The Loon 71 



merits and bags. These people also eat its coarse, rank tlesh, 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 l^rought con- 

 demnation upon it from fish-culturists, and that without a trial. 

 Of the species of fishes naturally occurring in a given lake not Food 



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 vStates Bureau of 

 Fisheries, has written: 'Tn large lakes my observations lead me to believe that 

 it does little or no harm. Li 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 conserxers 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 atTected 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 of the Loon's diet. On the other hand some, as the suckers, 

 are very destructive to the finest game-species, eating large quantities of their 

 eggs, while themselves of little value as food or game. Weed and Dearborn 

 say that "the fish they consume are generally worthless." As a matter of fact 

 very Httle has been made known of the economic status of the Loon, but 

 this little is considerably in its favor. 



Audubon says of its diet: "Fishes of numerous kinds, aquatic insects, 

 water-lizards [salamanders], frogs, and leeches have been found by me in its 

 stomach, in which there is also generally much coarse gravel, and sometimes 

 the roots of fresh- water plants." 



Its diet is thus shown not only to be more varied than most persons ac- 

 knowledge, but also in this respect it is without doubt beneficial. Aquatic 

 insects large enough to attract the attention of the Loon are predacious, and 

 in some instances have proved to be factors of sufficient importance to demand 

 active measures for their suppression in fish-ponds. 



