THE LOONS AND GREBES 



(Families Caviidae and Colymbidae) 



BY A. A. ALLEN, PH. D. 



ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF ORNITHOLOGY, COKNELL UNIVERSITY 



"A : 



S crazy as a loon" is an expression that gains 

 force when one hears the weird notes of one of 

 these curious divers. Beginning low, the strange 

 sonorous sound rises in pitch and increases in volume 

 until it ends with a terrible spasmodic gasp. Heard in 



Photograph by G. A. Bailey 



A CAPTIVE LOON 



This beauty is in summer plumage — in winter it is gray above. 



the dead of night when one is alone in the silent forest 

 it has the faculty of arousing one from slumber with a 

 stiffened scalp and strange prickly feeling in the vicinity 

 of one's spine. At other times a pair of birds will hold 



Photograph by G. A. Bailey 



LOOKS LIKE A SHADOW 



But it is a young loon in its characteristic coat of soft black down. 



a concert or a single bird will locate a rocky cliff where 

 there is a good echo and will call to himself for hours at 

 a time. The notes are then different and resemble more 

 the insane laugh of an escaped maniac. Those who 



spend their summers in Canada are familiar with the 

 loons and their ways for it is impossible to camp by the 

 lakes where they nest without being almost continually 

 aware of their presence. Those who do not go to 

 Canada or visit the lake country of northern New Eng- 

 land, however, seldom see them. They, may not realize 

 that they are present in numbers during the winter on 

 the larger bodies of water throughout the United States 



Photograph by G. A. Bailey 



THE HOME OF AN EXCLUSIVE LOON 



Though fully exposed, this nest on the shore of Georgia Bay is safe. The 

 eggs are inconspicuous because of their olive-drab color. 



and along the sea coast, for at such times they are silent 

 and usually keep a safe distance from the shore. On 

 their migrations over land they usually fly high and, 

 because of their large size and long necks, they are some- 



A STERN WHEELER 



Young grebes resemble their parents in everything but color. Note 

 lobed toes and the position of the legs at the head of the body. 



the 



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