726 PODICIPIDiE, GEEBES. 



B. Bill stout, epignathous, obtuse. Commissure decurved abruptly at 

 eud. Nostrils broadly oval. Loral bare strip broad. Frontal 

 feathers bristly. Tarsus not three-fourths the middle toe. Semi- 

 palmation of toes extensive. Lobe of hallux moderate. No decided 

 crests or ruffs -.--- Pomlymbhs, 



The foregoing appears to be a natural sequence of the forms; and the analysis is 

 nearly carried down to the species, there beiug but one group in North America contain- 

 ing two or more species, ^chmophorus, in its large size, slender form, very long, slender, 

 acute bill, and long tarsi, forms one extreme. Nest comes Podicepa proper, as illustrated 

 by P. cristatus, in -which the ruffs and crests reach their highest development In P. cor- 

 nutus, auritiis, and griseigctia, the crests and ruffs decrease in development successively, 

 ■while the bill grows stouter; in the latter, moreover, the tarsus is relatively the 

 shortest. But these four species need not be even subgenerically distinguished. The 

 way is directly opened to the subgenus Tachyliaptes, very small, with short, stout bill, 

 short tarsi, and absence of decided crests or ruffs, furnishing in some sense a link with 

 the quite distinct genus Podilymbus. 



Genus PODICEPS, Lath. 



< Colymbus, Briss., Orn. vi, 1760, 33; not of Linnaeus, nor of authors. 

 = Colymhus, Iix., Prod. 1811, 281.— Sund., Meth. Av. Disp. 1873. 



= Colymbus, Pallas, Zoog. K.-A. ii, 1811, 352. 



< Podiceps, Lath., lud. Orn. ii, 1790, 780. (C. cristatus, Linx.) 

 = Podiceps, AncT. recent. 



> Pedetaithya,* Kaup, Sk. Ent. Eur. Thierw. 1829, 44. (C. griscigeiia, Bodd.) 



> LopJiaithyia, Kavp, op. cit. 72. (C. cristatus, LiN>f.) 



> Lophwthyia, Agass. 



^ Bytes, Kaup, op. cit. 41. (C. cornatvs, Gm.) 



> Proctopus, Kaup, op. cit. 49. (C. auritus.) 



> PoUoeephalus, Selby. (Fide Gray; type ncstor, Gould.) 



> Tachybapics, Reich. (C. minor, Gm.) 



> Otodytcd, Eeich., Handb. Sp. Orn. (= Proctopus, Kaup.) 

 'y Calipareus, Bp.,liibo. (Gray.) (P. kalipareuK, Ga-RTX.) 



> RoUandia, Bp., 1856. (Gray.) (P. roUandi, Q. & G.) 



> Sylbcocylus, "Bp.," apud Gkay. (Xcc Bp., whose typo was C. podhcps, Linn.) 

 5> Jiclivn.oplionis, CouES, Pr. Phila. Acad. 1862, 229. (P. occidentalig, Lawb.) 



3> Cciiiropelmn,, SCL. & Salv., Exot. Orn. pt. xii. (P. micropterus, Gould.) 



■\Vhile most of the above names are purely synonymical, others may be entitled to 

 enbgeneric rank, especially TacTiybaptes, yEclimopliorus, aud Centropclma. The general 

 characters of the genus having been sufficiently elucidated, we may at once proceed to 

 consider the North American species, under the three subgenera JEchniopliorus, Podiaps, 

 and Tachybaptes. 



Subgenus ^chmophokus, Cmiss. 



McTimoplcrus, CouES, Pr. Phila. Acad. 1862, 229. 



Char. Bill very long, exceeding the head, straight or slightly recurved, very slender, 

 attenuate, and acute. Culmen straight or slightly concave ; commissure about straight, 

 somewhat sinuate at base; under outline concave at base, without angle a.t symphysis. 

 Bare loral strip very narrow. Wings comparatively long, with much attennated outer 

 primaries. Legs long ; tarsus exceeding the bill, as long as the middle toe and claw. 

 Basal webbing of toes slight. Size large; body slender; neck long. Crest and ruffs 

 inconspicuous (not found colored in the North American species). 



' This section is quite well marked. A South American species, P. leucojHcrus, King, 

 appears to belong here. Schlegel, indeed, unites all the largest American Grebes t 

 under our specific name. They may be identical specifically, but I have yet to see 

 either of our North American forms with any decided coloration about the head, though 

 we have them in breeding plumage, as I correctly stated in 1862 (op. cit. 404). This 

 statement, made with reference to var. clarkii, has been confirmed by Mr. Eidgway, 

 who found numbers of occidentaUs breeding at Pyramid Lake, Nevada, late in May. 

 Thty were also seen at Great Salt Lake in June. They were all in the same dress — no 

 colored crests or rnffs ; no bright colors at all about the head and neck. It is certainly 

 singular that this species should thus depart from the rule of seasonal changes of 



* Found spelled, among writers, Pedctaithyia, Podetaithjiia, Pedeaithyia, &c. 

 t The references are: C. major, BoDD., P. E. 404 ; = C. cayennensis, Gm. ; P. cayana, 

 Lath. ; P. bicornis, Light. ; longirostris, Jaub. ; leucopterus, Ki;-;a. 



