432 HORNED GREBE. 



wings of their parents in cases of danger must be erroneous, as Grebes in 

 all such cases dive or fly at once, when it would be impossible for the 

 old and young to keep thus attached to each other. 



I have observed in the stomachs of almost all that I have examined, 

 a quantity of hair-like substances rolled together like the pellets of owls, 

 but have not ascertained whether or not these masses are disgorged. They 

 certainly cannot pass through the intestines. But unless birds of this 

 kind are kept in an aviary and watched, this matter must remain unknown. 

 The food of this species, while on salt-water, is composed of shrimps, 

 small fishes, and minute Crustacea. While on fresh-water, they procure 

 insects, leeches, small frogs, tadpoles, and aquatic lizards ; they also pick 

 up the seeds of grasses, and I have found as many in the stomach of an 

 individual as would fill the shell of one of its eggs. Their flight is per- 

 formed by regular short flappings, executed with great quickness. 



I have represented an adult male in full spring plumage, and a young 

 bird shot in December. The males are rather larger than the females, 

 which are similar in colour, but rarely have the head so well feathered 

 during the breeding season. 



PoDiCEPS coRNUTus, Lath. Ind. Ornith. vol. ii. p. 782 Ch. Bonaparte, Synopsis of 



Birds of the United States, p. 417 — Swains, and Richards. Fauna Bor. Amer. 

 part ii. p. 411. 



Horned Grebe, or Dobchick, Xuttall, IManual, vol. ii. p. 254. 



Adult Male in Spring. Plate CCLIX. Fig. 1. 



Bill shorter than the head, straight, acute, rather slender. Upper 

 mandible with the dorsal line straight for one-half of its length, towards 

 the end declinate and slightly convex, the ridge convex, the sides sloping, 

 the edges sharp and inflected, the tip acute. Nasal groove broad, extend- 

 ing to beyond the middle of the mandible ; nostrils subbasal, linear-ellip- 

 tical, pervious. Lower mandible with the angle long and very narrow, 

 the dorsal line short, ascending, straight, the sides erect, slightly convex, 

 the edges sharp, inflected, the tip narrow, acute. 



Head of moderate size, oblong, compressed. Neck rather long and 

 slender. Body depressed. Feet large, short, placed far behind ; tibia 

 feathered to the joint ; tarsus short, extremely compressed, anteriorly 

 with a narrow scutellate ridge, laterally with numerous broad scutella ; 

 posteriorly with a narrow ridge having a double row of small prominent 



