2Izj. HeNsHaw on P. occidentalis and P. clarkii. 
scapulars with a slight chalky cast, showing, however, only in certain 
lights ; terminal borders of the tertials, secondaries and shorter primaries 
smoky brownish, and secondaries more brownish than the general surface ; 
outer surface of wing showing no indication of bars, except exceedingly 
faint ones on the secondaries, discernible only on close inspection. Tail 
grayish-brown (the intermedia more grayish), narrowly bordered at 
extreme tip with paler grayish, crossed with a well-defined subterminal band 
of black nearly one inch wide, and with about six narrow, irregular bands 
of the same, broken on the intermediae into irregular spots ; under sur- 
face of the tail light silvery-gray (appearing hoary-white in some lights) 
relieved by a distinct subterminal band of dusky, and, anterior to this, by 
another less distinct, narrower, and more grayish band, the others being 
concealed by the lower coverts. Under surface of the primaries with the 
broad portion of the quills chiefly white, but this more or less broken, 
chiefly on the inner quills, by a grayish clouding, tending to form regular 
broad bars when the quills are separated; lining of the wing and nar- 
rowed portion of the quills uniform black. 
Wing, 13.10; tail, 7.50; culmen, .85; tarsus, 2.50 (the unfeathered 
portion in front 1.50, and with 10 large transverse scutse) ; middle 
toe. 1.55. 
The specimens of this species in the U. S. National Museum 
are from the following localities: Oyster Bay, Western Florida 
(Jan. 28, 1881 ; W. S. Crawford) ; Mirador, Mazatlan, and 
Tehuantepec. Mexico ; La Palma, Costa Rica, and Brazil (Sr. 
Albuquerque) . 
ON POD ICE PS OCCIDENTALIS AND 
P. CLARKII . 
BY H. W. HENSHAW. 
By at least one author* the specific distinctness of our two 
largest Grebes, P. occidentalis et clarkii , has been denied and 
clarkii formally reduced to varietal rank. Since, however, this 
view of the relationship of the two seems not to be fully ac- 
cepted, t and inasmuch as recently I have examined an unusually 
* Coues in Birds of the Northwest, p. 128. 
t Mr. Ridgway in the recent “ Check List of North American Birds ” nares them 
as full species. 
