Chap. 3. 



BIRDS OF VERMONT. 



Ill 



THE LOON. 



DOMESTIC FOWLS. 



white on the posterior part ; head, ci"est 

 and neck reddish brown ; cliin and upper 

 part of the breast gray ; belly yellowish 

 white ; wings black, 2d quill longest; bill 

 reddish brown above, red below ; legs and 

 feet reddish yellow ; webs brownish. — 

 Length of the specimen before, which is 

 a female, !25 inches; folded wing !).^ ; 

 spread 32; bill, from the angle of the 

 mouth, 2%; tarsus 2h ; longest toe 3 inches. 

 HisTOKy. — I'he Goosander inhabits the 

 northern parts of Europe, Asia and Amer- 

 ica, where they breed and spend the 

 greater part of the year. On the approach 

 of cold weather they migrate towards the 

 south, but still many of them spend the 

 winter in high northern latitudes. They 

 are occasionally met with in our lakes and 

 rivers at nearly all seasons, but are not 

 found in Vermont in very large numbers. 

 The specimen from which a part of the 

 above description was made, was shot in 

 Winooski river Sept. 4, 1841. This fowl 

 is very voracious, and feeds principally up- 

 on fishes, of which the stomach of the one 

 above described contained the fragments 

 of several, one of which was three inches 

 long. The rough incurved papillfe upon 

 the tongue, and the sharp serratures along 

 the edges of the bill, seem admirably adap- 

 ted for seizing and retaining its finny 

 prey. 



Genus Colymbus. — Linnaus. 

 Generic Characters. — Bill longer than the head, 

 stout, straight, nearly cylindrical, compressed, with 

 the point subulate and acute ; the edges bent 

 in, sharp and entire ; nostrils basal, concave, and 

 half closed by a membrane ; feet large, placed far 

 behind ; tibia almost drawn up into the belly ; tar- 

 sus strong, compressed ; the three anterior toes 

 very long, united to their tips by webs ; hind toe 

 small, touching the ground merely at the tip, uni- 

 ted to tlio outer toe by a rudimental membrane ; 

 wings moderate ; 1st and 2d primaries longest ; tail 

 short, rounded and composed of 18 or 20 feathers ; 

 the sexes alike in plumage. 



THE LOOxN, Oil GRIOAT NORTH- 

 ERN DIVER. 



Cohjmbus glacialis. — Linn, 

 Description. — Head and back of the 

 neck glossy black ; back grayish black 



spotted with white, the spots squarish 

 and largest on the middle of the back, 

 roundish forward, and very small towards 

 the rump; beneath white; neck spotted 

 with black, with a black and whitish ring; 

 wings brownish black above, without 

 spots; legs black; bill dark horn color. 

 Length of the specimen before me to the 

 extremity of the tail 3.5 inches, folded 

 wing 14 inches, bill to the angle of the 

 mouth 4.^ inches, foot to the extremity of 

 the longest nail 5.^ inches. The first 

 quill longest. 



History. — The Loon, or Great North- 

 ern Diver, is found in the northern parts 

 of both the Eastern and Western Conti- 

 nent. In this country it resides princi- 

 pally in the lakes in the interior, spend- 

 ing nearly its whole time in the water. 

 It dives with great facility, and is able to 

 remain for a long time under water. Its 

 !eo-s are situated so far back that it is with 

 the greatest difficulty that it walks at all 

 upon land. The l^oon is not uncommon 

 in our lakes and ponds, where numbers 

 of them spend the summer and rear their 

 young. Their nest is upon the ground 

 near the margin of a pond, and somewhat 

 elevated above the surface of the water. 

 The eggs are about the size of those of 

 the domestic goose, of a dark smoky olive 

 color, blotched with umber brown. The 

 flesh of the Loon is tough and unpalata- 

 ble. 



DOMESTIC FOWLS. 



The only birds we have in a state of per- 

 manent domestication are the Goose, the 

 Turkey, the Duck, the Barn-door fow>, 

 the Peacock the Guinea Hen and the 

 Dove. 



The Commo.n Goosf., Jnas rinscr,\vh\ch 

 has acquired so many colors in our poult- 

 ry yards, originated from a wild species, 

 which is gray, with a brown mantle un- 

 dulated with gray, and an orange colored 

 beak. The name of the species in a 

 wild state is Anscr cinereus. Geese are 

 kept in considerable numbers in this slate, 

 principally for their feathers. 



The Domesti t Turkey, Mdcagris <ral- 

 lopaio, in its Wild state, has been' already 

 described on page 101. In the domesti- 

 ated state it has acquired a variety of 

 I iilors an'j undergone some chanjre in 

 form and. size. Turkeys are raised for 

 their fl.fsh which is highly valued. 



The Domestic Dvck, J}nfis domrstirrj, 



sprr^ng from the common Mallard Ducit, 



■'i nashosriias. See page 10!). The change 



produced in the Duck by domestication 



I is much less than in the two preceding* 



