DIVING BIRDS 
3. Horned Grebe. Colymbus auritus. 
Range. — The whole of North America, breeding 
in the interior from North Dakota northwest; 
winters along the Gulf Coast. This species is 
one of the most beautiful of the Grebes, having 
in the breeding season huffy ear tufts, black 
cheeks and throat, and chestnut neck, breast and, 
sides. They breed abundantly in the marshy flats 
of North Dakota and the interior of Canada. 
Buffy white, nest stained 
They build a typical Grebe’s nest, a floating mass 
of decayed matter which stains the naturally 
white eggs to a dirty brown. The number of 
eggs varies from three to seven. Size 1.70x1.15. 
Data. — Devils Lake, N. Dakota, June 20, 1900. 
6 eggs much stained. Nest floating in 4 ft. of 
water, a large mass of rotten rushes and weeds. 
Collector. James Smalley. 
Horned Grebe 
Eared Grebe 
4. Eared Grebe. Colymbus nigricollis. 
calif ornicus. 
Range. — North America west of the Mississip- 
pi, breeding from Texas to Manitoba and winter- 
ing along the Pacific Coast of the United States 
and from Texas southward. 
Eared Grebes differ from the preceding in hav- 
ing the entire neck blackish. They nest very 
abundantly throughout the west, in favorable lo- 
calities, from Texas to Minnesota and Dakota. 
Their nests are constructed in the same man- 
ner as the preceding varieties and are located in similar localities. As do all 
the Grebes when leaving the nest, they cover the eggs with the damp rushes from 
around the base of the nest. This is prob- 
ably for the purpose of assisting incuba- 
tion during their absence, by the action of 
the sun’s rays on the wet mass. As they 
are nearly always thus covered upon the 
approach of anyone, this may be done also 
as a protection from discovery. They lay 
from three to eight bluish white eggs with 
the usual chalky and discolored appear- 
ance. The breeding season is at its height 
early in June, or earlier, in the southern 
portion of its range. Size 1.75 x 1.20. Data. 
X 3 i -ct, — Artesian, S. Dakota. June 21, 1899. Nest 
of rushes, floating in three feet of water. 
Large colony in a small lake. Collector, F. A. Patton. 
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