Audubon's Birds/BIRDSVER1_3.BIN/dp/0078/00789.txt

Text File | 1992-08-27 | 11KB | 173 lines

$Unique_ID{BRD00789}
$Pretitle{}
$Title{The Red-necked Grebe}
$Subject{Colymbinae; Podiceps; rubricollis; grisegena; Red-necked Grebe}
$Journal{Birds of America:  Volume VII}
$Volume{Vol. 7:312-316}
$Family{Colymbinae}
$Genus{Podiceps}
$Species{rubricollis; grisegena}
$Common_Name{Red-necked Grebe}
$Log{
Plate CCCCLXXX*00789P1.scf
Family*00782.txt
Genus*00787.txt
Figure*0078901.scf}

       Portions copyright (c) Creative Multimedia Corp., 1990-91, 1992

                       B I R D S   O F   A M E R I C A .

                    By John James Audubon, F. R. SS. L. & E.

                   ------------------------------------------
                                   VOL.  VII.
                        --------------------------------


                             THE RED-NECKED GREBE.
                              [Red-necked Grebe.]


                          PODICEPS RUBRICOLLIS, Lath.
                             [Podiceps grisegena.]


                        PLATE CCCCLXXX.--MALE AND YOUNG.


     I have found this species along the coast from New York to Maine, in the
winter season, when old and young were generally in about equal number.  At
Boston I procured several specimens.  On the Bay of Fundy, and among the islands
at its entrance, I saw these Grebes already in their spring plumage, it being
then the beginning of May.  On one occasion our boat was rowed over an eddy in
which a pair had dived in search of food.  On emerging they were only a few
yards distant; but, although several guns were fired at them, they escaped
unhurt, for they instantly dived again, passed under the boat at the depth of
about a yard, and did not rise until at a safe distance.  None of us could
conceive how they had managed to elude us, for as they were so near, the shot
threw up the water in its course, and I had expected to find them completely
mangled.
     Although I have seen this species far up our salt-water bays, I never
observed it on any of the southern fresh-water ponds or rivers.  Dr. RICHARDSON
states, in the Fauna Boreali-Americana, that it "is very common in the Fur
Countries, frequenting every lake with grassy borders."   M. TEMMINCK says "that
they inhabit rivers, lakes, and the borders of the sea, but in greater number on
fresh-waters; are tolerably common in different parts of Europe; feed on small
fish, fry, amphibious reptiles, insects, and vegetables; form their nests of the
same materials, and place it in the same situations as the Crested Grebe, and
lay three or four eggs."  An egg lent me by my esteemed friend Mr. YARRELL,
measured two inches in length by one inch and a quarter in breadth, and was of a
uniform pale greenish-white.


     PODICEPS RUBRICOLLIS, Bonap. Syn., p. 417.
     PODICEPS RUBRICOLLIS, Red-necked Grebe, Swains. and Rich. F. Bor. Amer.,
       vol. ii. p. 411.
     RED-NECKED GREBE, Nutt. Man., vol. ii. p. 253.
     RED-NECKED GREBE, Podiceps rubricollis, Aud. Orn. Biog., vol. iii. p. 617;
       vol. v. p. 620.


