LOONS : Family Gaviidae [ 67 ] 



Pacific Loon: 



Gavia arctica pacifica (Lawrence) 



DESCRIPTION. "Breeding plumage: Back of head and neck smoky gray or whitish; 

 throat black, glossed with greenish or purplish and crossed by transverse bar of 

 white streaks; sides of neck with series of longitudinal white streaks; back black, 

 with four series of white bars; lower parts white. Winter plumage and young: back 

 without white markings; throat white." (Bailey) Downy young: "The downy 

 young is plainly colored; the short, thick down, with which it is covered is 'light 

 seal brown' on the back, 'clove brown* on the sides, head, and neck, and 'light drab' 

 on the breast and belly." (Bent) Si%e: Length 2.4, wing n, bill -L.-L^. Nest: A heap 

 of half-rotten vegetation on the shore, very similar to that of the Lesser Loon. 

 Eggs: -L, much like those of other loons, only smaller. "The ground color is 'Prouts' 

 brown,' 'Saccardo's umber,' 'cinnamon brown,' 'dark olive buff,' or 'Isabella color,' 

 very rarely 'pale olive buff.' The egg is usually sparsely covered with small spots, 

 but often there are a few scattering larger spots, of the darkest shades of brown or 

 nearly black; some eggs show underlying spots or pale shades of lavender or drab." 

 (Bent) 



DISTRIBUTION. General: Breeds in northern part of North America. Winters mainly 

 along Pacific Coast south to Lower California. In Oregon: More or less common 

 winter resident along coast. 



THE PACIFIC LOON (Plate 8) should be watched for on the Oregon coast 

 by all bird students, as it is almost certainly a regular winter resident 

 there. The development of many of the bays and beaches into resorts 

 frequented to a considerable extent during the winter months by fisher- 

 men, clam diggers, and others has made the birds more scarce or at least 

 has driven them to the larger bays and the open ocean where they are 

 more difficult to observe. This loon is recorded by Mearns (1879) fro m 

 Fort Klamath and included by Woodcock (1901), without annotations, 

 in his Oregon list, on the authority of A. W. Anthony. These are the 

 only references to it in the literature of Oregon bird life, and we can add 

 only our own notes. 



Most of our winter specimens are either the Lesser or Red-throated 

 Loons, but we have two male winter birds of this species in the Gabriel- 

 son collection, one taken at Netarts (December 2.7, 1931) and the other 

 at Barview (January 10, 1934). We have four spring and summer speci- 

 mens. Jewett has three from Netarts, an adult female in full breeding 

 plumage found dead on the beach (August 14, 1914), an immature male 

 (May i, 1915), and an adult male (May 3, 1915); and Gabrielson collected 

 an adult male in high plumage at the mouth of Pistol River (August 6, 

 1931). The extreme ossification of the skull of Gabrielson's specimen in- 

 dicated that it was a very old individual. It showed no signs of having 

 bred that summer. There was an old leg-bone break that had entirely 

 healed, and the stomach was absolutely empty. When first observed, the 

 bird was resting on the water's edge, and a Western Gull stood beside it. 

 It allowed a close approach behind a flimsy screen of bushes and remained 

 on the bank after the gull took wing. When disturbed it slid into a deep 



