44 
PROCELLARIIFORMES 
6. Pied-billed Grebe. DAB-CHICK. HELL-DIVER. WATER-WITCH. LE GRilBE A BEC 
bigarre. Podilymbus podiceps. L, 13-50. Plate II A. 
Distinctions. The Pied-bill can be separated from all other Canadian grebes by its 
relatively heavier and stouter bill with its spot and more strongly arched culmen; from 
the juvenile Horned or Eared Grebes in any plumage, also by its darker and dingier coloured 
foreneck, breast, and underparts. 
Field Marks. Size, high stubby bill, spot on bill, and in the spring adult, black throat 
patch. This grebe is more often seen in flight than the others. 
Nesting. Along the marshy edges of ponds and lakes on stationary or floating plat- 
forms. 
Distribution. Across the continent, breeding from our southern borders northwards; 
probably any grebe found nesting south of a line drawn between Ottawa and Sault Ste. 
Marie will be of this species. In western Canada north to Great Slave Lake, breeding 
wherever found. 
This grebe frequents clear, open water less than do its relatives, and 
usually confines itself to open leads and lagoons in tule and cat-tail marshes. 
In its chosen habitat it is a wonderful hider, evading observation with 
almost mysterious elusiveness. The names Hell-diver and Water-witch 
are descriptive of its powers in this direction. No sooner does its quick 
eye discern an intruder than it gradually sinks low in the v r ater until in 
some cases only the bill projects, in which position it may quietly await the 
withdrawal of danger or it may paddle without a ripple to some marshy 
cover where the eye cannot detect it. Diving at the flash of the gun, it 
is often safe under water by the time the shot reaches the spot recently 
occupied, but the use of smokeless powder has put it at some disadvantage. 
Though seldom seen, and showing remarkable powers of vanishing amidst 
seemingly insufficient cover, its loud, far-reaching voice is often heard 
and to many the origin of the sound is one of the mysteries that make the 
marsh so interesting. Its note may be rendered “ Kuck-kuck-kuck-Guluj >- 
gulup-gulup” w r ith a rising inflection in the series of “bucks,” which are 
repeated quickly, then a slight pause, and the “ gulups ” uttered wfith even 
tempo and with strong accent on the liquid letters. It can be heard under 
favourable conditions for a mile or more. 
Order — Procellariiformes. Tube-nosed Swimmers 
General Description. Tireless fliers of the deep sea, of various sizes from the large 
albatross to the small petrel. Usually dull and evenly coloured birds, but some strikingly 
black and white. 
Distinctions. Nostrils are encased in tubes on top or on sides of the bill proper (Figures 
83-88). 
Field Marks. General flight habits and coloration. 
Familiarity with the various species is necessary to recognize members of the order. 
Nesting. On the ground or in burrows in out-of-the-way localities, often on rocky 
islets far out at sea to which they find their way in some mysterious manner that we can- 
not explain. 
Distribution. As a family, they are birds of the southern hemisphere, for it is there 
that they reach their fullest development in numbers of individuals and species. How- 
ever, some inhabit the north far into the Arctics. 
The Tube-nosed Swimmers are essentially marine, using the land 
only for breeding purposes. The ocean is their home and its lonely waste 
is sufficient for all their needs except that of rearing their young. They, 
therefore, as a class, rarely come into shallow water and are most commonly 
seen by the deep-water sailor, the offshore fisherman, or the ocean voyager. 
There are three families of the order; the albatrosses, Diomedeidae; the 
