The Pied-billed Grebe 



No. 424 



Pied-billed Grebe 



A. 0. U. No. 6. Podilymbus podiceps (Linnaeus). 



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

 Blind Rail. 



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 mostlv 

 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. A prenuptial phase, in which the black of throat is more or less over- 

 laid with white (unabraded tips of feathers) is more frequently seen. Adult in winter: 

 Without black on head; crown dark brown shading on sides of head to whitish of 

 throat; neck, fore-breast, and sides strongly tinged with brownish ochraceous; belly 

 dingy white, unmottled; bill without black band. Immature: Like adult in winter, 

 but sides of head with more or less distinct stripes of brown. Downy young: Plumage 

 chiefly black and dull white in lengthwise stripes, ten of each; belly broadly white; 

 head roughly and broadly cross-banded with chestnut and black; superciliaries five- 

 striped black-and-white, converging on forehead; bare lores and eyelids reddish; bill 

 reddish at base, paler medially, variously touched with black distally, and sharply 

 white-tipped; feet blackish. Length 304.8-381 (12.00-15.00); wing 129.5 (o-io): bill 



20.3 (.80); along gape 31.8 (1.25); depth at nostril 10.9 (.43); tarsus 39.4 (1.55). 



Recognition Marks. — Teal size; bill short and stout, its black band distinctive 

 during breeding season, its shape sufficiently so at other times; head and neck brownish 

 with dull whitish throat in winter plumage. 



Nesting. — Nest: A floating or half-submerged mound of decayed vegetation 

 in open space of swamp water. Eggs: 4-8, 10 of record; dull white or pale greenish 

 buff, usually more or less discolored by contact with water-soaked nest. Av. size 



43.4 x 30 [1.71 x 1. 18] (Bent). Index 68.9. Season: May; one brood. 



General Range. — North and South America. Breeds locally from the southern 

 Canadian provinces south to Chile and Argentina. Winters on the Atlantic Coast 

 from New Jersey, on the Pacific Coast from Vancouver Island, and from the Gulf 

 States, southward. 



Distribution in California. — Fairly common summer resident and breeder 

 at suitable localities throughout the State. Winters sparingly in the San Joaquin- 

 Sacramento Valley, and on Tomales and San Francisco bays; more commonly in the 

 San Diegan district. Well distributed as a migrant, invading even the smallest ponds 

 and ditches. 



Authorities. — Heermann (Podylymbus lineatus), Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 

 vol. vii., 1854, p. 179 (young of Podilymbus podiceps described as new subspecies); 

 Willett, Pac. Coast Avifauna, no. 7, 1912, p. 9 (occurrence in s. Calif.; breeding dates, 



2057 



