56 GAME BIRDS, WILD-FOWL AND SHORE BIRDS. 



BLACK-THROATED LOON {Gaina arcUcu). 



Male. 



Length. — -About 27 inches. 



Adult in Summer. — This bird bears a general resemblance to the common 

 Loon, but is smaller; the upper part of the head and the back of the 

 neck are bluish gray, gradually fading into black on the throat and 

 fore neck; the white streaks on the sides of its neck form a lengthwise 

 patch, and the white spots on its upper parts are more confined to 

 restricted areas. 



Adult in Winter, and Young. — Closely resemble the common Loon, but 

 the Black-throated Loon has a much wider edging of bluish gray on 

 the feathers of its upper parts, which gives it a peculiar "reticulated 

 or scaly appearance." 



Range. — Northern part of northern hemisphere. Breeds from Kotzebue 

 Sound, Alaska, west along northern coast of Siberia, on islands north 

 of Europe, and from Cumberland Sound south to Ungava; winters in 

 the southern Canadian Provinces; casually south to Colorado, Ne- 

 braska, Iowa, northern Ohio and Long Island, N. Y. 



History. 



Young of the Black-throated Loon have been variously 

 recorded as occurring in Massachusetts, but none of these 

 records is considered authentic. It is introduced in this 

 volume merely because it has been taken on Long Island, 

 N. Y. The only specimen from that region now known to 

 exist was killed by Mr. Gus Merritt of City Island, Long 

 Island, on April 29, 1893, between Sand's Point Light and 

 Execution Light. It is recorded by Dutcher in The Auk, 

 1893, p. 265. 



