THE LOONS AND THE GREBES 



1421 



of mud, or a muskrat house 

 where it can quickly slip 

 into the water and dive 

 from sight. The young 

 loons are covered with 

 thick black down when 

 hatched and almost im- 

 mediately take to the water 

 where they can swim and 

 dive with the greatest ease. 

 Campers often pursue the 

 young birds with canoes in 

 an effort to catch them but 

 it is nearly impossible to do 

 so as they can dodge very 

 quickly and swim for long 

 distances under water. 

 Very often they dive deep- 

 ly, turn about under the 

 water and swim back under 

 the pursuing canoe until 

 they come up a long dis- 

 tance in the opposite direc- 

 tion. 



The red-throated loon is 

 the only other species 

 found in eastern North 

 America and it occurs 

 within the borders of the 

 United States, only as 

 a winter visitant. In its 

 winter plumage it resembles the common loon but is 

 smaller and has the back spotted, rather than streaked 

 with white. In summer plumage it is very different from 

 the common loon as it has gray upper parts instead of 



black, and a chestnut patch 

 on the front of the neck. 

 The black-throated loon 

 is confined to northwestern 

 North America and north- 

 ern Europe and Asia and 

 even in winter is a rare 

 bird within the United 

 States. A very similar 

 species, the Pacific loon, 

 however, is common along 

 the Pacific coast through- 

 out the winter. The fifth 

 species is called the yellow- 

 billed loon and it, like the 

 black-throated species, in- 

 habits the Arctic regions of 

 western North America and 

 eastern Siberia. It resem- 

 bles the common loon but 

 is larger and has a yellow- 

 ish bill. 



WHERE THE "HEL 

 The margin of a mill pond showing 



THE GREBES 



(Family Colymbidae) 



Closely related to the 

 loons but different from 

 them in many essentials are 

 the grebes or, as they are 

 popularly called, "the Hell- 

 divers." There are twenty-five different kinds of grebes, 

 found all over the world, and six of them are found in 

 North America. All are smaller than the loons, being 

 about the size of small ducks, which, indeed, they very 



L-DIVER" LIVES 

 the nest of a pied-billed grebe 



A CAMOUFLAGED CRADLE, THE NEST OF PIED BILLED GREBE 



Eight eggs lie concealed beneath the debris which the grebe pulled over 

 them before leaving. 



THE CAMOUFLAGE REMOVED 



The conspicuous white eggs would now be quickly discovewd by some 

 hungry crow hence the necessity for concealment. 



