THE OOLOGIST 



365 



a mile or so — give tiie regulation yell 

 and the fiends in the canyon will an- 

 swer." John and Bob did their part. 

 The}^ turned to the right, followed the 

 trail and gave the regulation yell. But 

 the answer that came from the canyon 

 was a "caution." "Who-o-o-o-o-o-j)'" 

 *'What on earth — did you ever hear 

 such a racket? It isn't them it's — " 

 "Yes it is. It's some new yell they've 

 contrived. Perhaps one of them has 

 the stomach ache, or — or — '" ^'Goict. 

 Ki-i-i-ip! Le-e-e-a-hol" "Who-o-o-o-o- 

 o-p! Whoo-oo-o-o-ji! Yi! yi! yi-i-iP' 

 came from the canj'on. "Well I'll — 

 wouldn't it skin you anyway? Well, 

 all we can do is to hunt em up." They 

 hunted them up and were introduced 

 to Urimitor imber. Oh, that I could 

 have first met him under similar cir- 

 cumstances! 



We lived on a bluff, above the small 

 lake. The lake was the home of sever- 

 al Loons. Sometimes there was but 

 three, often five. The Loons were mo'e 

 apt to talk to us during the early morn- 

 ing or in the evening. The first of us 

 who awoke in the morning would give 

 a whoop that was always sure to start a 

 concert down on the lake. Our camp- 

 fire was the occasion of much inquisi- 

 tive talk among them of an evening. 

 There was little satisfaction to me in 

 always watching them from the bluff. 

 I wanted to get nearer — to touch one if 

 possible. 



Down near the water I saw a bed in 

 the sphagnum Avhere a deer had been 

 passing a quiet day. A small trail told 

 raethathe frequently came here to drink. 

 Early the next morning I took a stand 

 on the shore a short distance from the 

 trail. As soon as objects could be 

 clearly seen, an old Urinator set up a 

 yell. There was a ."sti'ange object on 

 the brush-covered shore, and he could 

 not restrain his desire to inspect it. I 

 say he, but, I wilhwager ray rifle that 

 "he" was a female. His bugle had 

 roused his comrades and on they came. 



They would make a large circle, grace- 

 fully sailing until their sides were ex- 

 Ijosed to me. There, seeming to be- 

 come suddenly frightened, one or two 

 would dive, while the others would 

 scud away at a great rate. They would 

 theu reassemble, utter a few cries and 

 make a circle that would bring them 

 nearer. The same hasty retreat would 

 again be made. This circling and re- 

 treating soon became monotonous and 

 they adopted bolder tactics. They ap- 

 proached in a zigzag line. Novv, the 

 leader would waver, fall back, turn 

 sidewise or rising up, flap his wings 

 while another took the lead. Then, af- 

 ter several softly uttered cries thej^ 

 would all gracefully sail away, casting 

 backward glances as if they were sorry 

 to leave. Curiosity, however, was their 

 master, and slowly turning I'ound, they 

 returned. This time they came in close 

 order, occasionally uttering a sharp cry 

 that seemed defiant. I mov^ed toward 

 them. There was a plunge and not a 

 Loon could be seen. They could not 

 remain under long as they were almost 

 dying to know what I was. They came 

 bobbing up in diffetent places, flapped 

 their wings and took another look at 

 me. I did not look half as dangerous 

 as the stag that drank at the lake the 

 day before, and he was harmless. But 

 what teas I? I walked back A'ard a few 

 paces. Each Loon charged forward at 

 his best pace, and each one screamed 

 his loudest. A forward movement on 

 my part caused a sudden halt on the 

 part of the birds. They were almost 

 within throwing distance. The bodies 

 of thi'ee Loi'us were so close together 

 that they made one large tai-get. I 

 slowly raised my rifle— bang! There 

 was a curl of blue smoke near me and 

 a small space of agitated water where 

 the Loons had been. Their curiosity 

 was gratified, our interview at an end 

 and I was I'eady for breakfast. 



Our next camp was about forty miles 

 north of Blue Lake. We had sailed the 



