BIRDS OF 



Nest a few matted rushes on the bog. Eggs usually whitish, clouded 

 with brown. 



The Dab Chick is not quite as numerous as the Horned 

 Grebe, neither is it as hardy, being a Httle later in arriving in 

 spring, and disappearing in the fall at the first touch of frost. 

 It is generally distributed, and is the only one of the family 

 which breeds in Hamilton Bay, where it may often be seen 

 in the inlets in summer accompanied by its young with their 

 curiously striped necks. From its small size and confiding 

 manners it is not much disturbed, but if alarmed has a con- 

 venient habit of sinking quietly under water, the point of the 

 bill being the last part to disappear. 



Family URINATORID^. Loons. 



Genus URINATOR Cuvier. 



5 URINATOR IMBER (Gunn.). 7 



Loon 



Black ; below from the breast white, with dark touches on the sides and 

 vent ; back with numerous square white spots ; head and neck iridescent with 

 violet and green, having a patch of sharp white streaks on each side of the 

 neck and another on the throat ; bill black. Young: — Dark gray above, the 

 feathers with paler edges ; below, white from the bill, the sides dusky ; bill 

 yellowish-green and dusky. Length, ?i— 3 feet ; extent, about 4 ; wing, about 

 14 inches; tarsus, 3 or more; longest toe and claw, 4 or more; bill, 3 or less, 

 at base i deep and J wide, the culmen, commissure and gonys all gently 

 curved. 



Hab. Northern part of Northern hemisphere. In North America breeds 

 from the northern tier of States northward ; ranges in winter south to the 

 Gulf of Mexico. 



Nest among the flags near the water's edge. Eggs dull greenish yellow 

 with numerous spots of brown. 



The Loon, on account of its large size, is conspicious where- 

 ever it appears, and its loud and melancholy cry is often heard 

 at night during rough weather when the bird itself is invisible. 

 Many pairs raise their young by the remote lakes and ponds 

 throughout the country but they all retire further south to spend 

 the winter ; as soon as the ice disappears they return, mostly in 



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