LOONS. 21 



eye and a little higher behind it, fig. 13. The 

 back is always marked with white spots ar- 

 ranged in pairs much as in the Loon, but 

 they are long, narrow, and placed obliquely 

 with the vein of the feather, fig 14. In com- 

 paring this Loon with the Holboell Grebe, 



Fig. 14. 



Back feather of Red-throated Loon in winter dress. 



it is well to remember that while the Grebe 

 at first usually springs upward in diving, the 

 Loon simply slips under water. 



This species is less suspicious than the 

 Loon, and sometimes comes quite near shore. 

 Two or three years ago, when the harbor off 

 Winthrop, Massachusetts, was filled with 

 them, some came so near the sea wall, the 

 tide being high, that they could be seen un- 

 der water as they dove in pursuit of fish, and 



