AMONG THE WaTER-FOowL 
England it is common. and now and then it breeds 
as far south as Massachusetts. Sailing about in 
Buzzards Bay early one July, I passed a Loon along 
the Falmouth shore, that was swimming with a 
half-grown young one close beside her. She 
seemed very fond of it, and kept caressing it with 
her bill with true maternal tenderness. Far was it 
from my thought to disturb them, and our sloop 
sped on. 
Of all the places where I have observed the 
great Loon in its! haumts, give me the Pmgle 
Mountains of North Dakota. On those frosty 
nights of middle June, as we lay under our light 
cotton tent, snuggled up in heavy blankets, often 
when I was awake I could hear that wild, laughter 
like cry—* ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-a-a’’—as the Loons tlew 
over from one lake to another. Our camp was 
near Gordon Lake, a fine body of water several 
miles around, with stony shores and a border of 
reeds. Out on its surface were always a number of 
Loons, and over on the west side several seemed to 
be patrolling parts of the shore. Walking entirely 
around the lake, I vainly searched the whole 
margin for nests. I had reason to believe that the 
young were hatched, and, as there were no muskrat 
houses or floating mounds that I could discover, it 
is likely that the eggs were laid on the bare shore, 
so that no nest was then in evidence. 
In one place I surmised that the young were 
hidden among the reeds. ‘There the parents gave 
me a most intéresting! spectacles Whey pair Svete 
patrolling, rather anxiously, about a gunshot off 
shore. Knowing of the curiosity of the Loon, I 
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