LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN DIVING BIRDS. 23 
as far south as South Carolina and they are not uncommon on the 
Massachusetts coast; but even here most of the birds migrate north 
before the molt is complete. The complete postnuptial molt occurs in 
the later summer and early fall, but is often not completed before 
October or later. j 
Food.—One of the horned grebe’s favorite articles of food is small 
fish, which it is quite expert at chasing and catching, as it darts about 
swiftly and skillfully under water, catching them unawares and pur- 
suing them at full speed. While living on the coast in winter it feeds 
on shrimps, minute crustaceans, and salt water minnows. On inland 
waters it eats a large proportion of animal food, such as small frogs, 
tadpoles, aquatic lizards, leeches, beetles, and other insects. It also 
feeds to some extent on grasses and other vegetable matter. Audubon 
(1840) speaks of having found large quantities of grass seeds in the 
stomach of this grebe. Mr. W. L. McAtee (1912) has made an ex- 
haustive report on the food of this species, as follows: 
The most remarkable point about the food habits of grebes is that the stom- 
achs almost invariably contain a considerable mass of feathers. Feathers are 
fed to the young, and there is no question that they play some essential though 
unknown part in the digestive economy. As they are finely ground in the giz- 
zards it is probable that finally they are digested and the available nutriment 
assimilated. Feathers constituted practically 66 per cent of the contents of the 
57 horned grebe stomachs examined. However, it is not likely that they furnish 
a very large percentage of the nourishment needed by the birds. As the nutri- 
tive value of the feathers is unknown, this part of the stomach contents is ig- 
nored. The other items of food are assigned 100 per cent, and the percentages 
are given on that basis. Various beetles, chiefly aquatic, compose 23.3 per cent 
of the food ; other insects (including aquatic bugs, caddis and chironomid larvae, 
dragon-fly nymphs, etc.), nearly 12 per cent; fishes, 27.8 per cent; crawfish, 
20.7 per cent; and other crustacea, 13.8 per cent. A little other animal matter 
is taken, including snails and spiders, and a small quantity of vegetable food 
was found in two stomachs. 
Behavior—the flight of the horned grebe is strong, direct, and 
well-sustained; it looks, when on the wing, much like a miniature 
loon. Its neck and its legs are stretched out to their full extent, fore 
and aft, and its wings vibrate very rapidly. In winter it is difficult 
to distinguish from the eared grebe, but it can be easily distinguished 
from the pied-billed grebe by the absence of brown in its plumage 
and by its white secondaries, which are very conspicuous in flight. 
Its wings are small in proportion to its weight, so that it experiences 
some difficulty in rising from the water or from the ground; in rising 
it has to run along the surface for a long distance, beating the water 
with both wings and feet; but, when well under way, it attains very 
good speed. When migrating it usually travels singly or in small 
scattered flocks. Along the New England coast we frequently see 
horned grebes migrating, with the scoters in October, a mile or two 
offshore; often several are in sight at one time, but I have never seen 
