THE LUUNS AND Till-: GRELIES 



1421 



of 11111(1, or a imiskrat house 

 where it can (|iiickly slij) 

 into the water and dive 

 from sight. The young 

 loons are covered with 

 tJiick l)Iack down when 

 liatched and almost im- 

 mediately take to the water 

 where they can swim and 

 dive with the greatest ease. 

 Campers often pursue the 

 young birds with canoes in 

 an effort to catch them hut 

 it is nearly impossible to do 

 so as they can dodge very 

 t)uickly and swim for long 

 distances under water. 

 Very often they dive deep- 

 ly, turn about under the 

 water and swim back under 

 the pursuing canoe until 

 they come up a long dis- 

 tance in the opposite direc- 

 tion. 



The red-throated loon is 

 the only other species 

 found in eastern North 

 America and it occurs 

 within the borders of the 

 United States, only as 

 a winter visitant. In its 



black, and a chestnut patch 

 on the front of the neck. 

 The black-throated loon 

 is confined to northwestern 

 North America and north- 

 ern Europe and Asia and 

 even in winter is a rare 

 bird within the United 

 States. A very similar 

 species, the Pacific loon, 

 however, is common along 

 the Pacific coast through- 

 out the winter. The fifth 

 s])ecies is called the yellow- 

 billed loon and it, like the 

 black-throated species, in- 

 habits the Arctic regions of 

 western North America and 

 eastern Siberia. It resem- 

 bles the common loon but 

 is larger and has a yellow- 

 ish bill. 





THE GREBES 



(I'aiiiily Colyiiibidac) 



Closely related to the 

 loons but different from 

 them in many essentials are 

 the grebes or, as they are 

 popularly called, "the Hell- 

 winter plumage it resembles the common loon but is divers." There are twenty-five different kinds of grebes, 

 smaller and has the back spotted, rather than streaked found all over the world, and six of them are found in 

 with white. In summer plumage it is very different from North America. All are smaller than the loons, being 

 the common loon as it has gray upper parts instead of about the size of small ducks, which, indeed, they very 



The 



WHERE THE "HELL-DIVER" LIVES 

 of a mill pond showing tile nest of a pied-hilled grebe. 



.■\ CAMOl'FI...\GED CRADLE, THE XEST OF I'lED-BILLED GREBE 



THE CAMOUFLAGE REMOVED 



Eigjit eggs lie concealed beneath the debris 

 them before leaving. 



vhich the grebe pulled over The conspicuous white eggs would now be quickly discovewd by some 



hungry crow hence the necessity for concealment. 



