10 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA. 
that they lay only two eggs, and that no nest is built, but a small 
depression made in the gravel close to the waters of the lake. In 
the Laurentian country the eggs are always placed on greenish 
gravel and are hard to see. In two cases only have nests been 
found on rock and these were close to the water. 
BREEDING Notes.—Nest always placed near the water, and 
composed of a little grass. Eggs two. Young usually hatched 
the last week in June or first week in July. The young are quite 
helpless for a few days, either riding on the mother’s back or 
hanging on to her tail. I have paddled up to them in a boat on 
several occasions, and they have sat upon the water as helpless 
as a leaf until I have taken them up in my hand. They soon 
become able to take care of themselves and can swim and dive 
nearly as well as the old one. Common throughout Labrador ; 
one nest found, July 25th, 1896, on Clearwater lake, containing 
two eggs in an advanced state of incubation. (Spreadborough.) 
This bird breeds at the south end of Lake Manitoba. I have 
also received the eggs from Morley in Alberta. It breeds com- 
monly on the islands in the Muskoka lakes, Ontario. A clutch 
of two eggs in my collection was taken on an island in Lake 
Donaldson, near Buckingham, Quebec. The eggs were taken June 
24th, 1895, by Mr. Warwick. This bird is alate breeder. (Aazne.) 
®* The nest of this species, if nest it can be called, is only aslight 
hollow in the earth or ground within a short distance of the 
water’s edge. One found on the 21st June, 1897, at Lake of the 
Woods, was within six inches of the water’s edge. It was only a 
slight hollow in the sand, and the two eggs were placed therein. 
(G. R. White.) 
The loon still breeds in many of the retired lakes, and a pair or 
two frequent the River St. Lawrence for this purpose between 
Kingston and Brockville. I have found many of their nests and 
noticed that they return to the same locality year after year even 
when their eggs have been repeatedly taken. The situation chosen 
varies; sometimes it is on the shore of some out of-the-way 
island, two or three feet from the water’s edge. Several nests I 
found consisted of a mass of weeds and bullrushes piled up in 
three feet of water, so that a boat could be rowed alongside. They 
are very punctual in their time of laying ; in one locality in the 
