In North- West Canada. 153 



wick, June 20th, 1889. The nest was composed of lily leaves, 

 grass and rushes, and was built in shallow water. Another set 

 of two eggs in my possession were collected as late as August 

 4th, 1889, at Lake St. Joseph, Muskoka, Ontario ; in this case 

 there was no nest, the eggs were simply laid in a hole in the 

 sand near the water's edge. 



In an open drawer before me is a series of eighteen eggs of 

 this species. The eggs of the great northern diver are very 

 dark-looking and do not vary much, some are olive-brown, 

 others olive-dral? or chocolate, spotted and blotched with dark 

 brown or black. In shape they are long and narrow, and 

 average m size 3.55 x 2.30. I have on more than one occasion 

 seen loons in Toronto Bay, but they do not breed nearer than 

 Lake Simcoe. 



The red-throated loon is also a common summer resident in 

 Manitoba, and breeds around Shoal Lake, and Lakes Winnipeg 

 and Manitoba, and in the extensive swamps about the mouth of 

 the Red River. Further east it breeds about Quebec, and on 

 the islands at the mouth of the River St. Lawrence, and in 

 New Brunswick. 



Mr. Frazer found this species breeding on the islands and 

 along the coast of Labrador. The eggs were found on the edge 

 of the smaller ponds. The birds make no nests, but lay their 

 eggs in hollows in the ground close to the water's edge. The 

 red-throated diver is plentiful in Iceland, and also breeds in 

 the British Islands, on the Scottish mainland, and in the Shet- 

 land and Orkney Islands, as well as the Hebrides. It is com- 

 mon around the shores of the White Sea, Northern Russia, 

 and I have clutches from that locality, that were taken at 

 Archangel. I have a series of twenty eggs from Iceland, there 

 fresh eggs are collected from the middle of June to the middle 

 of July. They are similar in colour to those of the common 

 loon, but, of course, are half the size ; they vary from olive- 

 brown to olive-drab, some are greyish-brown or deep reddish- 

 brown, spotted with black. In size they vary from 2.60 to 

 3.00 long, by 1.65 to 1.90 broad. 



The third species of loon, which inhabits Great Britain as 

 well as North America, is the black-throated diver. In North 



