Part 1

Transcriber's note:

Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (italics).

WESTERN BIRD GUIDE

Birds of the Rockies and West to the Pacific

Illustrations by

CHESTER A. REED, B.S.; HARRY F. HARVEY; R. I. BRASHER

Garden City New York Doubleday, Page & Company 1917

Copyright, 1913, by Chas. K. Reed, Worcester, Mass.

The numbers and names used in this book are those adopted by the American Ornithologists’ Union, and are known both in this country and abroad. The lengths given are averages; our small birds often vary considerably and may be found either slightly larger or smaller than those quoted.

On some of the pages a number of sub-species are mentioned. Sub-species often cause confusion, because they are usually very similar to the original; they can best be identified by the locality in which they are found.

The nests and eggs are described, as they often lead to the identity of a bird. We would suggest that you neatly, and with ink, make a cross against the name of each bird that you see in your locality, and also that you write at the top of the page the date of the arrival and departure of each bird as you note it; these dates vary so much in different localities that we have not attempted to give them. As many will not wish to soil their books we would suggest that they have a leather-covered copy for the library and a cloth one for pocket use.

BIRDS OF THE ROCKIES AND WEST TO THE PACIFIC

DIVING BIRDS—Order Pygopodes. GREBES—Family Colymbidæ.

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

This is the largest of the grebe family. In summer the back of the neck is black, but in winter it is gray like the back.

Nest.—A floating mass of decayed rushes, sometimes attached to the upright stalks; 2 to 5 pale bluish white eggs are laid, usually much nest stained (2.40 × 1.55). Breeding in colonies.

Range.—Western North America, from the Dakotas and Manitoba to the Pacific, and north to southern Alaska.

HOLBOELL GREBE. 2. Colymbus Holboelli. 19 inches.

This is next to the Western Grebe in size, both being larger than any of the others. In summer, they are very handsomely marked, as shown in the illustration, but in winter have the usual dress of gray and white.

Nest.—Similar to above, the eggs averaging smaller (2.35 × 1.25).

Range.—North America, breeding from northwestern Alaska, in the interior of Canada and North Dakota. Winters usually on the coasts.

HORNED GREBE. 3. Colymbus auritus. 14 inches.

In winter this Grebe is one of the plainest in its dress of gray and white, but summer brings a great change, making it one of the most attractive, with its black, puffy head, and buffy white ear tufts, the front of the neck a rich chestnut color. Their food consists almost wholly of small fish.

Nest.—Is a loosely built mass of vegetation floating in the bog and water holes of the western prairies. The eggs, 3 to 7 in number, are brownish yellow (1.70 × 1.15).

Range.—Breeds from Dakota and Illinois northward; winters to the Gulf of Mexico.

EARED GREBE. 4. Colymbus nigricollis californicus. 13 inches.

This species is rarely found as far east as the Mississippi River. In summer the neck is black, lacking the chestnut color of the former. It can always be distinguished from the Horned by the upper mandible being straight on the top.

Nest.—In colonies similar to the above, laying from 3 to 8 eggs, which are usually nest stained to a brownish cream color.