water at great speed, forward and back, again and again. Sometimes one or 

 more may chase another, which dashes onward and suddenly plunges beneath the 

 water to escape pursuit ; perhaps it suddenly reappears close to another bird, that, 

 catching the spirit of the play, acts as though seized with panic, and rushes away, 

 pursued by others of the party. While at these sports Loons may be very noisy 

 or nearly silent. 



The social nature of this bird is also shown by the fact that it frequently 

 gathers in companies, and further by the fact that little groups or pairs, scattered 

 about in feeding, keep up a vocal communication with each other. 



The voice of the Loon is loud, and of volume sufficient to ring above the din 

 of storm and surf, or to echo far and wide to its family or friends over the wide 

 lake, or across spaces of the boundless sea. Its calls are varied, fitting its different 

 moods and expressing no mean range of emotions. Like some other birds, this 

 one is decidedly inquisitive, and may be decoyed near an ambush by alternately 

 waving and concealing a small cloth on a short rod. It is said that anything as 

 a small mirror that will reflect a flash of light will also attract it, and an imitation 

 of its voice will frequently have the same effect. 



The beautiful plumage of the Loon has been in demand for millinery pur- 

 poses ; and the Indians and Eskimos tan its skin for the manufacture of garments 

 and bags. These people also eat its coarse, rank flesh, a habit which T. Gilbert 

 Pearson says is often indulged in by the natives of the coast of North Carolina. 

 Few, however, of the number killed by white men are ever eaten, for usually all 

 are left to decay on the shore of the lake, or, after a brief period of admiration, 

 their bodies are consigned to the compost-heap. 



The food of the Loon consists largely of fish, chiefly, no doubt, of the smaller 

 and more worthless species. Yet the fact that it is a fish-eater has brought con- 

 demnation upon it from the fish culturists, and that without a trial. Of the species 

 of fishes naturally occurring in a given lake not more than one-half are food- 

 fishes for man, and only one-fourth may be called game-fishes. 



Dr. Wm. C. Kendall, scientific assistant in the United States Bureau of 

 Fisheries, has written : "In large lakes my observations lead me to believe that 

 it does little or no harm. In most lakes salmon and trout are mostly too large 

 for the Loon to trouble, and it restricts its diet to the smaller, surface-swimming 

 and shore fishes, such as smelts, chubs," etc. 



The possibility that the Loon may render a service to conservers of game- 

 fishes, by holding in check in some degree the destroyers of fish-eggs, such as 

 suckers and horned-pouts, or in destroying the fishes affected with contagious 

 gill-fungus and other diseases, has never been given consideration. There is, 

 however, an element of probability in this, for, by the law of survival of the 

 fittest, the physically inferior individuals, whether inherently weaker or the victims 

 of disease, are the ones that habitually fall prey to their enemies. Unquestionably 

 it is the weaker specimens of the species eaten that constitute the greater part 



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