     Male, 18 3/4, 32.
     During winter, not uncommon from New York to Maine.  Breeds in the Fur
Countries.  Accidental in the interior.
     Adult Male.
     Bill about the length of the head, straight, rather slender, compressed,
acute.  Upper mandible with the dorsal line straight and slightly sloping to the
middle, then slightly convex, the ridge convex, the sides sloping, towards the
end erect and convex, the edges acute and inflected.  Nasal groove extending to
the middle of the mandible; nostrils sub-basal, linear-elliptical, pervious.
Lower mandible with the angle long and extremely narrow, the dorsal line
ascending, and straight, the sides erect, slightly convex, the edges sharp,
inflected, the tip narrow, very acute.
     Head of moderate size, oblong, compressed.  Neck long and slender.  Body
depressed.  Feet large, placed very far behind; tibia feathered almost to the
joint; tarsus short, extremely compressed, anteriorly with a narrow scutellate
ridge, laterally with very broad scutella, posteriorly with a narrow ridge
having a double row of small prominent scales.  Hind toe very small, with an
inferior small membrane; fore toes long, the outer longest, scutellate above,
united at the base by short webs, externally margined with narrowish, internally
with broad, lobe-shaped expansions, which are marked with parallel oblique
lines, and crenate on the edges.  Claws flattened, that of the middle toe
broadest, with an extremely thin, broad terminal edge.
     Plumage of the head and neck very soft and downy, of the breast and sides
silky and highly glossed, of the abdomen and rump downy, of the upper parts
imbricated, but with loose edges.  Wings small; primaries much curved, the first
longest, the second almost equal, the inner secondaries extending beyond the
first primary when the wing is closed.  Tail a small tuft of loose feathers.  On
the head is a tuft of elongated feathers on each side behind the eye, and those
of the posterior part of the cheek are also elongated.
     Bill brownish-black, bright yellow at the base.  Iris carmine.  Tarsi and
toes greenish-black externally, yellow on the inner side, the edges of the lobes
dusky.  Upper part of the head greyish-black, lower part ash-grey, with a white
line from the base of the lower mandible to beyond the eye.  Hind part of the
neck, and upper parts generally, greyish-black; the feathers edged with pale
brown; the edge of the wing and the outer secondaries white.  The fore part and
sides of the neck rich brownish-red; the breast and sides are of a silvery
white, faintly marked with grey.
     Length to end of rump-feathers 18 3/4 inches, to end of wings 16 1/2, to
end of claws 24; extent of wings 32; wing from flexure 7 1/4; bill along the
back 1 8/12, along the edge of lower mandible 2 3/8; tarsus 2; outer toe 2 1/2,
its claw 1/4.  Weight 23 oz.
     Young after first moult.
     Bill bright yellow, the ridge of the upper mandible dusky.  Iris pale
yellow.  Feet as in the adult.  The upper part of the head blackish-grey, the
hind neck, and the upper parts generally, of the same colour, but darker towards
the rump; the edge of the wing and the outer secondaries greyish-white, the
latter grey towards the end.  The lower parts greyish-white.
     Female from Dr. T. M. BREWER.  Length to end of tail 19 1/2 inches, to end
of wings 17 1/2, to end of claws 24 1/4; wing from flexure 7 3/4; tail 1 3/4;
extent of wings 32 1/4; bill along the ridge 1 10/12; tarsus 2 2/12; hind toe
7/12, its claw (1 1/2)/12; second toe 1 11/12, its claw (3 1/2)/12; third toe
2 (4 1/2)/12, its claw 5/12; fourth toe 2 9/12, its claw 3/12.
     The mouth is narrow, 9 1/2 twelfths in width; the palate slightly convex,
with two faint lateral ridges on each side; its anterior part extremely narrow,
with three longitudinal ridges, the lower mandible still narrower, and deeply
channelled.  Tongue 1 inch 7 twelfths long, slender, tapering to a thin horny
point, trigonal, as deep as broad, fleshy and concave above, horny beneath.
OEsophagus, [a b c], 10 3/4 inches long; its width uniformly 1/2 inch along the
neck; the proventriculus, [b c], however, is dilated to a very large ovate sac
nearly 1 1/2 inches broad, 1 inch 9 twelfths in breadth.  The stomach,
[c d e f], is of enormous size, roundish, slightly compressed, 2 1/4 inches in
diameter; its muscular coat reduced to a single series of large fasciculi; its
tendons, [e], circular, 9 twelfths in breadth; the epithelium thick, soft,
longitudinally rugous.  The proventricular glands are of a cylindrical form, the
largest being 1/2 inch long, and 1 twelfth in breadth; they form a complete belt
1 1/3 inches in breadth.  The inner coat of the stomach is destitute of
epithelium, being quite soft and smooth.  The stomach, therefore, is in all
respects similar to that of the truly piscivorous birds, such as Divers and
Herons, and totally different in structure from that of the Coots, to which the
Grebes might be supposed to be allied, on account of the structure of their
feet.  On th