20 BULLETIN 1196, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
hidden, so that few persons are familiar with the true source of 
these notes. Even during the breeding season these birds are more 
solitary in habit than other grebes. The males are savage fighters, 
so that even coots, recognized bullies of the marsh, treat them with 
marked respect. 
The short, strong bill, higher than wide, and with a dark bar, 
serves to distinguish the pied-billed grebe from our other species. 
(See fig. 4.) The plumage in general is dark dull brown, blacker 
above, somewhat brighter on the breast, and nearly white on the 
abdomen. In breeding plumage both sexes have a jet black throat 
patch which is lacking during the winter season. After the nesting 
season and the molt of feathers that follows it, these grebes leave 
their secluded haunts and appear more often in the open. 
FOOD. 
As the pied-billed grebe is common and widely distributed, it has 
been possible to secure abundant material for the study of its food, 
in spite of its reputed immunity to the weapons employed by the 
hunter. In the present studies 180 stomachs of these birds have been 
available for examination. The feather content of these (an almost 
invariable constituent in stomachs of grebes) reached 52.5 per cent, 
or slightly more than one-half. As in the preceding forms, this was 
disregarded in estimating the total food, and the remaining items 
were apportioned on the basis of 100 per cent. 
Six stomachs contained feathers alone, leaving 174 available for a 
résumé of the food. The sustenance of the pied-billed grebe is taken 
almost entirely from the animal kingdom. In the present series 
only 3 birds had secured small quantities of vegetable matter, so that 
the presence of such substances may be considered as accidental. 
These were made up of rubbish in two instances and of a single seed 
(Nymphaea) in the third. 
Of the total food, 24.2 per cent was made up of fishes of a variety 
of species. Among these, catfishes occurred 3 times, in one case the 
remains being those of a channel cat (/ctalurus punctatus) and in 
two others those of bullheads (Ameiurus). It was interesting to 
note that the thorny pectoral and dorsal spines of the channel cat had 
been broken, apparently before the fish had been swallowed. A 
small sucker (Catostomus commersoni) had been eaten by one bird 
and a chub (Leuciscus) by another. The bream (Abramis chryso- 
leucus) was taken twice, and remains of carp (Cyprinus carpio) 
were found 5 times. Where carp are abundant, numbers may be 
eaten at one meal. Thus, of 2 birds taken on the lower course of 
Bear River, Utah, one had secured 8 and the other 17 small carp. 
Unidentified fishes belonging to the carp family (Cyprinidae) were 
taken in two cases. An eel (Anguilla chrysypa) was found once, 
and killifishes (Poeciliidae) 7 times—in 6 cases identified as top 
minnows (Fundulus). A silverfish (Hirtlandia), one of the small 
forms commonly known as “shiner,” was eaten by one bird. Sun- 
fishes seemed relished also, as the common sunfish (Hupomotis gib- 
bosus) was taken once, sunfishes of another genus (Lepomis) 6 
times, and unidentified forms belonging to the sunfish family (Cen- 
trarchidae) 6 times. Members of the family of perches (Percidae) 
were taken twice. One bird had eaten a miller’s-thumb (Cottus 
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