VoI i90? IV ] Beebe, The Early Life of Loon Chicks. 37 



right angles to the normal position of the legs beneath the body, 

 recalling the condition in Hesperornis, where a similar side stroke 

 was necessitated by the angle of the juncture of the femur with the 

 pelvis. When the chick squats, the legs approach each other. 



In the course of the morning, chick No. 1 swallows six live killi- 

 fish, each about 2 inches in length. When the loon is swimming 

 quietly about, I intentionally make a sudden movement overhead, 

 and, like a flash, he leaps forward, head first, 'and dives, coming 

 up after a few hard strokes. He shows no fear of my hand when 

 moved slowly. In fact by moving my hand along and snapping 

 my fingers, he will follow all over the tank, from end to end and 

 side to side, or in circles, wherever I please to lead. 



His hearing is very acute and his vision remarkably keen com- 

 pared with yesterday. 



When violent efforts are being made to escape from the rim of a 

 bowl of water, or when the chick swiftly pursues a fish held in the 

 forceps, the alternating stroke changes to a series of powerful, 

 frog-like strokes, given simultaneously with both feet. 



When taken from the water and placed on the pile of dampened 

 leaves, which is my imitation loon's nest, the chick at once begins 

 to preen himself. The first instinctive motions are a twitching of 

 the head around to the sides and back in a way so different from 

 any previous actions that my attention is held at once. After the 

 third or fourth time the loon opens his beak and combs several 

 drops of water from his down. After this he preens swiftly and 

 skilfully until most of the water is shaken or dried from the plumage. 

 After the body is well dried, the tail (or rather the tuft of down 

 representing that organ) is shaken vigorously from side to side 

 and the chick stands erect for a moment, wildly flapping his diminu- 

 tive wings. 



August 9.— Loon chick No. 1, on the third day of his existence, 

 after his first swim this morning, immediately seeks and finds his 

 oil gland, instinctively pressing out a quantity of the oil and rubbing 

 it through the wet down of his breast and sides. 



Later he picks up a fish which has dropped from the forceps, 

 seizes it by the tail, and, with successive jerks, passes it through his 

 bill until the head is reached, when he swallows it. There is no 

 hesitation, no vague motion; he knows instinctively that the head 

 must be swallowed first. 



