the shore, preferably on an island, where the brooding bird can slip directly into the 

 water. Sometimes, at least, loons sleep on the beach. In swimming and diving the loon 

 is probably excelled by no other bird. It swims under water, using both feet and wings 

 to speed its progress. It has been taken on a set hook at 90 feet below the surface of the 

 water, and dives of 69 seconds have been recorded. It is reported to out-distance a boat 

 with two men rowing, and even an "ordinary motorboat." 



The loon arrives in the north country soon after the ice breaks up in the spring. 

 Two eggs are laid in the crude nest, as is shown in the exhibit, and when the downy 

 young are hatched they are very precocious. They follow the parent shortly after 

 hatching, and catch fish for themselves within a week. During the nesting season each 

 pair is solitary, but in late summer and early fall, when the young are well grown, a 

 number may gather together and indulge in what seems to be a wild frolic, running 

 o\er the surface of the water with wings partly spread, and giving wild cries. With the 

 freezing of the small lakes the loons move out, some to the Great Lakes, some to the 

 ocean. Though the common loon nests only in the northern part of the New World, 

 it winters on the European coast as far south as Britain, as well as on our coasts. 

 It is then more gregarious and gathers in small scattered parties; flocks of up to forty or 

 more may be seen. 



The food of the loon includes much fish, but it eats other aquatic animals, such 

 as crustaceans, mollusks, and insects. Some loons breed on Ashless lakes, so they must 

 either fly to fish-inhabited lakes, or feed on other things. Loons have been accused of 

 being enemies of small ducklings, but this charge does not appear to be substantiated. 



In the coniferous forests where the loon nests, the bird neighbors vary with the 

 localitv, ijut some of the more characteristic are wood warblers such as the myrtle and 



the blackpoll, the white-throated sparrow and the hermit and oli\-e-backed thrushes, 

 the Canada jay, the raven, the goshawk, the kinglet, and the olive-sided flycatcher. 

 In the group there is shown, besides the loon, a yellow-bellied sapsucker on a white 

 birch, and a hooded merganser behind the dead log on which a painted turtle is 

 resting. 



[31] 



