258 BIRDS OF ILLINOIS. 



Family PODICIPID^.— The Grebes. 



Ckaeacters. Swimmers resembling the Loons in the posterior insertion of the legs, 

 but the toes lobate and semipalmate, instead of completely webbed, the claws broal, flat, 

 and nail-like, instead of normally narrow and curved. Bill variable in shape ; nostrils vari- 

 able, but without an overhanging lobe; wings very short and concave, the primaries cov- 

 ered by the secondaries in the closed wing; tail rudimentary, consisting of a mere tuft of 

 downy, loose-webbed feathers, without perfectly formed rectrices; plumage of the lower 

 surface remarkably silky and lustrous, usually whitg. 



The Grebes are aquatic birds, poorlv adapted for protracted 

 flight, on account of the smallness of their wings, but among 

 the most expert of divers. Their nest is a thick matted plat- 

 form of rushes, sedges, etc., usually floating upon the surface of 

 the water in grassy or sedgy ponds or marshes. The eggs are 

 2-5, dull white, bluish white, or very pale bluish green, usually 

 stained more or less (often quite deeply) with light brown, by 

 contact with decomposed vegetable matter. 



The recognized North American genera may be distinguished 

 as follows: 



A. Bill slender, the length of the eulmen much more than twice the depth of the bill at the 



base. 

 [1. ^chmophorus. Length of eulmen at least five times the greatest depth of the bill; 

 neck nearly as long as the body. (Not represented in the Illinois fauna.)] 



2. Colymbus. Length of eulmen less than four times the greatest depth of the bill; 



neck much shorter than the body. 



B. Bill very stout, the length of the eulmen less than twice the greatest depth of the bill. 



3. Podilymbus. 



Gentts colymbus Ltnn^us. 



Colymbtis LiNN. S. N. ed. 10, i, 1758, 135; ed. \i, i, 1766, 220. Type, by elimination. Colymhua 



crialatus Linn. 

 Fodiceps Lath. Ind. Orn. ii, 1700, 780 (part; but, type, by elimination and restrietioa. Cdum- 



bus tliivialiiis TuNST.). 

 Dyies Kaup. Sk. Ent. Eur. Thierw. 1820, 49. Type, Voly7uhus cori^iitus Gmel.,= C'. auritus 



Linn. 

 t'r-octorus Kavp. I. a. Type, Fodiceps itigricollis Brehm. 

 Oiudytes Reich. Syst. Nat. 1853, p. Ill (same type). 

 Tavhyhapfus Reichenb. Syst. Av. 1852. p. iii. Type, Colymbus minor GMEL,.,= C..rluviatiUs 



TuNST. 



Gen. Char. Neck much shorter than the body; bill not longer than the head, more or 

 less slender, its depth never more than one *hird the length of the eulmen; tarsus decidedly 

 shorter than middle toe with claw. Nuptial plumage oi namented by colored tufts, ruflfs, or 

 patches about the head, and very diffen^nt in this respect from the winter plumage. 



