Part 3

Ground birds of robust form; bill hen-like; wings short and rounded; feet large and strong.

PARTRIDGES, GROUSE. Family Tetraonidæ:—Legs bare in the partridges, feathered in grouse.

TURKEYS, PHEASANTS. Family Phasianidæ:—Legs often spurred, or head with wattles, etc.

GUANS. Family Cracidæ:—Represented by the Chachalaca of Texas.

ORDER 11. PIGEONS AND DOVES. Columbæ.

Family Columbidæ:—Bill slender, hard at the tip, and with the nostrils opening in a fleshy membrane at the base. Plumage soft grays and browns.

ORDER 12. BIRDS OF PREY. Raptores.

VULTURES. Cathartidæ:—Head bare; feet hen-like.

HAWKS, EAGLES. Falconidæ:—Bill and claws strongly hooked; nostrils in a cere at base of bill.

BARN OWLS. Aluconidæ:—Black eyes in triangular facial disc; middle toe-nail serrated.

HORNED OWLS, ETC. Bubonidæ:—Facial disc round; some species with ears, others without.

BIRD GUIDE

PART 1

Water Birds, Game Birds and Birds of Prey

DIVING BIRDS—Order Pygopodes GREBES—Family Colymbidæ

WESTERN GREBE 1. Æchmophorus occidentalis. 25 to 29 inches.

All grebes have lobate-webbed feet, that is each toe has its individual web, being joined to its fellow only for a short distance at the base.

This, the largest of our grebes, is frequently known as the “Swan Grebe” because of its extremely long, thin neck. In summer the back of the neck is black, but in winter it is gray like the back.

Notes.—Loud, quavering and cackling.

Nest.—A floating mass of decayed rushes, sometimes attached to upright stalks. The 2 to 5 eggs are pale, bluish white, usually stained (2.40 × 1.55). They breed in colonies.

Range.—Western North America, from the Dakotas and Manitoba to the Pacific, and north to southern Alaska. Winters in the Pacific coast states and Mexico.

HOLBŒLL GREBE 2. Colymbus holbœlli. 19 inches.

This is next to the Western Grebe in size, both being much larger than any of our others. In summer, they are very handsomely marked with a reddish brown neck, silvery white cheeks and throat, and black crown and crest, but in winter they take on the usual grebe dress of grayish above and glossy white below. Because of their silky appearance and firm texture, grebe breasts of all kinds have been extensively used in the past to adorn hats of women, who were either heedless or ignorant of the wholesale slaughter that was carried on that they might obtain them.

Nest.—Of decayed rushes like that of the last. Not in as large colonies; more often single pairs will be found nesting with other varieties. Their eggs average smaller than those of the last species (2.35 × 1.25).

Range.—North America, breeding most abundantly in the interior of Canada, and to some extent in the Dakotas. Winters in the U. S., chiefly on the coasts.

HORNED GREBE 3. Colymbus auritus. 14 inches.

As is usual with grebes, summer brings a remarkable change in the dress of these birds. The black, puffy head is adorned with a pair of buffy white ear tufts and the foreneck is a rich chestnut color. In winter, they are plain gray and white but the secondaries are always largely white, as they are in the two preceding and the following species. The grebe diet consists almost wholly of small fish, which they are very expert at pursuing and catching under water. One that I kept in captivity in a large tank, for a few weeks, would never miss catching the shiners, upon which he was fed, at the first lightning-like dart of his slender neck. They also eat quantities of shell fish, and I doubt if they will refuse any kind of flesh, for they always have a keen appetite.

Nest.—A slovenly built pile of vegetation floating in the “sloughs” of western prairies. The 3 to 7 eggs are usually stained brownish yellow (1.70 × 1.15).