PODICEPS CMSTATUS, CEESTED GEEBE. 729 



A. Large ; length, over 15 inches. Bill more or less nearly equaling the 



head or tarsus in length. 



1. Crests, and especially ruffs, long and conspicuons. Neck with- 



out red or gray in front ; under parts pure silky white. Tar- 

 sus averaging equal to the middle toe without its claw cristalus. 



2. Crests moderate; rnlfs inconspicuous. Neck with red or gray 



in front; underparts watered with dnsky (sometimes but 

 slightly). Tarsus averaging less than the middle toe and 

 claw yrweigena var. liolholU. 



B. Small; length, under 15 inches. Bill much shorter than head; little 



over half the tarsus. 



3. Bill compressed, higher than hroad at the nostrils. Crests and 



ruffs very conspicuous ; neck red in front cornutus. 



4. Bill depressed, broader than high at the nostrils. Crests in form 



of auricular tufts; neck black in front aurilits var. californicua. 



In 1862 I adopted an analysis of this section, resting primarily upon the shortness 

 of the tarsus in Pedataithyia {(griaeigeyia) an contrasted with its greater length rela- 

 tively to the toes in a-istatus, corniitiis, and auntiis. This holds good with typical grhei- 

 gena, but is subject to some uncertainty of determination in its application to the 

 American var. Iwlliolli or " coojyeri," as I now liud upon jesamiuation of further material. 

 It is also practically difficult to establish a division u'pon tliis basis, not only because 

 the limits of individual variability are wide, but because different methods of measur- 

 ing the peculiarly-shaped feet of these birds give different results. The subject is 

 discu.ssed further on. Meanwhile, the foregoing is presented as a more convenient 

 analysis, since it is probably available for determination of young as well as old birds. 



rODICEPS CEISTATUS, (Linn.) Lath. 

 Crested Grebe. 



Colymhus cristahis, Linn., Syst. Nat. i, 1766, 222.— Naum., V. D. ix, 1838, 636, pi. 242.— 



Gloger, J. f. 0. 1866, 285 (albino). 

 Fodicqjs cristatus, Lath., Ind. Orn. ii, 1790, 780.— Temm., Man. 1815, 462.— Boie, Isis, 

 1822, 561.— Steph., Gen. Zool. xiii, 1825, 3.— Keys. &. Br^iS., Wirb. Eur. 1840, 

 90.— Macgil., Man. ii, 202.— Gpay, Gen. of B. iii, 633.— Schl., Mus. P.-B. livr. 

 ix, 34.— Sdnd., Svensk. Fogl. pi. ,54.— Sw. & Eicii., F. B. A. ii, 1831, 410.— Nurr., 

 ilan. ii, 1834, 250.— Bp., Svu. 1828, 417; List, 1838, 65.— Aui>., Orn. Biog. iii, 

 1835, 598, pi. 292; Syn. 1839, 356; B. Am. vii, 1844, 308, pi. 479.— Giit., B. 

 L. L 1844, 383.— Lawr., B. N. A. 185^, 893; Ann. Lye. N. Y. viii, 1866, 300.— 

 COHES, Pr. Phila. Acad. 1862, 230.— Coop. & Suck., N. H. Wash. Tor. 1860, 

 280.— BOAKDM., Pr. Bost. Soc. ix. 1862, 131 (Maine, breeding).— CouE.s, Pr. Ess. 

 Inst. V, 1868, 310.— Turnb., B. E. Pa. 1869, 39 (" not uncommon ").— CoUES, Key, 

 1872, 336 ; and of authors generally. 

 Lopliairthyia crislata, Kaup, Sk. Ent. Eur. Thierf . 1829, 72. 

 Colymhus urinator, Linn., Syst. Nat. i, 1706, 223. 

 Colymhus cornutus, Pall., Zoog. E.-A. ii, 1811, 353. (Not of Gmeliii.) 

 {^) Podiceps australis, Gould. — Diggles, Orn. Aust. pt. sx, pi. — . 

 jPodiceps longirostris, Bp. 



Podiceps mitraius et patagiatus, BREror, V. D. 953, 954. 

 (?) Podiceps hectori, Bullee, Ess. Orn. N. Zeal. 19.— Hutton, B. N.' Zeal. 1871, 39. (See 



FiNSCH, Ibis, 1869, 380.) , 

 "Podiceps widhalmi, G6bel, J. f. 0. qviii, 1870, 312." 



Adult, breeding plumage. — Crown and long occipital crests glossy black ; terminal half 

 of the long ruff the sfime, the basal part bright reddish-brown, fading gradually into 

 pare silky-white of the throat and sides of head. Superciliary and loralline white, 

 more or less tinged with fulvous. Neck behind and general upper parts dark brown, 

 the feathers of the back with gray margins. Primaries deep chocolate-brown, with 

 black shafts, the tips of the inner ones white, as are all the secondaries and long 

 humeral feathers, excepting a little part of the outer webs of the former. Inner webs 

 of greater wiug-coverts white, outer chocolate-brown; lesser coverts wholly brown. 

 Under parts pure silky-white, without a trace of the dusky mottling seen in P. grisei- 

 geiia; the sides of the neck and body tinged with reddish and mixed with dusky on 

 the tlanks, where also the feathers have blackish shaft-lines. "Bill in life blackish- 

 brown, tinged with carmine; bare loral space and eyelids dusky green; iris carmine; 

 feet greenish-black ; webs grayish-blue." 



Dimensions. — Length, 24; extent, 33; wing, 7; hill along culmen, 2; along gape, 

 2.70; height at nostrils, 0.50 ; tarsus 2.50 ; middle toe and claw, 2 65. 

 Sab. — North Ameiica generally. Europe, and various other parts of the Old '\^'orld. 



