BIRDS OF PENNSYLVANIA. 



ORDER PYGOPODES. DIVING BIRDS. 



SUBORDER PODICIPEDES. GREBES. 

 FAMILY PODICIPID.fl3. GREBES. 

 GENUS COLYMBUS. LINN^IUS. 

 3. Colymbus auritus (LiNN.). 



Horned Grebe. 



DESCRIPTION. {Plate 2.) 



Adult. Upper part of the head, cheeks, throat, and ruff, glossy-black; abroad 

 band running from the bill over the eyes, and the elongated occipital tufts behind 

 them, yellowish-red, deepest in color adjoining the bill ; upper surface brownish- 

 black ; the feathers margined with gray ; primaries brownish-ash ; secondaries 

 mostly white, some of the outer ones dark-ash ; the fore-neck and upper part of the 

 breast bright chestnut-red, sides of the same color, intermixed with dusky ; abdo- 

 men silky-white ; bill bluish-black, yellow at the tip ; loral space bright-carmine 

 iris carmine, with an inner circle of white ; tarsi and feet dusky-gray externally, 

 <lull-yellow internally, and on both edges of the tarsus. 



Young. The whole upper plumage grayish-black, darkest on the head, feathers 

 of the back with gray margins ; throat, sides of the head, a broad space on the sides 

 of the neck, nearly meeting behind, breast, and abdomen, silvery white ; sides and 

 lower part of abdomen dusky. 



Length about 14 inches ; wing, 5 ; bill, 1 ; tarsi, If. 



Habitat. Northern Hemisphere. Breeds from Northern United States north- 

 ivard. 



This species is recorded as quite a common winter resident through- 

 out the United States, and although sometimes found nesting within 

 our northern limits, it retires chiefly north of the United States during 

 the breeding period. Audubon found nests in Ohio, near Lake Erie ; 

 Dr. Coues (Birds of the Northwest) mentions that he has found it 

 breeding at various points in northern Dakota, and Mr. E. A. Samuels 

 records it as nesting in more northern latitudes than New England. 

 Jn Pennsylvania, the Horned Grebe is an irregular sojourner, from 

 1 BIRDS. 



