556 ORNITHOLOGY AND OOLOGY. 



DESCRIPTION. 



Bill compressed, strong and tapering, outline of upper mandible nearly straight, 

 very slightly curved; the lower mandible has a groove underneath, running from 

 the junction of the crura towards the point; the tail consists of twenty feathers. 



Adult. The head and neck are dark bluish-green, the upper part and side.- of 

 the head glossed with purple ; there is a small transverse mark on the throat, com- 

 posed of white feathers of a quill-like form, distinct from each other, and placed lon- 

 gitudinally on each side of the neck; lower down are larger patches of white, of the 

 same peculiar form, and running in the same direction ; these almost meet behind, 

 and in front are about one inch apart ; the effect of these pure-white feathers, re- 

 lieved by the dark color of the neck, is very beautiful ; the upper plumage and wing 

 coverts are deep glossy-black, beautifully marked with pure-white spots, placed in 

 regular transverse rows, slightly curving downwards; these spots, on the upper part 

 of the back, are small and nearly round, but, as they descend lower on the back, 

 increase in size, and become quadrangular in form, being largest on the scapularies ; 

 on the lower part of the back, upper tail coverts, and sides (which are black), the 

 spots are small and round ; the sides of the neck, near the shoulder, are beautifully 

 lineated with black and white; the primaries, secondaries, and tail, brownish-black; 

 the under surface glossy-white, with a narrow band of dusky feathers crossing the 

 lower part of the abdomen, and marked with small white spots ; lower tail coverts 

 blackish-brown, tipped with white ; bill black ; iris deep bright-red ; tarsi and feet 

 grayish-blue externally, tinged on the inside with pale-yellowish red ; webs brownish- 

 black; claws black. 



Young. The plumage above is grayish-black, the feathers of the back mar- 

 gined with grayish-white, the under plumage pure-white ; bill yellowish, with the 

 ridge of the upper mandible dusky. 



Length, thirty-one inches; wing, fourteen; tarsus, three and a quarter; bill, 

 three; height at base, one inch. 



Hob. Very generally distributed ; it is abundant on the Atlantic coast, in the 

 lakes of the interior, and the fur countries. 



THE Great Loon is a rather common species on our coast 

 in the autumn and winter. It passes the season of re- 

 production in the neighborhood of large tracts and ponds of 

 fresh water in the interior, where it nests, about the middle 

 of June, on some low island, or in meadows, bordering the 

 lakes where it collects a large pile of grasses, sod-s, and 

 weeds, in which it forms a hollow of from fourteen to six- 

 teen inches in diameter, and four or five in depth ; lining it 

 with a few softer grasses and pieces of moss, if such are 

 obtainable. The eggs are two or three in number. They 

 vary in shape from almost exactly oval, usually about ovate 

 and occasionally very much lengthened, as will be seen by 

 the following dimensions of four specimens from different 



