192 
THE CHESTED GREBE. 
paddling on the water for several yards before they rise, and fly several 
times round a pond of thirty or forty yards before they attain the level of 
the tree-tops, for they.never fly through the woods. When once high in 
the air, they move in a direct course and with speed towards some other 
pond or the nearest river. I do not remember to have ever met with a bird 
of this species on a narrow creek or bayou, or on muddy waters ; and on 
the Ohio’s rising I have observed that they abandon the river and betake 
themselves to the clear ponds of the interior. 
By the 1st of October, scarcely any difference can be perceived between 
the young and the old birds with respect to plumage, only the latter have 
the under surface of the wings still dashed with the reddish colour of the 
summer dress. I am not able to say from observation how long the young 
are in attaining maturity ; but European writers assert that they take three 
or four years. When these birds leave the southern waters about the 
beginning of April, the old already shew their summer head-dress, but 
seldom have it so perfect as is represented in the plate. 
The food of this species consists of fishes, aquatic insects, and small rep- 
tiles, together with the seeds of water plants. Dr. Richardson states that 
these birds are abundant in all the secluded lakes of the mountainous dis 1 
tricts of the Fur Countries, and adds that their nests are formed of a large 
quantity of grass, placed among reeds and carices, and rise and fall with the 
water. Mr. Yarrell has kindly furnished me with specimens of the eggs, 
which are generally four, measure two inches and a quarter in length by 
one inch and a half, and have an oval form, and a smooth surface, of a 
uniform yellowish-white colour. 
Podiceps cristatus, Bonap. Syn., p. 41’7. 
Podiceps cristatus, Crested Grebe, Swains, and Rich. F. Bor. Amer., vol. ii. p. 410. 
Crested Grebe, or Gannet, Nutt. Man., vol. ii. p. 250. 
Crested Grebe, Podiceps cristatus, Aud. Orn. Biog., vol. iii, p. 595. 
Male, 24, 33. 
Not uncommon during autumn and early spring on all the larger streams 
of the Western Country, as well as on the coast of the Atlantic, from Nova 
Scotia to Texas. Breeds in the mountainous parts of the Fur Countries, 
Rocky Mountains, and high latitudes. Migratory. 
Adult Male in spring. 
Bill about the length of the head, straight, compressed, tapering. Upper 
mandible with the dorsal line straight, slightly declinate toward the tip, the 
ridge convex, the sides convex, the edges sharp and inflected, the tip rather 
sharp. Nasal groove rather wide, extending to nearly half the length of 
