PYGOPODES. Diving Birds. 



Family I. PODICIPID^. Grebes. 



I. -ffilCHMOPHORUS. CouEs. 1862. 

 1- Western Grebe. 



^chmophorus occidentalis (Lawr.) 



Accidental in Quebec. Mr. Cowper states in Canadian Sports- 

 man, Vol. II., that he has seen several specimens on the market 

 in Montreal. {Dionne.) Some time before 1881 a pair was shot 

 at the mouth of the North Nation River, Ont. [Ott. Nat.) Oc- 

 casionally shot in the Red River valley, Man. Found in 1881 in 

 great numbers breeding in some of the western bays of Lake 

 Manitoba and on Waterhen River and Waterhen Lake. 



Our knowledge of the migration of the Western Grebe is still 

 incomplete, but on May 8th, 1891, specimens were shot at Banff 

 in the Rocky Mountains. The next year it reached Indian Head, 

 500 miles to the east, on May 12th. At that time the stomachs 

 of the birds shot contained nothing but feathers. Two days later 

 one was shot that had an amphibian {Amblystoma mavortium) 

 lOj^ inches long in its stomach. By the 30th May they had all 

 disappeared, having gone north to Waterhen, or some other lake, 

 to breed. 



A common winter resident along the Pacific Coast. (Fannin.) 

 Tolerably common in the Fraser valley below Yale in the spring 

 and autumn migrations. A few remain all winter at Okanagan 

 Lake, B.C. (.Brooks.) 



Fairly numerous on Buffalo Lake, _^ljj|^^july 7th, 1895 ; 

 downy young taken at the same time. (^Dippie.) I have found 

 this bird breeding at Shoal Lake, Manitoba. The nests found 

 June i8th, 1894, mostly contained five eggs each. (Raine.) 



Breeding Notes.— Early in June, 1894, a large colony of these 

 birds was found breeding in Crane Lake, Assiniboia, about 100 

 miles east of Medicine Hat. The colony was located in a large 

 patch of bullrushes (Sctrpus iaaestris) about 100 yards from the 

 shore and in about three feet of water. The eggs were placed 

 I 



