Yellow-billed Loon 11 



Adults in winter and young birds are brownish-black above and 

 white below ; the iris is brown and the bill is bluish-white, dusky 

 along the culmen. The female is rather smaller than the male and 

 the young bird has a markedly shorter bill. 



Distribution. — Widely spread over the northern portion of both 

 hemispheres, the Loon in America breeds from along the northern 

 border of the United States northwards to Alaska, and Greenland, 

 and winters throughout the States to the Gulfs of Mexico and Cali- 

 fornia. In Colorado it is a rare migrant and is not yet known to winter 

 or to breed, though it has been taken at Sweetwater Lake, Garfield 

 CO. in July (Cooke). There is an example from Barr Lake near Denver, 

 killed in April by S. Wood, in the Denver IVIuseiim of Natiu-al 

 History, and another from near Boulder, collected by L. Bragg, 

 now in the Musevun of the University of Colorado, while Allien tells 

 me a good many specimens have reached him from time to time in 

 spring. 



Yellow-billed Loon. Gavia adamsi. 



A.Q.U- Checklist no 8 — Colorado Record — Cooke 97, p. 155. 



Description. — Resembling G, inimer, but slightly larger, and head 

 a longer yellowish-horn bill, which is dusky only at the base ; the with 

 and neck are steel blue rather than green, and the white spots on the 

 upper-parts are rather larger, those on the scapulars being longer than 

 broad instead of square. Length about 36-0 ; wing 15-0 ; culmen 3'50 

 — 3 15 ; tarsus 3 -50. 



Distribution. — North-east Asia, Arctic America, from Behring 

 Straits to Hudson Bay and north-west Europe, but hardly known in 

 the United States. 



A young male Loon obtained by W. G. Smith near Loveland, May 

 25th, 1885, and now in the collection of Mr. M. Hardy, Brewer, Me., 

 has been identified with this rare Arctic form. This constitutes the 

 only Colorado record. 



Black-throated Loon. Gavia arctica. 



A.O.U. CheckUst no 9 — Colorado Records — Cooke 97, p. 192 ; Aiken 

 00, p. 298 ; Henderson 03, p. 234 ; 09, p. 225. 



Description. — Adult — Crown and nape grey ; rest of the upper-parts, 

 including the throat and fore-neck glossy black, the sides of the neck, 

 back and wings streaked, barred and spotted with white ; a band of 

 white streaks on the throat ; rest of the under-parts white, 

 with a band of blackish at the base of the under tail-coverts ; iria 

 red, bill and feet blackish. Length 27'0 ; wing 12-5 ; culmen 2*50 ; 

 tarsus 2 '90. 



