n8 THE GREAT NORTHERN DIVER 



echoes of the lake are kept alive with sounds por- 

 tentous of new departures in the Loon world* Then 

 a peculiar object is seen to emerge from the marshy 

 bay and cross under the shadowy Cedars toward the 

 open water* A field-glass shows it to be the mother 

 Loon and her two offsprings, the three huddled so 

 closely together that they are almost indistinguishable* 

 The mother is unceasing in her care and attention* 

 She strokes the backs of the young birds with her 

 bill, playing and fussing around and close to them, as 

 if they could not exist without her constant attention* 

 Now and then she leans over and lifts a broad, black, 

 webbed foot out of the water, holding it up distended, 

 as if to endorse the modern theory that the parent 

 Loon teaches her young to swim* They cling to each 

 other and cling to her, as if afraid of being lost in 

 the great expanse of water to which they have been 

 so recently introduced* 



A short distance away the father swims about in 

 lordly indifference, diving occasionally and regaling 

 himself on unsuspecting fish* A boat comes out from 

 the shore, rowed by an industrious guide, with an 

 angler, picturesquely protected by a mosquito net, 

 sitting in the stern* The mother Loon pushes and 

 urges her indolent pair in the direction of safety* 

 How slow they must seem as she hurries and en- 

 courages them ! The trio moves at a snail's pace 

 compared with her ordinary speed, and they show no 



