GREBES: HORNED GREBE 
75 
in June, and to leave them in September, so if any stragglers are to 
be looked for in New Mexico it will be before and after these dates. 
It is interesting to hear that spring migrants have been sighted by 
Mr. Huey in Lower California about sunrise apparently headed straight 
for long stretches of torrid deserts and high mountain ranges, which 
would have to be crossed before they could reach the Pacific, about a 
hundred miles away (1927, pp. 530-531). 
GREBES: Order Colymbiformes 
GREBES: Family Colymbidae 
The Grebes are lobe-footed divers, the scalloped flaps hinged to 
the toes making good paddles for the stroke and folding away to 
offer minimum resistance on the return (Taverner). They have weak 
wings and rudimentary tails. Like the Loons they can sink under 
water merely by expelling the air from their lungs and air-sacs. Their 
stomachs, in spring at least, usually contain a mass of their own feathers, 
probably swallowed during the molt. Their white-tipped secondaries 
give a white border to the spread wing absent in the Loons. Their 
interesting courtship performances are not fully known and should be 
given careful study. 
References.—Bent, A. C., U. S. Nat. Mus. Bull. 107, 1-47, 1919.— Huxley, 
J. S., Auk, XXXIII, 256-270, 1916.— Thayer, G. H., Concealing-Coloration 
in the Animal Kingdom, Figs. 77 and SO, pp. 82-83, 1909.— Townsend, C. W., 
Auk, XLI, 29-41, 1924 (diving).— Wetmore, Alexander, U. S. Dept. Agr. Bull. 
1196, 1924 (food); Condor, XXII, 1S-20, 1920 (feather eating). 
HORNED GREBE: Colymbus auritus Linnaeus 
Description. — Length: 12.5-15.2 inches, wing about 5.7, bill about .8-1, 
bill higher than wide at base. Adult summer 'plumage: Puffy cheeks and head black, 
with erect buffy brown side crests or horns; lores reddish; upperparts 
blackish; foreneck, chest, and sides reddish brown; breast and belly 
white; iris red, with white rings; bill mainly black, feet dusky and 
yellowish. Adult winter, and juvenal 1 plumage: Crests scant or 
wanting; upperparts grayish black; the young with white of 
cheeks nearly meeting on hindneck; underparts silvery white; 
dusky markings on sides of head and throat. 
Range. —Northern parts of Northern Hemisphere. In Amer¬ 
ica breeds from the Lower Yukon, northern Mackenzie, Hudson 
Bay, and Magdalen Islands south to Maine, Minnesota, northern Nebraska, northern 
Montana, and the interior of British Columbia; winters from southern Alaska, 
Great Lakes, southern Ontario, and Maine south to Florida, the Gulf Coast, and 
southern California. 
State Records. —On November 27,1916, Willett found a dead grebe floating on 
the lake at Elephant Butte which he says “from the dimensions of its bill, was un 
doubtedly referable to auritus .” This, apparently, is the only record for the State. 
Additional Literature.—Dubois, A. D., Auk, XXXVI, 170-180, 1919 
(nesting). 
Fig. 2. Foot of 
Grebe 
1 The term juvenal is used for the first plumage after natal down. 
