44 BULLETIN 107, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 
large series of specimens in the United States National Museum 
collection seems to indicate that the full adult plumage is acquired 
during the first year. Many young birds retain the black and white 
stripes on the head until late in October, though some have com- 
pletely changed before that time into the brown plumage of the first 
winter, in which the bright russet color of the neck, breast, and flanks 
is conspicuous. The black throat of the adult and the black band 
on the bill are acquired just prior to the breeding season. Some 
adults show traces of the black throat in the fall or have it well 
developed, but partially concealed by the whitish tips of the feathers. 
Food.—The pied-billed grebe feeds largely on animal matter such 
as small fish, snails, small frogs, tadpoles, aquatic worms, leeches and 
water insects; it also eats the seeds and soft parts of aquatic plants 
to some extent. Balls of its own feathers often occur in its stomach. 
Although this grebe is more essentially a fresh water bird than the 
other species, Audubon (1840) states that when its favorite ponds 
and streams are frozen over, it may occasionally be seen in bays and 
estuaries searching for shrimps and fry. 
Behavior.—This species is less often seen in flight than the other 
grebes, for it seems to prefer to escape by diving or skulking, but 
it is well capable of rapid flight, when necessary, in spite of its small 
wings. When rising from the water it runs along the surface for 
a long distance, beating the water with its broad paddles until it can 
rise into the air, when it flies swiftly away in a straight line, moving 
its wings very quickly and with its neck and feet outstretched. When 
migrating it often flies high in the air. It seems to be incapable of 
rising from the ground and its movements on dry land are so awk- 
ward that it spends very little time out of the water; although it 
sometimes crawls out onto lily pads or marshy shores to sun itself 
or preen its feathers. The water is its natural element, where it is 
completely at home. I can remember distinctly how much ammuni- 
tion I wasted in my old muzzle-loading gun, when I was a boy, in 
vain attempts to bag the elusive “ hell-diver,” as we used to call it. 
My attempts were seldom successful and I used to think that it dove 
at the flash of the gun; with a modern gun and nitro powder the 
results might have been different. Anything which even looked like 
a duck was considered legitimate game in those days and the silky 
grebes’ breasts were proudly presented to my girl friends. The pied- 
billed grebe is no less expert than others of its tribe in diving; ordi- 
narily, in a hurried dive, it plunges forward and disappears like a 
flash, swimming away for a long distance under water, to appear sud- 
denly at some unexpected spot or perhaps to vanish and keep out of 
sight; it also has the power so to contract its displacement that it 
can swim along with only its head and neck above water, or it can 
