2 
BIRDS OF PENNSYLVANIA. 
birds especially conspicuous, are commonly seen in specimens taken during the 
spring migrations or in the breeding season. Adults of both sexes are adorned with 
the parti-colored head, crests or ruffs, which disappear, however, when the birds 
assume their winter dress. The young, in winter, as well as the old birds, are very 
materially different from the adults in their nuptial plumage. Tail represented by 
a small tuft of downy feathers. Feet four-toed, all broadly lobed, but not webbed ; 
the three front toes are connected at base by webs ; hind toe, short free and elevated. 
Claws wide, ffat and short, that of hind toe being very small. The peculiar paddle¬ 
like toes and the rudimentary tail will readily enable one to recognize a member of 
the Grebe family. 
Genus COLYMBUS Linnaeus. 
Colymbus holboellii (Reinil). 
Holboell’s Grebe. 
Description. 
Adult.— Bill about two inches long, acute and tapering, somewhat shorter than the 
head and a triffe shorter than the tarsus ; upper mandible black except tomia at base 
and portion of base at sides which is yellow. Lower mandible chiefly yellow except 
on sides which are dark bluish or nearly black. Narrow, naked and blackish strip 
extending from eyes to bill; legs and feet blackish on outside, greenish yellow on 
inside. Top of head and back of neck black, with a greenish tint and somewhat 
glossy ; the glossy green hue fades gradually at back of neck. Feathers of upper 
parts b*‘ownish-black, more or less glossy and edged with grayish ; primaries brown¬ 
ish ; secondaries white with black or brown shafts, some secondaries are tipped with 
brownish. Throat and side of head ash-gray, the latter separated from black of head 
by a white streak extending from under eye backward ; feathers about lower man¬ 
dible are also quite white; front of neck and especially the sides reddish brown; 
lining of the wings white. Under parts silvery white, more or less mottled with 
grayish, sides dusky. In some specimens the rich reddish-brown on sides of neck 
extends in small patches over the upper part of breast. Crests or ruffs but slightly 
developed. 
Adult in winter and young. —Upper bill blackish-horn, yellowish at base and 
on tomial edges ; lower bill mainly yellowish ; eyes dark ; crests hardly notice¬ 
able ; upper parts brownish-black, head quite black ; throat, sides of head and 
abdomen white ; front part of neck and sides brownish-ash. Length about 18^ 
inches ; extent about 32. 
Habitat. —North America at large, including Greenland. Also eastern Siberia 
and southward to Japan. Breeds in high latitudes, migrating south in winter. 
This bird, the largest of all the Grebe family found in Pennsylvania, 
migrates far northward to rear its young. Mr. E. W. Nelson, in his 
“ Report upon Natural History Collections made in Alaska ,” states that 
“ this species was not uncommon along the coast of Norton Sound in the 
fall, and a few isolated pairs nested each summer in the marshes. 
Along the course of the Yukon they are much more common, and breed 
in considerable numbers.” Holboell’s Grebe, called also the Red-necked 
Grebe, is by no means as common with us as either of the other species 
hereafter mentioned. Specimens of this bird have been taken in differ¬ 
ent parts of the state during the spring, fall and winter months. From 
information which I have received, through the courtesy of naturalists 
and collectors in all sections of the state, it is learned that in the past 
twenty-five years only about a dozen of these Grebes have been cap- 
