PODICIPID^ — THE GREBES — PODICEPS. 430 



This diminutive Grebe is a West Indian, Mexican, Central American, and South 

 American species, coming within our fauna only in Southwestern Texas and in the 

 valley of the Colorado. 



In the Berlandier Collection, purchased by Lieutenant Couch and presented to the 

 Smithsonian Institution, tliere were a number of the eggs of this Grebe, showing that 

 this bird must be not uncommon in the valley of the liio Grande, especially on its 

 western side. 



Mr. Salvin met with this species on the Lake of Duenas on the 15th of October, 

 1859. Mr. G. C. Taylor saw several individuals on the lagoon in Tigre Island, Hon- 

 duras. Mr. E. C. Taylor mentions his meeting with it in Porto Rico. There he once 

 came upon several of these birds swimming aboui in a deep broad ditch, and suc- 

 ceeded in obtaining one. He found that it differs from the true Grebe in having the 

 feet semipalmated as well as lobated. Leotaud includes it among the birds of 

 Trinidad, where it is frequently to be met with. He regards it as a true Grebe in 

 its habits, and as passing all its life in the water. Its j^lumage thickly matted, and 

 thoroughly impregnated with oil, is utterly impervious to moisture. The anatomical 

 formation of its respiratory organs is such that there is not the usual necessity for 

 frequent renewals of respiration. When, therefore, it plunges in alarm under the 

 watei", to escape the danger that menaces, it will exhaust the patience of the hunter 

 before it reappears. Sometimes it will go to the bottom, and there remain a long 

 time, moving about all the while as if it were on the land. AVhenever it chances to 

 be upon the land, and attempts to move, its awkwardness clearly indicates that the 

 bird is entirely out of its element. When it is at rest it keeps itself nearly upright, 

 supporting itself on its tarsi and rump. Leotaud also mentions that he has heard of 

 persons who maintain the excellence of the flesh of this Grebe, but that he is decid- 

 edly not one of that number. He is not able to state with positive certainty whether 

 this species is a resident of Trinidad, or only a visitant. 



Dr. Burmeister mentions that this species is found everywhere throughout the 

 whole region of the La Plata, upon the lakes, ponds, and streams in the pampas, and 

 in the lagoons near the larger rivers, preferring always still Avater. 



Colonel Grayson speaks of the Santo Domingo Grebe as being an abundant and 

 common species near Mazatlan, in Western Mexico. It is found in all the fresh-water 

 ponds and lakelets of that locality, and may be met with near Tepic through the 

 entire year. 



Dr. Berlandier, in his manuscript notes, speaks of a Grebe, corresponding in size 

 to this species, as inhabiting the lakes produced by the overflowing of the Rio Bravo 

 del Norte, in the vicinity of Matamoras. 



Dr. Merrill — the first positively to confirm the claim of this Grebe to belong to 

 our fauna — found it a rather common resident in Southwestern Texas. Several 

 nests, undoubtedly belonging to this species, were found by him May 16, 1877, in a 

 salt-marsh a few miles from Fort Brown. These nests were made of water-plants 

 and pieces of reeds slightly fastened to one or two tule stalks, forming a wet floating 

 mass. No eggs were obtained. 



rufous spot, an eyebrow ovei" each eye ; a postocular stripe, an oblique cervical stripe extending along 

 the whole length of the neck, and a nuchal stripe also passing on to the neck ; clieeks, throat, and foreneck 

 are white, varied with blackish lines, one of which extends from the chin along the whole length of the 

 throat and neck ; two others on each side of the neck, one on the sides of the throat, and the other the 

 whole length of the lower part of the cheeks. Back blackish gray, interspersed with white haii-s ; breast 

 and sides deep gray, mixed with whitish hairs ; middle of the under part largely white. Iris nearly 

 black." 



