560 ORNITHOLOGY AND OOLOGY. 



shy, and difficult of approach ; and, when apprehending 

 danger, it immerses its body, and swims with nothing but 

 its head above the surface. This trick I have noticed in 

 other allied species ; and it is, I think, common in all birds 

 of this class. It breeds in the most northern portions of 

 the continent, where it forms the same kind of nest " as 

 that of the Crested Grebe, and lays three or four eggs." 

 Audubon describes an egg in his possession as being two 

 inches in length by one and a quarter inch in breadth, and 

 of a uniform pale greenish- white. 



PODICEPS CRISTATUS.— Latham. 



The Crested Grebe. 



Podiceps cristatus, Nuttall. Man., II. (1834) 250. Aud. Orn. Biog., III. (1835) 

 695. lb.. Birds Am., VII. (1844) 308. 



Description. 



Adult. — Front, upper part of the head, and long occipital tufts dark umber- 

 brown, the base of the tufts brownish-red; the ruff is bright brownish-red on the 

 upper portion immediately under the tufts and anteriorly, on the bind-part brownish- 

 black; upper plumage dark umber-brown ; humeral feathers white ; primaries umber- 

 brown; secondaries mostly white; throat and sides of the head white; forepart 

 and sides of the neck adjoining the ruff brownish -red; under plumage silvery- white; 

 sides dusky, tinged with reddish-brown ; bill blackish-brown, tinged with carmine ; 

 bare loral space dusky-green; iris bright-carmine; tarsi and feet greenish-black 

 externally, greenish-yellow internally; webs grayish-blue. 



Young. — Upper part of head dark-brown; hind-neck brownish-gray; back and 

 wings brownish-black ; humeral feathers white ; primaries dark umber-brown on the 

 outer webs, paler on the inner; lower parts silvery-white, sides brown; upper man- 

 dible brownish-black, pale at the end, and yellow on the sides at the base ; lower 

 mandible yellow, with the sides dusky. 



Length, twenty-three and one-half inches ; wing, seven and three-quarters ; bill, 

 two and one-sixteenth ; tarsus, two and a half inches. 



This is not uncommon as a summer resident in northern 

 New England; and, according to Mr. George A. Boardman, 

 it breeds about the lakes in the neighborhood of Calais, 

 Me. The nest is placed in a retired spot, in a swamp or 

 marsh, near the water; and is constructed, according to Dr. 

 Richardson, of " a large quantity of grass, placed among 

 the reeds and carices." The eggs are generally four in 



