THE BIRDS OF NEW JERSEY. 41 



Family GAVIIDJE. 



THE LOONS. 



Diving and swimming birds allied to the Grebes, with flat com- 

 pressed tarsuSj but with toes connected by webs, as in the ducks. 

 Wings relatively small and narrow, making it difficult for the bird to 

 get started in flight; tail present, but short; bill powerful, sharp- 

 pointed. We have but two species. 



a. Length, 28-36. LOON, p. 41 



aa. Length, 24-27. RED-THBOATED LOON, p. 42 



7 Gavia immer (Briinnich). 

 Loon. 



PLATE 3. 



Adults in spring. Length, 28-36. Wing, 13-15. Above, black, with pur- 

 plish gloss, speckled with square white spots ; head and neck, black ; fore neck, 

 with a nearly complete collar and short jugular band, composed of white 

 streaks ; below, silvery white. 



Adults and young in winter. Dull blackish above, unspotted, but edged with 

 gray ; throat and fore neck, white, like the rest of the under parts. 



Common transient along the coast and less frequent winter resident. 

 On Long Beach, Scott 1 states that they are most abundant during 

 April and early May, and October to November, and at Cape May 

 Mr. Hand tells me that they are always more plentiful in spring, 

 when they occur in flocks during late April and early May. In 

 autumn he finds them more scattered and less concentrated in their 

 migration, so that they seem less abundant. Probably the majority 

 of the flocks stay well off shore during the migrations, as Mr. Chap- 

 man 2 states that he observed a flock of fifty from a steamer while 

 passing north off the coast of Delaware, May 9th, 1897. Mr. Hand's 

 latest date for Cape May is May 9th. Mr. Fowler 3 states that they 

 occur frequently on the Delaware, between Philadelphia and Trenton, 



1 Bull. Nutt. Orn. Club, 1879, p. 228. 



2 Abst. Proc. Linn. Soc., N. Y., X., p. 2. 

 8 Cassinia, 1903, p. 45. 



