THE OOLOGISJ'. 



lis 



oue was familiar with the appearauee 

 of the damp sliiftless structure. Eveu 

 our practical ej'es could detect nothing 

 which could prove that the slight hol- 

 low had held eggs as yet, but the 

 cliances were, that some oue had been 

 there before us. 



Now, rather tired we pulled for 

 shore, trolling on the way and landing 

 a large black bass. We next struck 

 out for Pleasant Lake, a beautiful sheet 

 of clear water. A row of ten minutes 

 from the whcrf brought us to the bog 

 where I had taken eggs the year prev- 

 ious, and three years before. We were 

 not disappointed this trip, as the nest 

 held two linely colored eggs with well 

 iletined specks, mostly at the larger 

 end. 'I'he ground color was emphatical- 

 ly diffi-rent from the general run of 

 eggs, being of a greenish tinge quite un- 

 like anything which I have ever seen. 

 Still I think the same binl laid — them 

 that laid on the bog before. I reascmed 

 this way from the markings rather than 

 from the ground color, as I have often 

 had it demonstrated to me with the 

 eggs of the Buteoes. The eggs, long and 

 generally almost exactly illiptical lie 

 side b}' side at about three-liflhs of the 

 length of the nest from the front. This 

 is un(ioul)tedly to accomodate the cap- 

 acity of the old bird to i)roi)erly incub- 

 Hte them. The bii'd having along i)oat 

 like body the alulomen is necessarily 

 well l)a(k from a center. 



Carefully blowing and packing our 

 treasures which proved fresh, we next 

 hu.stled over to Wall Lake, where we 

 were to camp for the night. Pitching 

 our little shelter tent in a clump of 

 trees near the lake shore, we soon ha»l 

 the frying pan si/zling and a grand dis- 

 play of beautifully brovvned i)ass laid 

 out for hungry boys. We sat down to 

 a repast, which though not served in 

 style, at least answered tlie purpose. 

 The manner in which the i)acon and 

 and eggs, fried fish and eolTee disap- 

 peared, was ample proof that tin plate 



service was all that was reqniicd. The 

 Loons kept up their (juavering clatter 

 and weird hullabaloo while we were at 

 our repast, and Raluh became so rattled 

 that he at last choked and had to stop 

 eating. He claimtMl that he had chok- 

 ed on a bone, but I sincerely think he 

 was so stutl'ed as to lie unaljle to swal- 

 low another mouthful. 



After supper, or as we called it our 

 eight o'clock dinner, we made the horse. 

 O. K. for the night, and then my com- 

 panion, wdio insisteil that the Loons 

 were mocking . us, and duiing us to 

 come on the iake, saiil that we nmst 

 get one more set of eggs in order to 

 sleep well. He went to a neiglil)oring 

 farm house and secured a boat, and 

 though it was getting dark in.siste(l on 

 our going out. 



We knew about where to go, and 

 striking otT just out from the reedy 

 shore, not over a quarter of a mile was 

 covered, whcm we had set of eggs num- 

 ber two in our hands. We saw the old 

 Loon slitle olf of the eggs when we 

 wei'e twenty rods or more away. She 

 kept about the spot, often coming with- 

 in eight or ten rods of us and frequent- 

 ly uttering the weinl quavering notes. 

 This seeuied to be the method of com- 

 munication, call notes if we wish to 

 term them so. The mate which we had 

 not seen before in the gathering dark- 

 ness, iu»vv api)eared and the pair con- 

 versed in Loon language, driving about 

 ns and evid(;ntly .•uixioiis for our de- 

 parture. 



Kalph lired at the birds several times 

 not with any idea of hitting them, but 

 as he said just to keep his hand in at 

 missing them. It is perfectly idle to 

 shoot at a Loon or diver of any kind 

 when they are aware of your i)r(scnce. 

 Tliey can dive at the Hash (fvcry lime 

 anil get away. Th»M)nly means of .se- 

 curing one is to surround it which is ex- 

 tremely dinicult, and while the alert 

 liinl is watching one gunru-r, a shot 

 from another may possibly lay it low. 



