat. — California, headwaters of Missouri and Columbia rivers. 



I obtained a specimen of the California grebe in the St. Mary's valley, (W. T.,) lying 

 between the Rocky and Bitter Root mountains. The bird was badly injured in the head by a 

 rifle ball, so as to puzzle me very much while attempting to compare it with the recorded 

 descriptions of the different species to which I had access. In habits this grebe appears 

 nearly related to the P. cornutus. — S. 



