Color Key to North American Birds Part 8

Bill slender and Warbler-like, but first primary only one-third as long as the fourth.

[Ill.u.s.tration: WOOD THRUSH.]

Family 67. THRUSHES, BLUEBIRDS, ETC. t.u.r.didae.

Tarsus 'booted', without scales, (see foot of Robin under Synopsis of Order _Pa.s.seres_); tail square; mandible notched and slightly hooked; outer primary an inch or less in length; second to fourth of about equal length.

COLOR KEY TO

NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS

Order I. DIVING BIRDS.

PYGOPODES.

Family 1. GREBES. Podicipidae. 6 species.

Family 2. LOONS. Gaviidae. 5 species.

Family 3. AUKS, MURRES, and PUFFINS. Alcidae. 21 species, 3 subspecies.

Grebes are at home in reed-grown ponds or sloughs where their nests are made on rafts or islets of water-soaked vegetation. Their eggs number from four to eight, are dull white in color, and are usually covered by the bird with a portion of the nesting material when it leaves its home. Grebes occasionally rest on the sh.o.r.e, but are rarely found far from the water. When on land they may lie flat on their b.r.e.a.s.t.s or sit erect on their tails and entire foot, or tarsus. Their progress on land, as a rule, is awkward and they may use their wings as fore feet to a.s.sist them. In diving, Grebes sometimes spring partly from the water and then plunge downward head first, or they may quietly sink with scarce a ripple to mark the place of their disappearance.

Loons generally pa.s.s the summer on some large lake, and in the winter many of them live at sea. They nest, as a rule, on the sh.o.r.e, but so near the water that the parent bird may slide off its two dark brown, mottled eggs into its favorite element. Like the Grebes, Loons are expert divers, and birds of both families so often seek safety under the water rather than in the air that it is frequently difficult to make them fly. The young of both Grebes and Loons are born covered with feathers and take to the water shortly after birth, often using the back of the parent bird as an ever present island on which they may rest at will.

The Auks, Murres, and Puffins are sea birds which nest usually in large colonies on isolated islets or rocky, inaccessible sh.o.r.es of the northern part of the northern hemisphere. They lay one or two eggs, sometimes in an exposed position among the rocks with no attempt at nest-building, sometimes at the end of a burrow excavated by the birds. In the latter case, the young are reared in the nest; in the former, they sometimes enter the water at an early age.

The one egg laid by Murres is remarkable both in color and in shape.

In color it varies from bluish green to buff, and is usually heavily scrawled with black. In outline it is pyriform or pear-shaped. When moved it does not roll away as would a hen's egg but revolves about its own tip. In this manner it retains its place on the narrow ledges often chosen by Murres for nesting-sites.

Grebes and Loons

[Ill.u.s.tration: 2]

=2. Holb?ll Grebe= (_Colymbus holb?lli_). L. 19. _Ads._ Crown and hindneck glossy black; back blackish; throat, cheeks, and underparts white; foreneck and sides rufous. _Winter._ Above blackish brown; throat and underparts white; foreneck pale rufous. _Yng._ Similar but no rufous. _Notes._ "An explosive _kup_" and "An exceedingly loud harsh voice not unlike that of an angry Crow, but of much greater volume. The calls were also given more slowly and indeed with singular deliberation, _car_, _car_, three or four times, sometimes lengthened to _caar_, and again, broken and quavering like _ca-a-a-r_ or _ca-a-a-a-r_." (Brewster.)

Range.--North America, eastern Siberia, and j.a.pan; breeds locally in the interior from about Lat. 50 northward; winters from Maine and British Columbia southward to South Carolina, Nebraska and Southern California, chiefly on the coasts.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 3]

=3. Horned Grebe= (_Colymbus auritus_). L. 13.5. _Ads., summer._ Crown, hindneck, and throat glossy black; plumes behind eye deep buff; back and wings blackish; foreneck, breast, sides, and lores chestnut; abdomen white. _Winter._ Above grayish black; below white.

Range.--Northern Hemisphere; breeds largely in the interior from eastern Quebec, northern Illinois, St. Clair Flats, North Dakota, and British Columbia northward; winters from Maine and British Columbia south to Gulf States and southern California.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 4]

=4. American Eared Grebe= (_Colymbus nigricollis californicus_). L.

13. _Ads._ Above, neck all around, and _upper breast_ brownish black; cheek tufts yellowish brown; flanks chestnut; belly white. _Winter._ Grayish brown above; white below.

Range.--Western North America east to Kansas; breeds locally from Texas and middle California north to Manitoba and British Columbia; winters from British Columbia, on the Pacific coast, and Texas southward.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 5]

=5. Least Grebe= (_Colymbus dominicus brachypterus_). L. 10. _Ads._ Throat black; _cheeks slaty_, above blackish; below grayish. _Winter._ Similar but no black or slate on throat or cheeks. Smallest of our Grebes.

Range.--Lower Rio Grande Valley in Texas and southern Lower California south to northern South America.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 6]

=6. Pied-billed Grebe= (_Podilymbus podiceps_). L. 13.5. _Ads., summer._ Above brownish black; throat and band on bill black; foreneck, breast, and sides brownish; belly white. _Winter._ The same, but throat white, breast more rusty, bill without black band. _Notes._ A loud, sonorous, "_cow-cow-cow-cow-cow-cow-cow-cow-cow-uh_, _cow-uh_, _cow-uh_, _cow-uh_."

Range.--Argentine Republic; north through Mexico and West Indies to Lat. of Hudson Bay; breeds locally throughout its range, but chiefly northward; winters from New Jersey, Illinois, and southern California southward.

[Ill.u.s.tration: No label. a.s.sumed 1.]

=1. Western Grebe; Swan Grebe= (_?chmophorus occidentalis_). L. 26.

_Ads., summer._ Crown and hindneck black; back grayish brown; sides of head and under parts white. _Winter._ Crown and hindneck like back.

_Notes._ A loud, rattling, grating whistle.

Range.--Western North America; In summer eastward to Shoal Lake, Manitoba; northward to southern Alaska; breeds locally from northern California and North Dakota northward; winters from British Columbia to central Mexico.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 7.]

=7. Loon= (_Gavia imber_). L. 32. _Ads., summer._ Above, including whole neck, glossy black; throat and neck with white streaks; back and wings with white spots or bars; belly white. _Winter._ Above blackish _margined with grayish_; no white spots; below white. _Notes._ A loud, maniacal laugh.

Range.--Northern hemisphere; in North America, breeds from Maine, northern Illinois, Minnesota, and northern California north to Greenland and Alaska; winters from about southern limit of breeding range south to Gulf of Mexico, chiefly on coasts.

=8. Yellow-billed Loon= (_Gavia adamsii_). L. 36. Similar to No. 7, but larger and bill yellowish or whitish. _Notes._ Similar to those of No. 7, but harsher. (Murdoch.)

Range.--"Arctic America west of Hudson Bay, and northern Asia; casual in northern Europe." (A.O.U.)

[Ill.u.s.tration: 9.]

=9. Black-throated Loon= (_Gavia arctica_). L. 27; W. 12. _Ads., summer._ Foreneck and back bluish black; throat, neck, and back streaked or barred with white; crown and nape _gray_; belly white.

_Winter._ Similar to No. 7, but smaller. _Notes._ A dismal "_too-too-e-e._" (Turner.)

Range--Northern part of northern hemisphere; in America breeds from Hudson Bay north to Arctic coast; winters south to British Columbia, the Great Lakes and, casually, to Long Island.