16 



blades of 'saw-grass' in a little open bay, leaving its circumference entirely free; re- 

 move a mass of wet muck from its rounded top and you expose seven or eight soiled 

 brownish-white eggs, resting in a depression, the bottom of which is less than an 

 inch from the water; the whole mass is constantly damp. * * * The anchor- 

 ing blades of coarse saw-grass or flags, being always longer than is necessary to 

 reach the bottom, permit of considerable lateral and vertical movement of the 

 nest, and so eflectually provide against drowning of the eggs by any ordinary rise 

 of water level, such as frequently occurs during the prevalence of strong easterly 

 winds on the lake." 



SUBORDER CEPPHI. LOONS AND AUKS. 

 FAMILY URINATORID^ LOONS. 



GENUS URINATOR CUVIKR. 



Loon. 



5. Urinator imber (Gunn.). LOON; GREAT NORTHERN DIVER. 



A regular migrant throughout the State in some numbers; sometimes they are 

 winter residents, and throughout the northern part of the State they sometimes are 

 found in summer. Mr. J. W. Byrkit writes that they are permanent residents in 

 Laporte County. I have no knowledge of their breeding within the State, although 

 they will probably be found so to do. Mr. Byrkit informs me that these birds are 

 sometimes caught by fishermen, near Michigan City, " in gill nets and on hooks in 

 thirty fathoms of water." 



6. Urinator lumme (Gunn.). RED-THROATED LOON. 



A rare winter resident and perhaps occasional migrant. February 23, 1885, a 

 bird of this species was shot from a flock- of five, near Brookville. Mr. Charles 

 Dury, Cincinnati, Ohio, writes me of a specimen killed near Chalmers, a few years 

 ago. Mr. C. A. Stock bridge reports it as a rare visitor in the vicinity of Ft. Wayne. 

 Beported by Mr. Ruthven Deane from English Lake, May 11, 1890. 



