286 NEW- YORK FAUNA — BIRDS. 



THE RED-THROATED LOON. 



CoLYMBTJS SEPTENTRIONALIS. 



PLATE CXXXVII. FIG. 300. 



(STATE COLLECTION.) 



Colymbua septentrionalu. LiNNius, p. 220.Pennast, Arct. Zool. Vol. 2, p. 520. Bonaparte, Ann. Lye. N. Y. 

 Vol. 2, p. 421. Richardson, F. B. A. Vol. 2, p. 476. Ndttall, Man. Orn. Vol. 

 2, p. 519. Aodubon, B. of A. Vol. 7, p. 299, pi, 478. Girahd, Birds of Long 

 island, p. 380. 



Characteristics. Bill 2 • - 3 • long, slightly upturned : lower mandible channelled. Adult: 

 Head and neck glossy ash-color ; front of the neck deep reddish brown ; 

 hind part of the head and the neck streaked with black and white. 

 Young, ashy brown, with minute marginal spots on the dorsal plumage. 

 Tail of twenty feathers. Length, 25  0. 



Description. Bill black, slender, slightly recurved, tapering to a point. Tail very short, 

 rounded, of twenty rounded feathers. Tarsus compressed, 2*8 long, shorter than the outer 

 toe. Hind toe with a small lobe, and connected to the inner one by a web. 



Color. Adult : Summit of the head, chin and sides of the neck of a deep ash ; centre of 

 the neck with a stripe of deep orange or reddish brown, widening beneath ; occiput, back of 

 the neck, upper part of the back and sides of the breast black, streaked with white, the white 

 streaks becoming fewer beneath ; back and wing-coverts brownish black, with distant minute 

 white spots ; wings, rump and tail black, the rump slightly glossed with green ; beneath 

 white ; lower tail-coverts greyish, tipped with white. Young ; Head and back of the neck 

 ash, finely streaked with white ; brownish black above, each feather having an oblong spot 

 on either margin near the tip ; neck beneath white, varied with light brown ; white beneath ; 

 an obsolete dusky band across the vent ; rump and upper tail-feathers bimaculate with white. 



Length, 23-5-26*0, 



The Red-throated Loon, or Scape-^grace, as it is occasionally called, is comparatively a 

 rare bird in this State, and the young are most usually found here. It breeds from New- 

 foundland northwardly. Eggs olive-brown, spotted with darker brown. It ranges on this 

 coast from 36° to 74° north latitude, and is common to Europe and America. 



(EXTRALIMITAL.) 



C. arcticus, Linn. (Aud. B. of A. Vol. 7, pi. 477.) Bill 3-5; the upper mandible slightly curved; 

 the lower not wider in the middle than at the base, and without groove beneath. Tail with 18 

 feathers. Adult : occiput and nape ash brown ; front of the neck violet-black. Young, ashy 

 brown above: occasionally a blackish band on the sides of the neck. Length, 29*0. Northern 

 Regions. Columbia river. 



