COMMON LOON 49 



eluded little cove on a large pond. The loon was incubating and we 

 saw her slide off into the water with a big splash, going directly under 

 and swimming away almost under our boat, the ripples on the surface 

 and a row of bubbles marking her course; when she reached the en- 

 trance to the cove, about 15 yards past us, she came to the surface 

 and flapped along, rapidly disappearing around a point and leaving a 

 foaming wake behind her. The nest was a large circular mass of wet, 

 soggy, half-rotten reeds and other vegetable matter heaped up in the 

 shallow water near the edge of the growing reeds; it measured about 

 2 feet in diameter, was only slightly hollowed in the center, and was 

 built up about 6 inches above the water. It contained two nearly 

 fresh eggs, which were lying parallel to each other and about 2 inches 

 apart. 



The second nest, found on June 6, 1900, was on a little rocky islet, 

 only about 10 yards long, in Cathance Lake, Washington County, 

 Maine. The nest was only about 2 feet from the water, with a well- 

 worn pathway down which the bird could slide into the water. It 

 was well concealed under some alders, little maples, and other under- 

 brush, and was a wet mass of green mosses, mixed with a few twigs, 

 built on the rocks with one small rock left bare near the middle of 

 the nest. It measured about 25 inches in outside and 16 inches in 

 inside diameter. The inner cavity was about 3 inches deep and the 

 outer rim was built up about 4 inches, so that the moss was only 

 about an inch thick in the center of the nest. The two fresh eggs 

 were lying in the center of the nest about an inch apart. We did not 

 see the loon leave the nest, but we saw the pair swimming about in the 

 lake and heard their weird cry. 



The third nest was found, on June 23, 1912, on the shore of a 

 heavily wooded island in Sandy Lake, Newfoundland. It was placed 

 just above an open sandy beach, among some small scattered under- 

 brush, 30 feet from the shore. The lake had been very much higher 

 a few weeks previously and probably, at the time the nest was built, 

 it was near the edge of the water. Another nest, in the same gen- 

 eral region, was similarly located, probably for the same reason. 

 The birds in both cases had worn a pathway to the water, where the 

 prints of their feet were plainly visible in the sand. The nest was 

 merely a slight hollow in the bare ground with a wide rim of dry 

 grass, bits of sticks and rubbish around it. This loon did not leave 

 the nest until I was within 50 feet of it; but she made good speed, 

 scrambling down to the lake, half running, half flying, and flapping 

 away over the surface until she reached water deep enough for div- 

 ing. The two eggs in the nest were heavily incubated; one of them 

 was nearly ready to hatch and the other was addled, as is often the 

 case. 



