IQ HISTORY OF THE 



deep; composed of old decaying weeds or rushes, brought np 

 from the bottom and piled upon each other in and around the 

 standing stalks, until the fabric reaches the top and floats upon 

 the water, quite a bulky structure. Upon this a small nest is 

 built of debris and bits of slimy moss. Eggs, 1.69x1.17; 

 bluish white at first, but soon become stained in their wet beds; 

 usually five ; ten have been found in a nest. They are often 

 more or less coated with a chalky calcareous matter; in form, 

 elliptical. 



SuBOEDER CEPPHI. Loons and Auks. 



Tail feathers present, but short. {Ridgway.) 



Family URINAT0RID-3E. Loons. 



"Swimming birds, with the feet situated far back, a well developed hallux, 

 the anterior toes completely webbed and normally clawed; the bill straight, 

 acute, compressed, the nostrils linear, overhung by a membraneous lobe; tail 

 normal, but short. Nature prsecocial; eggs two or three, dark colored, and 

 more or less spotted. 



"The family includes a single genus, Urinator, usually, but wrongly, called 

 Colymbus." 



Genus URINATOR Cuvier. 



"Characters the same as those of the family." 



Urinator imber (Gunn.). 



LOON. 



PLATE I. 



Migratory; rare. Arrive the last of March, to last of April. 

 Return late in the fall. 



B. 698. R. 736. C. 840. G. 320, 4. U. 7. 



Habitat. Northern part of northern hemisphere. Breeds 

 from about latitude 41° to within the Arctic circle. South in 

 winter to the Gulf of Mexico and Lower California. 



Sp. Char. ^^AduU: Head and neck dull black, with a greenish reflection, 

 this brightest on the lower part of the neck; fore neck crossed by a narrow bar 

 of white longitudinal oblong dots or short streaks; sides of the neck some dis- 

 tance below this crossed by a broad bar of longitudinal white streaks; upper 

 parts black beautifully variegated with white dots, these largest, and nearly 

 quadrate in form, on the scapulars, minute and dot-like on the rump. Lower 

 parts immaculate white, the sides of the jugulum narrowly streaked with black, 

 the sides and flanks black, dotted with white. Bill black, paler at the tip; iris 



