6 NESTS AND EGGS OF 



1.72 x 1.17. In Kansas, in the latter part of May, a number of nests 

 were found containing from five to ten eggs each.* 



This species, like other Grebes, during the process of incubation, 

 conceals its eggs with a covering of weeds and other vegetable material 

 during the day, "and they are uncovered at dusk by the bird, who in- 

 cubates them until the morning sun relieves her of her task." 



7. Urinator imber (GUNN.) [736.] 



Loon. 



Hab. Northern part of Northern Hemisphere. In North America breeds from the Northern States 

 northward ; ranges in winter south to the Gulf of Mexico. 



The Loons are large, heavy birds, with flattened bodies and rather 

 long necks ; the legs are placed far back in the body, giving them great 

 propelling power in the water. They are the most expert of all divers, 

 disappearing beneath the water at the flash of a gun. 



In North America the present species is found from the Atlantic 

 to the Pacific, breeding from about latitude 42 northward within the 

 Arctic circle. Mr. Edson A. McMillan informs me that they are quite' 

 common in the lakes of the Adirondack mountain region during the 

 breeding season, which is about the first part of June. Here they 

 breed on the same islands occupied as breeding grounds by the Amer- 

 ican Herring Gull, Larus argentattis smiths oni anus . He says that of 

 nine different Loons' nests which he examined, none of them con- 

 tained material of any kind ; they were simply hollows in the sand 

 where the eggs were deposited. In Maine, Michigan and Wisconsin 

 and other localities the birds are known to build a roughly-formed 

 hollow of sticks, weeds, sod and water grass. 



The Loon's eggs are very dark-looking, of an olivaceous brown, 

 sometimes olivaceous drab, spotted and blotched with a very dark 

 brown. In shape they are narrowly oval, occasionally very much 

 lengthened. The number laid is two, sometimes three ; in size they 

 vary from 3.40 to 3.90 long by 2.10 to 2.38 broad. Two eggs in my 

 possession collected by Mr. McMillan measure 3.63 x 2.26, 3.44 x 2.25. 



8. Urinator adamsii (GRAY). [737.] 



Yellow-billed Loon. 



Hab. Arctic America, west of Hudson's Bay. Casual in Northern Europe and Asia. 



This species is also known as the White-billed Loon. The bill is 

 of a light yellowish color, and the general dimensions of the bird are 

 greater than those of the last species. It breeds in the large lakes and 

 ponds west of Hudson's Bay, northward to the shores of the Arctic 



* "Ornithologist and Oologist," a monthly magazine devoted to the study of Birds, their Nests and 

 Eggs. Volume X, p. 166. Published by Frank B. Webster, Boston, Mass. 



