COMMON LOON 57 



unless it is an old bird which has learned by experience. A man 

 partially concealed in grass or underbrush near the shore of a lake 

 will sometimes serve to arouse the curiosity of some old loon who will 

 call up a number of his companions to talk it over. They will then 

 swim around in circles, gradually working in nearer. A sudden 

 movement will cause them to dive like a flash or go scudding away; 

 but they will swim up again, alternately advancing or retreating, 

 until a shot from the man satisfies their curiosity. 



I must let some abler pen than mine describe the vocal perform- 

 ances of this species, for it has a wonderful variety of notes, each 

 of which probably has its special significance, and I feel wholly un- 

 able to do justice to the subject. Mr. Francis H. Allen writes to me: 



The commonest notes, which are heard both by day and by night, are a 

 weird maniacal laughter and a prolonged yodeling note which is much higher 

 pitched in the middle than at the beginning or the end. This latter note is 

 very loud and can be heard at a great distance. 



Mr. William Lyman Underwood, who is an expert in imitating the 

 notes of this loon, says that he recognizes four distinct calls : First, a 

 short, cooing note, often heard when there are several loons together; 

 second, a long drawn-out note, known among the guides as the night 

 call; third, the laughing call, which is familiar to everybody who 

 has ever been in a loon country; and fourth, another call which is 

 not often heard, known among the guides as the storm call. This 

 last is a very peculiar and weird performance which the guides re- 

 gard as a sure sign of a coming storm. The notes of the loon can 

 be closely imitated by the human voice, after a little practice so 

 closely that loons can be made to answer or can be called up; but the 

 notes can be almost exactly reproduced on a little musical instrument 

 known as an ocarina, or more commonly as a "sweet potato." Mr. 

 Underwood says that these instruments are made in different keys 

 and that the proper one for the loon call is D SJ. 



Mr. E. Howard Eaton (1910) gives the following good description 

 of two of the loon's commonest notes: 



The scream of the loon, uttered at evening, or on the approach of a storm, 

 has to my ear, an unearthly and mournful tone resembling somewhat the dis- 

 tant howl of a wolf. It is a penetrating note, loud and weird, delivered with 

 a prolonged rising inflection, dropping at the end, resembling the syllables 

 A-ood-00, or as is often written 6-0-odh. Its laughter, however, is of a more 

 pleasing quality, like the syllables hob, hob, hob, hob, hob, uttered in a peculiarly 

 vibrating tremolo. 



This loon also has a peculiar warning cry as a signal of danger to 

 its young, which they promptly obey; also a different warning cry 

 to its incubating mate. 



Fall. On the fall migration the young birds precede the adults 

 by about three weeks, and they go much farther south. The princi- 



