GAVIIDyE: LOONS, OR DIVERS. 1049 



glossy greenish-black, with lustrous purplish reflections on the front and sides of the head. A 

 patch of sharp white streaks on throat ; a larger triangular patch of the same on each side of 

 neck lower down, nearly or quite meeting behind, separate in front. Sides of breast striped 

 with black and white. Entire upper parts, wing-coverts, inner secondaries, and sides under 

 the wings, glossy black ; all except the sides thickly marked with white spots ; those of scapu- 

 lars, inner secondaries, and middle back, large, square, and regular ; those of other parts oval, 

 smallest on rump, most numerous on wing-coverts. Upper tail-coverts greenish-black, im- 

 maculate. Primaries brownish-black, lighter on inner webs. Under surface of wings, axil- 

 lars, and under parts generally from the neck, pure white; lower belly with a dusky band. 

 The white throat-patch consists usually of five or six streaks; in this, as in the lateral neck- 

 stripes, the individual feathers are broadly black, with sharp white edges toward their ends. 

 The texture of these feathers is peculiar ; the outer surface is hollowed, with raised edges of 

 specially firm, smooth, polished character, so that these patches may he felt as well as seen. 



Fig. 711. — Loon. (L. A. Fuertes.) 



The white spots on the back occur in a pair on each feather near its end, their aggregation in 

 any region being therefore determined by the size of the feathers. The frontal antije extend 

 lialf-way or more from base of culmen to fore end of nostrils. Adults in winter have a plumage 

 indistinguishable from that of the young, as follows: Young: Bill smaller tliau in the adult, 

 bluish-white, with dusky ridge ; feet not black. Iris brown. Crown and hind neck dull 

 brownisli-black ; other upper i)arts dark brown, but the feathers, especially of fore back, with 

 light gray edgings. Primaries black, with brown inner webs; tail-feathers with gray tips. 

 Traces of lighter and darker lineation on sides of breast. Sides of head mottled with ashy 

 and whitish ; chin, throat, neck in front, and under parts, white, with some dark feathers on 

 sides, flanks, and crissum. Length .31. 00-^3(3. 00; extent about 52.00; wing I^.-IO-U.^."); cul- 

 men "J. 7.')-;}. 00; gape 4.00-4.25; height of bill at nostrils about O.SO ; wiilth there about 0.40; 

 tarsus .'{.OO-^.-lO, thus longer than culmen; middle toe and claw 4.2.'»-5.0(); 9 '^"'1 young at or 

 near the smaller figures given; young with bill much smaller than that of adults. Downy 

 young sooty-brown, paler on neck, the breast and belly pure white. Inhabits the uortheru 

 ]>ortion of the Northern Hemisphere; in winter, generally dispersed in the U. S. ; breeds in 

 northerly portions of tin; U. S. and northward. Ki,'i,'s usually 2, .'150 X 2.25, elongate and 



