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Range (Breeds from northern United)

Breeds from northern United States (northern Illinois, St. Clair Flats) northward; winters southward to the Gulf States. Washington, common W. V., fall to Apl. 25. Long Island, abundant T. V., rare W. V., Oct. to Apl. Sing Sing, common T. V., Oct. to Dec.; Mch. Cambridge, casual.

Nest, a mass of water-soaked, decaying vegetation, floating among rushes in a slough, generally attached to its surroundings. Eggs, two to seven, dull white, more or less soiled, 1.74 x 1.15.

This species and the next are probably frequently mistaken for each other in life, and the same common names are in some instances applicable to both. Mr. Ernest E. Thompson writes of a captive individual: "When ordinarily swimming, the feet strike out alternately, and the progression is steady; but sometimes both feet struck together, and then the movement was by great bounds, and was evidently calculated to force the bird over an expanse of very weedy water, or through any tangle of weeds or rushes in which it might have found itself. When lifted out of the water, the feet worked so fast as to be lost to the eye in a mere haze of many shadowy feet with one attachment. When placed on the ground, it was perfectly helpless" (Birds of Manitoba, p. 466). 6. Podilymbus podiceps (Linn.). PIED-BILLED GREBE; DABCHICK; DIEDAPPER; HELL-DIVER; WATER-WITCH. (See Fig. 5, a.) Ad. in summer.- Upper parts glossy, brownish black; throat black; upper breast, front and sides of the neck, and sides of the body, washed with brownish and indistinctly mottled with blackish; lower breast and belly white; a black band across the bill. Ad. in winter and Im. - Much like the above, but throat white and no black band on the bill. L. 13.50; W., 5·10; Tar., 1.45; B., 85.