THE NATURAL HISTORY SURVEY. 2/ 



tending from the British Provinces southward to Brazil, the 

 Argentine Republic and Chili, and is also found in the West 

 Indies and Bermuda. It breeds nearly throughout its range. 



FAMILY GAVnXE: LOONS. 

 Genus GAVIA Forster, 1788. 



Gavia imber (Gunnerus). Loon. 



Colymbus imber GUNNEBUS, Trondh. Selsk. Skr., I, 1761, pi. iii. 

 Coli'mbus toquatus BBUNN., Orn. Bor., 1764, 41. 

 L'rinator imber STEJNEGEB, Orn. Bxpl. Kamtsch., 1885, 313. 

 Gavia imber ALLEN, Auk, XIV, July, 1897, 312. 

 Popular synonyms: GREAT NOBTHEBN DIVEB. WALLOON. GUINEA 

 DUCK. HELL DIVEB. 



This species is resident and not uncommon. It is the largest 

 and most active of our diving birds, and may be looked for at 

 all times of the year. Mr. Robert Ridgway says, in his Birds 

 of Illinois, that the Loon winters in the southern portion of the 

 state. At times, this bird is caught in the gill nets of the lake 

 fishermen. In diving, the Loon becomes entangled in the 

 meshes of the net and is killed. 



The Loon's range covers the northern part of the northern 

 hemisphere, and in North America it breeds from the northern 

 portion of the United States northward, and winters as far 

 south as the Gulf of Mexico and Lower California. 



It may be of interest to mention a set of eggs which I collected 

 at Deer Lake, three miles from Hickory, Illinois, in May, 1892. 

 The nest was on the end of a long piece of bog land which ex- 

 tended about seventy-five yards into the lake. The nest was a 

 circular mass of decayed rushes, scraped together so as to pre- 

 vent the eggs from rolling into the water. 



Gavia lumme (Gunnerus). Red-throated Loon. 



Colymbus Inmme GUNNERUS, Trondh. Selsk. Skr., I. 1761, pi. ii, fig. 2. 

 Colymbus septentrionalis LINNAEUS, S. N., ed. 10, I, 1766, 220 (adult). 

 Urinator lumme STEJNEGEB, Pr. U. S. National Museum, V, 1882, 43. 

 Popular synonym: RED-THBOATED DIVEB. 



The Red-throated Loon seemingly can be admitted to the 

 bird fauna of the Chicago Area only as a rare winter visitant. 

 The only records that I can find of the taking of this species 

 within our limits are those of three specimens, the dead bodies 

 of which were found on the lake shore at Evanston, February 15, 

 1870. These specimens are now in the museum of the North- 



