170 
THE CONDOR 
Vol. XVI 
For the material used in the present connection I am again indebted to 
Mr. E. J. Court of Washington, D. C., from whose fine collection of eggs most 
of it has been selected, and also to the United States National Museum for the 
loan of three exceptionally beautiful eggs of our Common Loon {Gavia immer), 
here figured in nos. 11-13. All the photographs of the eggs illustrating the 
present article are reproductions of those made by myself, direct from the 
specimens shown, and all are natural size on my negatives. 
It will not be necessary to list here the grebes and loons known to occur 
in our avifauna, for they are familiar to ornithologists everywhere. The eggs 
of all of them have been examined and compared by me during the prepara- 
tion of the present paper, with the exception of the eggs of the Yellow-billed 
Loon {Gavia adamsi), no specimens of the eggs of which are to be found in 
either of the above referred to collections ; I shall refer to this matter again 
farther on in this article. 
Throughout the early literature of the grebes in this country, there exists 
no little confusion in regard to the American species, a statement that may, in 
most instances, be extended to include the descriptions of their nests and eggs. 
They are better known now, and the first form here to be noticed is the 
Western Grebe, the Podiceps occidentalis of Lawrence and the Mchmophorus 
occidentalis of the A. 0. U. Check-List. It has a wide range through western 
North America, occurring as far south as central Mexico. 
No descriptions of grebes are found in Wilson’s “American Ornithology”, 
though five species of them are listed at the end of the “Brewer’s Edition” of 
that work. 
Audubon’s accounts of our grebes are scanty and of but little value. The 
most elaborate one is devoted to the Crested Grebe {“Podiceps cristatiis”), a 
bird not found in North America, hut which he claims to have met with in 
numbers over the greater part of the United States in his time. Ridgway says 
of this bird in his Manual: “Nearly cosmopolitan, hut no aiithentic record for 
any portion of America” (p. 5). 
To return to 2E. occidentalis, the last-mentioned writer does not describe 
its eggs in the work named, simply stating; “Eggs 2-5, 2.40 x 1.54.” Not a 
word as to their form or color. 
With respect to this, Cones gives a general description of the eggs of the 
North American grebes, intended to cover those of all our species, thus: “The 
eggs are more numerous than in other pygopodous birds, frequently number- 
ing 6-8 ; elliptical, of a pale or whitish unvariegated color, and commonly cov- 
ered with chalky substance. ”2 He says, in the case of 2E. occidentalis, 
that they are “usually 3-5 in number, measuring 2.40x1.55.” 
Of this species Reed says : ‘ ‘ They lay from three to five eggs, the ground 
color of which is a pale blue; this color is, however, always concealed by a thin 
chalky deposit, and this latter is frequently stained to a dirty white. Size 2.40 
by 1.55. ”3 
Of the seven or eight eggs of the Western Grebe before me, I find the 
average measurement to be almost exactly 2.40x1.55, though this varies some- 
2. COUES, E- Key to North American Birds, vol. II, fifth edition, p. 1053. He gives a separate description 
for the eggs of Colymbus auritus, and states that those of C. n. califot ntcus cannot be distinguished from them 
(p. 1058). 
3. REED, CHESTER A. North American Birds Eggs. New York, 1904, p. 1. A good figure of the eggof 
AZchmophorus is given; and, as a matter of fact, this excellent book is beautifully illustrated all the way through 
with reproductions of photographs of the vast majority of the eggs of United States birds and many of their 
nests, etc. 
