HORNED GREBE. 
SPIRIT DUCK. HELL DIVER. DUSKY GREBE. 
COLYMIiUS AURnUS. 
Char. Upper parts dull brown, the fe.athers paler on the edges ; head 
darker; breast rufous; wings varied with white; lower parts silvery 
white. Length about 14 inches. In the mating season the sides of the 
head are adorned with crests (horns) of short feathers of black color. 
A^est. Amid the rank herbage on reedy margin of a lake, — usually 
fastened to rushes and flo.iting on the surface of shallow water; a ma.ss 
of dried stems of rushes and coarse sedges. 
Eggs. 2-7 (usually 4) ; bluish white, stained with brown ; i.So X 1.20. 
The Horned Grebe is an inhabitant of the northern regions 
of both continents, being very common in the summer season 
throughout tlie Hudson Bay fur countries, frequenting almost 
every lake with grassy borders, in which seclusion, about the 
month of June, it constructs its nest of coarse herbage, which, 
left afloat, is sometimes moored to the surrounding reetls and 
rushes. The eggs are white, spotted, and, as it were, soiled 
with brown ; in order to hide them from its enemies, it has 
the habit of covering them while abroad. In the autumn these 
birds retire to the South, appearing in Massachusetts, some- 
