Western Bird Guide: Birds of the Rockies and West to the Pacific

by Charles K. Reed

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).