LOON, 85 
them when leaving the nest. The young are born covered 
with down and can swim at birth, The Pied-billed 
with which it can disappear from the surface of the 
water, to reappear in a quite unexpected place, justifies 
its reliance on its own natatorial powers. It can swim 
under water with only its bill exposed, when it becomes 
practically invisible. 
When on land Grebes progress awkwardly. They 
ean, it is said, stand erect on their toes, but, when resting, 
support themselves on the whole length of the foot or 
tarsus (see Fig. 8, the Great Auk). 
On the wing Grebes resemble small Ducks, but their 
pointed bill and their feet stretched out behind the rudi- 
mentary tail will serve to distinguish them. 
Loons. (Famity URmNatorips£) 
The Loon, like its small relative the Grebe, is known 
to almost every one by name, but only those who have 
Leen, visited its summer haunts among the 
Urinator imber, Northern lakes and heard its wild call 
Plate Ill. “can be said to know it. Nuttall writes 
of its ery as “the sad and wolfish call of the solitary 
Loon, which, like a dismal echo, seems slowly to invade 
the ear, and, rising as it proceeds, dies away in the air.” 
It “may be heard sometimes for two or three miles, when 
the bird itself is invisible, or reduced almost to a speck 
in the distance.” The Loon is as aquatic in habits as the 
Grebe, but is much stronger on the wing. It migrates 
by day, and probably also by night, and we may some- 
times see it passing over—a large, ducklike bird—in 
March and October. 
When on land, it is nearly helpless, progressing awk- 
