CATALOGUE OF CANADIAN BIRDS. 9 



eggs partially covered with rushes laid lengthwise of the nest 

 *{Leivis M. Terrill.) 



The pied-billed grebe is very common in the River St. Law- 

 rence between Kingston and Brockville. I have seen a number 

 of nests. The nest of this species is a more substantial structure 

 and better concealed than that of the horned grebe. In one 

 instance I have known a colony breeding together ; this was on 

 June 1st, 1897, where in a space less than a quarter of an acre, 

 in a retired bay off the St. Lawrence below Rockport, I 

 found four nests close together — one with seven eggs, one with 

 eight, and two with nine. These nests, though floating 

 structures, were quite substantial, and were in about three feet of 

 water ; all the eggs were covered with weeds and were incubated 

 from a week to ten days. Nowhere else have I found more than 

 eight eggs in the nest, and that number only once. The usual 

 number is seven. {Rev. C.J. Young.) 



This species is more common on the .St. Clair flats and at 

 Point Pelee than the horned grebe. Both species build a floating 

 nest among the rushes, and both cover their eggs when they leave 

 the nest. Set 4-6. {VV. Saunders.) 



Family IL GA^VIIDiE. Loons. 



IV. GAVIA FoRSTER. 1788. 



7. Great Northern Diver. Loon. 



Gavia iniber (Gunn.) Allen. 1897. 



This is one of our most widely distributed birds, breeding from 

 Greenland {Arct. Man.) and Labrador {Bigeloiv) in the east, to 

 Alaska {Turner, Bishop and Osgood) in the west. Macfarlane 

 found it breeding at Fort Anderson, in Lat. 68° 30', and it is 

 frequent as far south as Lat. 49°, so that it is to be found 

 throughout the whole northern part of the continent. Nearly 

 every small lake throughout the country, except in the prairie 

 region, is tenanted in summer by a pair or more of these birds, 

 and the larger lakes by many pairs, but as the country i^ settled 

 it is becoming scarcer. All the members of the Geological 

 Survey staff who have found loons' nests agree with Macfarlane 



