to my observation either three or four eggs constitute a full set, three being the commonest number. 

 They are long and pointed in outline, measuring from 1.75 to 1.95 in long-diameter, and from 1.16 to 

 1.19 in short-diameter. A common size is about 1.18x1.90. The shell is moderately rough, and greenish- 

 yellow in tint. It is unmarked except occasionally by a few dots of neutral tint, barring of course the 

 stains of mud and of wet vegetation. 



DIFFERENTIAL POINTS: 



But two species of Grebes have been positively identified as summer residents of Ohio — the Thick- 

 billed Grebe and the Horned Grebe. Their nests and eggs are very similar, but I believe it is generally 

 possible to tell, by careful measurements of the eggs and inspection of the tints of the shell, to which 

 species a given nest and eggs belong. 



REMARKS: 



The eggs illustrated, Fig. 4, Palte LXIII, were selected from three sets, one of which came from 

 Ottawa County, the remaining two from New York State. They show the common sizes, shapes, and 

 tints of shell. 



This odd little bird is familiar to most boys living in the neighborhood of a pond, lake, or stream, 

 but usually is not distinguished by them from the Thick-billed Grebe. ■ It has the same faculty of disap- 

 pearing beneath the surface of the water when fired at or frightened in any way, and the same power 

 of inflating itself with air, thus riding lightly on the water or by contracting its skin and feathers sinking 

 at will to any desired depth. I have repeatedly shot at them, both with rifle and shot-gun, when they 

 were watching me, and often at quite close range, yet they invariably disappear before the shot strikes 

 the water. There is a common impression that these birds never take wing, in fact that they are unable 

 to flv, this is of course an error. I have often killed them when on the wins:, and even forced them to 

 rise from the water, which they do with comparative ease, flying with considerable rapidity when once 

 fully under headway. 



Dr. Lano-don, of Cincinnati, found a few years since in the Ottawa Countv marshes, a number of 

 nests which he believes were the property of the Horned Grebe, the birds themselves he was never able 

 to find upon the nests. He says: "These eggs are chalky-white, with a faint though definite tinge of 

 pale bluish-green, much like the tint of the Least Bittern's egg, and very unlike the pale whitey-brown 

 of the eggs of P. podiceps observed by us; they are also more elongated in shape than the ordinary egg 

 of P. podiceps, and taper nearly equally toward both ends, which are decidedly pointed, rather more so 

 than the eggs of P. podiceps; another important point of distinction is the number in a full set which 

 is apparently but tAVo, the complement of P. podiceps being from four to eight. That our sets were probably 

 full is indicated by the fact that one of them contained fully developed young, which swam, and even 



attempted to dive, on being placed in water after removal from the egg, they presented 



slight, but constant differences in the head and neck markings, and the size of the bill, as compared 

 with the young of P. podiceps, obtained in the same manner, those supposed to be P. comutus being 

 smaller, with more slender bills, less blotching about the head and neck, and none in the median line 

 of the throat." In regard to the complement of eggs, it may be remarked, that the nests referred 

 to above were taken in July. This makes it probable that they were all second sets ; hence, the small 

 number of e<2*°;s in each. 



262 



