6 
GREBES 
longer time, you wonder what they are finding. If you shoot one, 
a few tiny bones of minnows in its stomach mixed with the usual 
ball of feathers from its own breast tell part of the story and ex¬ 
plain its mermaid habits, slender head, long neck, and spear-like 
bill. 
But to get to the heart of the grebe’s home you should wade out 
where the tules stand up to their necks in water. Here in the damp, 
saucer-shaped top of a floating island of tule stems, you find the 
eggs, warm and hastily covered with material from the sides of the 
nest. There is no bird in sight, but the large size of both nest and 
eggs serve to distinguish them from those of the smaller grebes. If 
you keep still for a little while a slender head and long neck may 
come up out of the water near you and a pair of keen eyes watch 
you anxiously for a moment, then quickly sink below again, to come 
up a little later on the other side. 
The grebes are rarely seen except on the water, but when, after 
much kicking and spattering, they are fairly launched on the wing, 
they have a steady rapid flight, and in migration make long jour¬ 
neys. Vernon Bailey. 
GENUS COLYMBUS. 
General Characters. — Bill straight and sharp, never four times as long 
as its depth at base; neck not nearly as long as body; head sometimes 
crested. 
KEY TO SPECIES. 
1. Size large, hill over 1.50. holboellii, p. 6. 
1'. Size small or medium. 
2. Small, bill .82. brachypterus, p. 8. 
2'. Medium, bill about 1.00. 
3. Bill deeper than wide at base ; head of adult in breeding plumage 
heavily crested.auritus, p. 7. 
3'. Bill wider than deep at base ; head of adult in breeding plumage 
lightly crested. californicus, p. 7. 
Subgenus Colymbus. 
2. Colymbus holbcellii ( Reinh .). Holbcell Grebe. 
Bill nearly as long as head ; crests inconspicuous or wanting. Breeding 
plumage : top of head greenish black ; back blackish, with brown on wings ; 
sides of head and throat patch white or grayish; neck rufous; lower 
parts washed with white over gray. Winter plumage and young: neck 
gray instead of rufous. Length: 18.00-20.50, wing 7.30-8.10, bill 1.65- 
2.40. 
Distribution. — North America, Greenland, and eastern Asia, breeding 
south to Minnesota, migrating south'to South Carolina, southern Colorado, 
and Monterey Bay, California. 
Nest. — Made of reeds, grass, and mud, attached to growing reeds or 
masses of dead vegetable matter. Eggs: 4 to 5. 
