4 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA. 



- 3. Horned Grebe. 



Colymbus auritus Linn, i "jt^. 



A few immature specimens have been taken in southern Green- 

 land. (Arct. Man.) Taken occasionally in Nova Scotia. (ZJowiW.) 

 An uncommon summer visitant in New Brunswick. ( Chamberlain^ 

 A few taken in Quebec. {Dionne.) Generally distributed in On- 

 tario, breeding notably at St. Clair Flats. {Mclllwraith.) One 

 seen in a small pond at East Point, Magdalen Islands, N.S., 1887 ; 

 undoubtedly breeds. {Bishop. ) Rather common at Plover Mills, 

 Ont., in September and October. {R. Elliott.) 



Saunders and Morden found this bird breeding abundantly at 

 St. Clair Flats, Ontario. Thompson says it is very common in 

 Manitoba, breeding in all the small ponds, and Macfarlane pro- 

 cured eggs on the borders of a small lake about 60 miles south- 

 east of Fort Anderson, north of the Arctic Circle. Dr. Bell found 

 it breeding at Fort Churchill on Hudson Bay, and Nelson and 

 Turner say that it breeds in Alaska. Brooks found it on Okan- 

 agan Lake, B.C. during the whole winter. The writer has found 

 it breeding from Manitoba to Kamloops in British Columbia, so 

 that its breeding ground practically covers the whole northern 

 part of the continent. 



Breeding Notes. — Breeds commonly around all small lakes 

 in Alberta. {Dippie.) Common at Crane Lake in June, 1884. 

 Breeding in pairs in all the marshes and sloughs. Nests composed 

 of reeds, grass and mud, attached to the reeds, or on floating 

 masses of sticks and sedges. They were also common at Indian 

 Head, Assa., and at Bracebridge, Ont. {Spreadborough.) On June 

 15th, 1893, 1 found a colony of this Grebe nesting on an island 

 in a small lake seven miles north of Rush Lake, Assiniboia ; I 

 have also found it breeding at Long Lake and Shoal Lake, Mani- 

 toba. This species lays from five to eight eggs, five or six being 

 the usual number. A few pairs breed at St. Clair Flats, Ont. I 

 have received several clutches of eggs from there. (Raine.) 



This is a northern species, and rarely breeds in the St. Lawrence 

 valley. I found a nest containing two fresh eggs at Escott Pond, 

 Leeds Co., Ont., 29th May, 1890; also four eggs at the St. Law- 

 rence on the i8th June, 1896. On the occasion of my visit to 

 the Magdalen Islands, in June, 189;, I met with three pairs of 

 this bird in a large pond of water— which at times is brackish— 



