48 LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN DIVING BIRDS 



one finds true recreation in his pursuit of speckled trout, real rest 

 in his camp among the fragrant balsams, and genuine joy in his com- 

 munion with nature in her wildest solitudes. The woodland lakes 

 would be solitudes, indeed, did they lack the finishing touch to make 

 the picture complete, the tinge of wildness which adds color to the 

 scene, the weird and mournful cry of the loon, as he calls to his mate 

 or 'greets some new arrival. Who has ever paddled a canoe, or cast 

 a fly, or pitched a tent in the north woods and has not stopped to 

 listen to this wail of the wilderness? And what would the wilderness 

 be without it? 



Spring. Loons love solitude and return each year to their chosen 

 lake soon after the ice goes out in the spring. This usually occurs 

 late in April in Maine and correspondingly later farther north. We 

 saw them migrating in large numbers along the south coast of Lab- 

 rador between May 23 and June 3, 1909; they were in loose detached 

 flocks in which the individuals were widely scattered. The spring 

 flight on the Massachusetts coast is prolonged through April and 

 May, the heaviest flight occurring about the middle of May. The 

 migration is mainly along the coast, a short distance off the shore, 

 though they fly across Cape Cod at its narrowest part, from Buz- 

 zards Bay into Cape Cod Bay. 



The loons are apparently paired when they arrive on their breed- 

 ing grounds and I believe they are usually mated for life. They 

 show strong attachment to their old home and return year after year 

 to the same spot to nest, even if they have been repeatedly disturbed. 

 Apparently they do not desert a locality until one or both of the pair 

 are killed. Loons are nowhere really abundant, but they are evenly 

 distributed over a wide breeding range, are universally known, and 

 are so conspicuous that they seem to be commoner than they actually 

 are. Nearly every suitable lake within the breeding range of the 

 species has its pair of loons, or has had it, and many large lakes sup- 

 port two or more pairs. The breeding range of this species is becom- 

 ing more and more restricted as the country becomes cleared and set- 

 tled; the loons are being gradually killed off or driven away. A pair 

 of loons nested in Quittacus Pond, Lakeville, Massachusetts, about 

 14 miles from my home, in 1872, but the eggs were taken and both 

 birds were shot; none have nested in this section of the State since. 

 The same story is true of many another New England lake where the 

 insatiable desire to kill has forever extirpated an exceedingly interest- 

 ing bird. 



Nesting. The description of three nests which I have examined 

 will serve to illustrate the ordinary nesting habits of this loon. The 

 first nest was found on June 16, 1899, near Brooksville, Maine; it 

 was located in the water near the marshy and reedy shores of a se- 



