370 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



GRANDSIRE LOON'S MISTAKE 



BY FRANCES H. UPTON 



MR. and Mrs. Louis Loon had a summer home on a big 

 lake away up in New Hampshire. They usually 

 went there in May and stayed until the lake froze 

 over. After the ice came they could not get any more fish 

 so they went back to the seashore for the winter, or" 

 course, you know the sea does not freeze over except 

 around the edges and so the Loon family could get plenty 

 of food there even in cold weather. But they liked best 

 their own lonely northern lake and spent just as much time 

 there as they could. Mr. Loon's family had been going 

 there for years and years. Old Grandsire Loon had con- 

 sidered it quite the choicest spot for a summer home. 



jc-itOTJ know," he remarked to Grandmarm Loon, shak- 

 * ing his coal black old head (for loons do not turn 

 grey the way we human beings do), "I roamed about a 

 bit in my young days all over Canada and Hudson Bay 

 and I never found a place so well suited to our family 

 as this is." "Yes," Grandmarm agreed, "it is just the place 

 for the children the swimming and the fishing are good 

 and the water is cold." "Our family has always had a 

 fondness for cold water," she added, and her collar of 

 snow white feathers ruffled with pride. "The best thing 

 of all," said Grandsire, "is, that there are none of those 

 horrid, bold human beings about, and I really believe they 

 haven't discovered our lake at all, thank goodness." 



YOU see Grandsire Loon had once met a bold bad hun- 

 ter with a gun, and if he had not dived and swam under 

 water as quick as a wink, the bullet from that gun would 

 have killed him. Now, he thought that all human beings 

 were alike, and here is where he made a great mistake, as 

 you shall see, if you have patience. 



YOUNG Mr. and Mrs. Louis Loon were a very smart 

 young pair. Every year they raised two children, 

 and sometimes three. Early in June, Mrs. Loon went 

 to her favorite nesting spot on the sandy side of Big 

 Island, and there she and Louis made their nest. You 

 would think it was the oddest looking nest you ever saw. 

 Right near the waters edge Mrs. Loon scratched a hollow 

 place in the sand with her queer, webbed feet. Mean- 

 while, Louis waddled around and picked up sticks with 

 his sharp green bill. "Those are fine, Louis, and you have 

 enough now," called Mrs. Loon to her husband, as she 

 poked the sticks into place with her bill. "All right. 

 Louisa," answered Mr. Loon, "and now for some of those 

 nice cattails over yonder." 



THEN they each took the head of a cattail and pecked 

 and pulled away at it until it looked and felt like 

 soft feathers. This was the lining for the nest. Some 

 birds would laugh at the idea of calling that hole in the 



sand a nest, but Mr. and Mrs. Loon do the best they can. 

 You see they are very clever about flying and swimming, 

 but they can't walk a bit well, and so they make their 

 nest as near the water as possible. 



* S soon as the nest was done, Mr. Loon got into the 

 ** water with a shrill cry of relief to think that 

 job was done. "Try it, Louisa," he shrieked, "I do hope 

 it's comfortable, my dear." Mrs. Loon settled herself in 

 her nest and gave a laugh. "It's the best one we ever built," 

 she trilled contentedly. In a few days, if you had looked 

 into that nest, you would have seen two greenish brown 

 eggs, spotted with dark brown. They were bigger than 

 hen's eggs, and Mrs. Louisa Loon was very proud of 

 them. One day, saucy young Sammy Snake discovered 

 them. He was just going to have a nice meal when Mrs. 

 Loon returned from her morning exercise. Oh, didn't 

 she scream and scold! Young Sammy only winked at 

 her and said, "Well, madam, I don't think they're pretty 

 eggs, anyhow, such a horrid brown color. I'm sure I 

 don't want them." "Horrid brown color, indeed," said 

 Mrs. Loon, "just you wait until next week and see what 

 you'll see!" 



i~|NE fine day soon after this, Sammy heard a great 

 " screeching and calling, so he hurried to the waters 

 edge to see what all the excitement was about. There 

 he saw Mr. and Mrs. Loon giving two baby loons their 

 first swimming lesson. Such a commotion! But how 

 quickly those Loon children learned to swim! Soon they 

 were off for a trip up the lake, father and mother swim- 

 ming on the outside, and the two young ones swimming 

 between them where they were safe from harm. 



<r?iyrOW, Millie and Willie," said old Grandsire Loon 

 'to his two grandchildren one day, "I am going to tell 

 you something very important." "Yes, sir," said Millie 

 and Willie very respectfully. "Now, my dears," contin- 

 ued Grandsire, "if you ever see any human beings around 

 this lake there are two things you must remember to do. 

 First, call to me as loudly as ever you can. Second, dive 

 and swim under water until you are as far away as Little 

 Island is from Big Island." 



??T)UT, Granddaddy, how are we to know what they 

 *-* are when we see them?" asked Willie and Millie in 

 chorus. "Well, my chicks," replied Grandsire, "it's easy 

 enough. There's nothing else like them. They walk on 

 two legs and they have two queer things called 'arms' 

 instead of wings, which hang at their sides. The poor 

 creatures can neither fly nor swim." "Then, how can 



