28 



The Avifauna. 



A Trip along the North Shore of 

 Lake Superior. 



I ANY interesting articles have been written 

 upon the beauties of the Lake Superior reg- 

 ion in general, and that Elysium of brook trout 

 fishers, the ^' North Shore,'' in particular, but 

 nearly all relate to the pleasures of the trip and the 

 magnificent trout fishing indulged in along its dif- 

 ferent water courses. The fact is there is little to 

 attract an orinthologist and I have often noticed 

 that once engaged in the excitement of landing 

 speckled beauties, the enthusiastic anybody has an 

 eye for little else, at least that was my experience. 

 As the years rolled on, however, I began to look 

 about and it was a red letter day in my orintholog- 

 ical studies when in answer to an oft repeated croak 

 I laid the rod aside and climbed a cliff over one 

 hundred feet high to investigate a raven's nest; 

 ■ but I only reached the base of the stunted pine in 

 which it was placed, for I recall how my enthusiasm 

 gradually ebbed in contemplation of the trunk of 

 that tree hanging out at an angle over the precipice, 

 and it did not take long to convince myself that 

 the few sturdy roots had a very insecure hold in 

 the crevices, and the contents of that nest remain 

 a mystery to this day. 



At the mouth of Cross River we called upon a 

 fisherman who proved to be a better collector, for 

 he had a pail nearly full of Merganser and Gulls- 

 eggs, taken from a little rocky isle near by, and 

 even with this well stocked larder he had feasted 

 on fried eggs for a week back. 



About every half mile along the rocky shore one 

 meets, in the right season, a pair of loons, and a 

 close inspection of the little gaps in the shore line 

 where short beaches of bright colored pebbles glis- 

 ten in the sun, would be rewarded by the finding 

 of their eggs, a find that always filled me with 

 enough satisfafction to take the place of the great 

 amount of breath expended in the blowing- of such 

 magnificently large eggs. ' 



In running off" shore in the fast little steam craft 

 often used in the trips, we occasionally came onto 

 a pair far out in the lake directly ahead, and as we 

 drew near they would dive and swim to one side; 

 by changing the course of the craft in that direction 

 it would sometimes happen that they would rise to 



the surface almost alongside the boat and be off" 

 after a tremendous flapping and splashing about. 

 I secured my first loon under these conditions. 

 The next one, with the help of my brother, I se- 

 cured in a little isle dotted bay on Isle Royal, by 

 strategy. We were camped on one of the rocky 

 islands and found the bay much frequented by 

 loons which always kept just beyond shooting dis- 

 tance, although their wind call or laugh came into 

 camp at all hours of day and night. One morning 

 we took a light boat and went further up the bay 

 where they had not been disturbed. Seeing a pair 

 opposite an island ahead we went through a chan- 

 nel on the other side and when completely hid I 

 landed and or&wled to the edge of the brush on the 

 opposite side, my brother continuing on beyond 

 the island with the boat just as though no stop had 

 been made. The loons, however, were out from 

 the island too far to be shot so he went on a dis- 

 tance, then turned and came back outside of the 

 pair far enough away to not scare them, but near 

 enough to cause them to move a little towards the 

 island. Travelling up and down, each time a little 

 nearer, the loons were gradually driven close in to 

 the island when from under cover I took a favor- 

 able opportunity to shoot one. 



It was on this same trip that we stopped at a 

 fisherman's hut and found the breasts ot several 

 loons tacked to the shanty door drying, to be used, 

 the fisherman explained, as lining for his snow 

 packs next winter. Further enquiry elicited the 

 fact that he caught from one to six every day dur- 

 ing the early spring on his set lines. When the 

 lake trout move towards the reefs to spawn, the 

 fishermen use long lines anchored about a fathom 

 below the surface. To these, at intervals, are at- 

 tached shorter lines with hooks baited with large 

 herring, and these attractively baited hooks not 

 only catch the desired trout but are sure to take 

 any loon unfortunate enough to notice them when 

 diving for food. There is usually slack enough in 

 the line to enable a bird so powerful to come to the 

 surface where the fisherman finds him full of fight, 

 but it is always one-sided for each boat carries a 

 heavy club for this use alone. No use was ever 

 made of these birds, except as noted above, and 

 their carcasses were often noticed along the shore 

 until a few years ago a taxidermist in one of the 



