796 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — PYGOPODES. 



850. P. a. califor'nlcus. American Eared Grebe. Adult, breeding plumage : Bill shorter 

 than head, rather stout at base, much depressed, broader than high at the nostrils, tip acute, 

 not decurved, gonys straight, ascending, eulmeu a little concave basally, nearly straight termi- 

 nally. Tarsus about equal to middle toe without its claw. Bill entirely black. Feet dull 

 oHvaceous, blacliisli outside and on sole. Eye scarlet. Eyelid orange. Conspicuous long 

 auricular tufts, golden-brown or tawny, finely displayed upon a black ground. Crown, chin, 

 and neck all round, black. All the primaries entirely chocolate-brown, with usually a wash 

 of dull reddish-brown externally. Secondaries white, but the bases of all, and a considerable 

 part of the two outer ones, dusky ; their shafts mostly all dusky. Sides deep purplish-brown 

 or wine-red ; this color washed across the breast, behind the black of the neck, and also across 

 the aual region. Under parts silky-white, the abdomen grayish. Young : Bill shaped gener- 

 ally as in the adult, but smaller, with less firm outlines, so that its distinctive shape is some- 

 what obscured. Little or no trace of the auricular tufts. Crown, sides of head, and neck all 

 around, sooty-grayish, paler and more ashy on the foreneck. Upper parts rather lighter and 

 duller colored than in the adults. Primaries as in the adults, but without the reddish tinge; 

 a few of the innermost ones sometimes white-tipped. Sides under the wings washed with a 

 ligliter shade of the color of the back ; lower belly grayish. Dimensions : length 12 to 14 

 inches, usually 13 or less; extent 21. .50-21. 00 ; wing 4.75-5.25; bill 1.00 or less; along 

 gape 1.25; height at nostril 0.22; width there 0. 20 ; tarsus 1.60; middle toe and claw 1.95. 

 While the breeding plumages of P. cornutus and the present species are widely different, 

 there is much similarity between the young and winter dress of the two species. As a rule, 

 auritus is smaller ; even traces of ruffs are less appreciable ; the lore neck is scarcely lighter 

 than the hind neck; the back is ratln^r deeper colored and more uniform. The shai^e and pro- 

 portions of the bill, however, furnish tlie most reliable characters. Western N. Am., the com- 

 monest species of grebe breeding in the pools west of the Mississippi ; E. to Illinois. Eggs 

 not distinguishable from those of P. cormitus. 



851. P. doini'nicus. (Of St. Domingo.) St. DoMiNGO Geebe. Eepresenting a genus or subgenus 

 apart from the foregoing (Tachijhaptes). Bill very short, much less than the head, scarcely 

 over half the tarsus ; stout, little compressed, ratlier obtuse. Lateral outlines nearly straight; 

 eulmeu slightly concave at the nostrils, elsewhere convex ; commissure straight, except a little 

 sinuation at base; under outline straight to angle, gonys thence straight to tip, the angle 

 well defined. Wings short, and with abrupt attenuation of the outer primaries. Tarsus 

 stout, little over three-fourths the middle toe and claw ; outer lateral about equal to the mid- 

 dle toe. Size very small ; body full; neck short; no decided crests or ruffs. Adult: Cro'\^Ti 

 and occiput deep glossy steel-blue. Sides of head and neck all around dark ashy-gray, darkest 

 behind, where tinged with bluish. Chin varied with ashy and white. Upper parts brownish- 

 black, with glossy-greenish reflections. Primaries chocolate-brown, the greater portion of the 

 inner vanes of all, and nearly all of the inner four or five, together with all the secondaries, 

 pure white. Under parts silky-white, thickly mottled with dusky. Upper mandible dusky, 

 the lower mostly yellowish. Dimensions : length about 9.50 ; extent IG.OO ; wing 3.60 ; bill 

 along culmen 0.70; along gape 1.00; tarsus 1.25; middle toe and claw 1.75. Warmer parts 

 of America, N. to the Rio Grande of Texas. 



336. PODILYM'BUS. {Podimpes-\-Colymhus.) Thick-billed Grebes. Bill shorter than 

 head, stoutest in the family, compressed, with obtuse and hooked tip ; culmen about straight 

 to the nostrils, thence declinato-eonvex ; gonys regularly convex without decided angle; com- 

 missure slightly sinuate at base, then straight, then much deflected. Upper mandible covered 

 with soft skin to the nostrils, between which are two fossas, the anterior shallow, oblong, the 

 other deep, triangular, separated from the bare loral space by an intervening ridge. Nostrils 

 broadly oval, far anterior. No crests or ruffs, but shafts of frontal feathers prolonged into 

 bristles. Eyelids peculiarly thickened. Outer three or four primaries abruptly sinuate near 



