the cause of their doing so or the means of disposing o f sucl) indigestible materials. As already mentioned,
I found nothing whatever capable o f sustaining life, although the stomachs were in each case greatly
distended, the contents being closely matted together, and at least half an inch in diameter. I have never
known the Horned Grebe to nest in Norfolk.’’
Audubon having had more opportunities o f observing this bird in a state o f nature than any
English naturalist, I cannot do better than close my account o f it with the following extract from his
interesting ‘ Ornithological Biography ’—
“ The Horned Grebe is abundant, during autumn and winter, on the large rivers or inlets of the Southern
States, but rare along the coasts o f the middle or eastern districts. It is particularly fond o f those streams
o f which the borders are overgrown by rank sedgés and other plants, and are subject to the influx o f the
tide. In such places they enjoy greater security while searching for their food than in ponds, to which,
however, they for the most part retire at the approach o f the pairiiig-season, which commences early in
February. At that time one might be apt to think that these birds could scarcely fly, as they are then
rarely seen on the wing; but when they are pursued, and there happens to be a breeze, they rise from the
water with considerable ease, and fly to a distance o f several hundred yards. In December and January I
have never procured any having the least remains o f their summer head-dress; but by the 10th o f March,
when they are on their journey towards the north, the long feathers o f the head are apparent. These tufts
seem to attain their full development in the course o f a fortnight or three weeks, the old birds becoming
plumed sooner than the young, some o f which leave the country in their winter dress.
“ Although the greater number o f these birds go far northward to breed, some remain within the limits
o f the United States during the whole year, rearing their young on the borders o f ponds, particularly in the
northern parts of the State of Ohio, in the vicinity o f Lake Erie. Two nests which I found were placed
about four yards from the water's edge, on the top of broken-down tussocks o f rank weeds. The materials
of which they were composed were o f the same nature, and were rudely interwoven to a height o f
upwards o f seven inches. They were rather more than a foot in diameter at the base, the cavity only four
inches across, shallow, but more neatly finished with finer plants, o f which a quantity lay on the borders,
and was probably used by the bird to cover the eggs when about to leave them. There were five eggs
in one nest and seven in the other 5 they measured one inch and three-quarters in length, by one inch and
two and a half eighths; their shell was smooth and o f a uniform yellowish cream-colour, without spots or
marks o f any kind. The nests were not fastened to the weeds around them ; nor do I conceive it probable
that they could be floated, as various writers assert they are at times.”
‘The food o f the Horned Grebe, while on salt water, is composed o f shrimps, small fishes, and minute
mollusca; while on fresh water they procure iusects, leeches, small frogs, tadpoles, and aquatic lizards;
they also pick up the seeds o f grasses, o f which I found in the stomach o f one individual as many as
would fill the shell o f one of its eggs. Their flight is performed by regular short flappings executed with
great quickness.”
When fully adult, both sexes are adorned with the beautiful tippet and ear-tufts; but as soon as the
breeding-season is over they are again thrown ofT, and their livery is then very similar to that o f the
Dabchick {Podiceps minor). Two instances o f this bird coming to an untimely end under unusual
circumstances, have been made known to me. During one of my visits to the Leyden Museum, Professor
hchlegel showed me some fine examples out of several which had dived into a fishing-net in one o f the
rivers o f Holland, and, being unable to extricate themselves, were drowned ; and when in Canada, I saw
many old males at the shop o f Mr. Booth, at the Niagara falls, who told me that these birds often approach
too near the upper part o f the fall, and are carried over into the abyss below, meeting o f course instant
death, and are afterwards picked up from the_surface o f the whirling eddy by the men on board the
small steamer which daringly traverses the turbulent caldron.
• rePresents a “ “hi and a female in their summer plumage, with a nest and eggs, o f the natural
■ M accomPan™“ ta “re a Bearded Tit {Calamophihs M S which is frequently found associated
with this Grebe in the Old World, and the flowering bulrush {Sd rpm hcustris, Linn >: P í *