AMERICAN PIED-BILL DOBCHICK (PLATE CCXLVIII)

Pied-billed Grebe, "Podilymbus podiceps" JW 36 fine, fresh impression 14 3/4 by 22 3/8 in.; 376 by 570 mm. Based on a composition painted in Louisiana in 1821. "Few birds plunge with more rapidity than this species, which during submersion, employs its wings... On the water it is almost impossible to catch them... The curious habit which they have of sinking gradually backward in the water, at the sight of an enemy, is very pleasing to observe. Not a ripple do they leave... and one unacquainted with them can hardly conceive that a bird could have escaped in so dexterous a manner.".