WATER BIRDS. 37 
by Mr. E. S. Currier (Auk, Vol. XXI, pp. 31-32), the nests were on muskrat 
houses in deep water. Sets of 4, 5 and 7 eggs were found on June 10. 
Its food doubtless consists, like that of all other members of the family, 
entirely of aquatic animals, mainly fish. The name “Red-necked Grebe” 
1s not particularly appropriate to the bird as we see it, since the red neck 
belongs to the breeding season and specimens taken within our limits 
rarely show more than traces of the red throat. 
There is no unquestionable record of the Western Grebe, /ichmophorus 
occidentalis, in Michigan. See Appendix. 
TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION. 
Adult in breeding plumage has top of head, back of neck and most of back black, deepest 
on head, duller on back. Sides of head, upper throat and belly, pure white. Front and 
sides of neck reddish brown (rufous). In winter the adult is brownish black above, white 
or grayish white below, and the red neck is paler and duller. Young birds are similar but 
have no reddish brown on the neck. Iris red. Sexes alike. Length 18 to 20 inches; 
wing, 7.25 to 8; culmen, 1.65 to 2.40. 
2. Horned Grebe. Colymbus auritus Linn. (3) 
Saas Hell-diver, Water-witch.—Colymbus auritus, Linn., 1758, and of most 
authors. 
One of the two small Hell-Divers which are common on our lakes and 
streams, and recognizable ordinarily by its slender, pointed, uniformly 
dark bill. 
Distribution.—Northern Hemisphere. Breeds from the northern United 
States northward. 
In Michigan the bird is universally distributed during spring and fall, 
and not infrequently spends the winter if suitable open water can be found. 
The question of its nesting within our limits apparently remains to be 
settled. It is by no means improbable that it nests in small numbers in 
the northern part of the state, but there is no unquestionable record. The 
older lists state positively that the species nested in abundance at St. Clair 
Flats and along the Detroit River, but no exact records are given and in 
recent years careful search’has failed to show any nesting birds in those 
regions. MclIlwraith states that it breeds ‘in all suitable places throughout 
Ontario, notably at St. Clair Flats.” (Birds of Ontario p. 27). This, 
however, does not accord with recent experience and Mr. Wm. Saunders 
of Toronto states in a recent letter to Mr. B. H. Swales that he finds no 
evidence that the species has ever bred at St. Clair Flats. Undoubtedly 
single specimens of this bird occur in different parts of the state during 
summer, but these in all probability are barren birds or ‘“ pensioners,” 
that is, birds wounded or partially disabled during the shooting season 
and not able to go north with the rest of their kind. It is not impossible 
that such individuals sometimes mate and nest, but such instances must 
be few. Wesaw a single adult on a small stream, the Sucker, at Grand 
Marais, Alger county, Michigan, on the south shore of Lake Superior, July 
8, 1903, and the bird might well nest in that region if anywhere in the 
state. It reappears in numbers very early in autumn, by mid-August at 
least, and remains on the Detroit River at least through the first week in 
May. It is known to nest abundantly in the Hudson Bay region, as well 
as in northern Minnesota, North Dakota and Manitoba. It builds a 
somewhat bulky nest of more or less decomposed vegetable matter, grasses, 
