BIRDS OF THE SEA AND THE SHORE. 255 



large, all uniting to give the bird a false appearance of 

 size. Hence, I suppose, originated the word, when used 

 to imply deception. The sportsman who for the first 

 time has shot one of these birds, expecting to find it large 

 and plump, and discovers only a miserable lean carcass 

 imbedded in a large mass of feathers, is said to be gulled. 



THE LOON. 



I must not conclude without mentioning the Loon, one 

 of the most romantic of birds, the Hermit of our northern 

 lakes, and so exceedingly shy that it is rarely seen ex- 

 cept at a great distance. This bird belongs to the family 

 of Divers, so called from their habit of disappearing under 

 the water at the moment when they catch a glimpse of 

 any human being. The Loon inhabits the northern parts 

 of Europe and North America, and is occasionally seen 

 and heard in the lakes of New England, but chiefly now 

 in those of Northern Maine. As population increases, 

 this species retires to more solitary places. 



In allusion to the scream of this bird, Nuttall says : 

 " Far out at sea in winter and in the great northern lakes, 

 I have often heard on a fine, calm morning the sad and 

 wolfish call of the solitary Loon, which like a dismal echo 

 seems slowly to invade the ear, and rising as it proceeds 

 dies away in the air. This boding sound to the mariner, 

 supposed to be indicative of a storm, may be heard some- 

 times for two or three miles, when the bird itself is invis- 

 ible or reduced almost to a speck in the distance. The 

 aborigines, almost as superstitious as sailors, dislike to 

 hear the cry of the Loon, considering the bird, from its shy 

 and extraordinary habits, as a sort of supernatural being. 

 By the Norwegians it is with more appearance of reason 

 supposed to portend rain." 



