THE PIED-BILIvED GREBE. 631 



morning sun. The bills are so small and slender that there is no possible dan- 

 ger at this range of confusing them with the commoner Pied-billed Grebe. 



At some distance and in the confusion of waving grass or tossing billow, 

 a grebe may at times be mistaken for a duck, but the leaping dive which 

 usually follows discovery or close approach, serves to distinguish it from most 

 ducks. The way of the bird in the air, too, is quite unducklike, since it thrusts 

 its feet out behind at different angles, and moves with the directness of a 

 flying projectile. Upon land the Grebe is almost helpless, and only flounders 

 about awkwardly and pitches forward upon its head. 



Concerning the breeding of the Horned Grebe in the state, we have no 

 account except that left us by Dr. Langdon in 1880. During a stay of a week 

 in the Port Clinton marshes, the Doctor saw no birds ; but he came upon 

 two sets of eggs of two each, which seemed referable, by elimination, to this 

 species. He says : "These eggs are chalky-white with a faint, tho definite, 

 tinge of pale bluish-green, much like the tint of the Least Bittern's egg, and 

 very unlike the pale whitey-brown of the eggs of P. podiceps observed by us. 

 * * That our sets were probably full is indicated by the fact that one of 

 them contained fully developed young, which swam and even attempted to 

 dive, on being placed in the water after removal from the egg. The nests 

 were similar to those of P. podiceps described below, and the eggs were cov- 

 ered in like manner by decaying vegetation during the day and left for the 

 sun to incubate. 



"The young removed from these eggs presented slight but constant dif- 

 ferences in the head and neck markings, and the size of the bill as compared 

 with the young of P. podiceps, obtained in the same manner, — those sup- 

 posed to be P. cornutus being smaller, with more slender bills, less blotching 

 about the head and neck and none in the median line of the throat." 



No. 316. 



PIED-BILLED GREBE. 



A. O. U. No. 6. Podilymbus podiceps (Linn.). 



Synonyms. — Water- witch ; Hell-diver ; Dabchick ; Diedapper ; Dipper. 



Description. — Adult in nuptial plumage: Chin and throat glossy black; 

 top of head and neck black with an admixture of brownish in hair-lines 

 and streaks ; the forehead with many shortened, webless, glossy, black shafts ; 

 sides of head gray, passing into grayish brown on sides and front of neck; lower 

 neck and breast and sides mostly blackish, heavily tipped in parted hair-lines with 

 fulvous and ochraceous ; underparts silky, grayish white mottled with underlying 

 dusky, and heavily shaded on sides and behind; above clear brownish black; 

 secondaries varied and mottled with some white ; bill short and stout, bluish 

 white, crossed at the nostril by a heavy black band ; feet greenish black. Adult 

 in ivinter : Without black on head ; crown dark brown shading on sides of head 



