ZOOLOGY. 
283 
PODILYMBUS PODICEPS, (Linn.) Lawr. 
Tile Pied-Bill Grclie* 
Colimbus podiceps, Linn. S. N. 1766, 223. 
Podiceps carolinensis, Lath. Ind. Orn. II, 1790, 785.— Bonai>. Syn. 1828, No. 367.— Rich. & Siv. P. B. A. II, 1831, 
412.— Nutt. Man. II, 1834, 259.— Aud. Orn. Biog. Ill, 1835, 359 : Y, 1839, 624.— Ib. Birds 
Am. VII, 1844, 324 ; pi. cccclxxxiii. 
Podilymbus lineatus, Heermann, Proc. Acad. N. S. Phil. VII, 1854, 179. 
Podilymbus Podiceps, Baird & Lawrence, Gen. Rep. Birds, p. 898. 
“ Sp. Ch. — Mult: Upper plumage very dark brown ; primaries dark ash; secondaries ash on the outer webs and white on the 
inner ; bill pale blue, dusky on the ridge of the upper mandible, both mandibles crossed with a broad black band, including the 
nostrils; chin and throat marked with a conspicuous black patch nearly two inches in extent; cheeks and sides of the neck 
brownish gray; lower part of the neck, upper part of the breast, and the sides, dull rusty brown, spotted and rather indistinctly 
barred with brownish black; lower part of breast and abdomen grayish white, mottled with dusky spots; iris, brown; tarsi and 
feet, grayish black. 
“ Length, 14 inches; wing, 5J; bill, tarsus, 1 j. 
“ Young: The throat is white, and the bill without the transverse black band, the under plumage more silvery white; in other 
respects the same as the adult. Some specimens, probably the birds of the year, have whitish lines on the sides of the head. I 
compared a specimen in this plumage with Dr. Heermann’s type of P. lineatus, and found them precisely alike.”— Lawrence. 
Hab. —Atlantic States generally. Texas and New Mexico. California and Oregon. 
Several specimens of the pied-bill grebe were obtained by me at Fort Steilacoom. 
In winter it frequents the salt waters of the sound, but in summer breeds abundantly on the 
small fresh water lakes of the vicinity.—S. 
While at the Straits of De Fuca, in March, 1855, I frequently heard in the marshes along 
shore a loud noise much like the squeaking of young pigs, and, though often very near me, I 
could never see what produced it. Soon after I noticed the dabchicks in the ponds, and heard 
them utter their loud, sonorous call, more like the braying of a jackass than anything else I can 
compare it to. Though the sounds before heard were different, I have little doubt that this 
little bird was the performer, probably entirely sunk under water except its bill. 
In the small and beautiful lakes near Puget Sound they were abundant, commonly a pair in 
each; and on the 11th June I had the pleasure of finding a nest containing four eggs, just ready 
to hatch. It was, unlike Ihat seen by Audubon, built upon the water , where it floated securely, 
kept in place by the stalks of spirea which grew thickly around it. Being constructed entirely 
of stalks of grass, it was soaked through with water, but, as the pond was stagnant, the water 
was warm enough not to prevent the hatching of the eggs. Its shape was conical, a foot wide 
at the base and about nine inches at the top, where it was slightly hollowed out. Since its 
construction it must have subsided with the water too feet, though there was still three feet 
depth of water under it. The eggs were as large as a pullet’s, white, with a pale brown crust, 
and nearly equal in size at each end. 
As the lakes often are frozen for a very short time only, and the rivers not at all in mild 
winters, this grebe may sometimes remain throughout the year.—C. 
Family ALCIDAE,—The Auks and Puffins* 
MORMON CIRRHATA, (Pallas,) Bon. 
Tlie Tufted Puffin. 
Mca cirrhata, Pallas, Spicilegia Zoologica, pt. V, p 7, (1769, Gra. Syst. I, 1788, 553* 
Mormon cirrlialus, Bon. Syn. 1828, 429.— Aud. Orn. Biog. Ill, 599; pi. 293 .—Ib. Syn. 343. 
Mormon cirrhata, (Pallas,) Baird & Cassin, Gen. Rep. Birds, p. 902. 
Figures. -Buff. PI. Enl. 761.— Aud. B. of Am. pi. 249: oct. ed. VII, pi. 462. 
