384 
DIVERS. 
times, in the small freshwater lakes near the ocean. At a later 
period they retire still farther, being very common in the Middle 
and Southern States, where they are known, with other species, 
by the name of Dippers and Water Witches. The Indians of 
Hutlson Bay give the Horned Grebe the name of Seekeep. 
While here, they keep generally in the salt water, swimming 
and diving with great agility and elegance, and these are almost 
universally young birds, the old ones keeping probably more 
inland in their migrations towards the South. In most of the 
individuals which have fallen under my notice, the stomach, 
like a pouch in form, has been generally swelled out with its 
own feathers, apparently bent and masticated before swallowing ; 
the birds had been feeding on minute eels and coleopterous 
insects, and had, besides the matted feathers plucked from the 
breast, a quantity of sand and gravel. 'Ihe appetite of this 
Grebe is. Indeed, keen and little scrupulous, — for which, some- 
times it pays a dear forfeit, as happened to an individual seen 
by Mr. N. Wyeth, which had its bill clasped in the shell of a clam 
in such a manner as to disable it both from flying and diving. 
This expert diver is a common bird throughout this eastern coun- 
try, breeding from about latitude 45° to the higher fur countries, 
and wintering from the Bay of Fundy to the Southern States. 
HOLECELT.’S GREBE. 
RED-NECKED GREBE. 
C01.YMBU.S HOLBrELI.ir. 
Char. Upper parts dusky; head and nape black; cheeks ashy; neck 
rich chestnut ; wings varied with white ; under parts silvery white, varied 
with gray. Length about 19 inches. 
Nest. On the border of a reedy pond or sluggish stream, fastened to 
the rank herbage, — made of reeds and .sedges. 
F.g^s. 2-7; dull white, sometimes tinged with green, washed with 
brown; average size 2,25 X i. 35 . 
The Red-necked Grebe, like most of the other species, 
retires to the hyperboreal regions of both continents to pass 
