OF THE UNITED STATES 173 



This appears to be especially the case before a storm, and old 

 sailors on our coast, who are very familiar with it, claim that 

 they know when a tempest is approaching by observing the rest- 

 lessness of the loons, and the vigor with which they utter their 

 notes at such times. It is said that this shrill scream of the loon 

 can be heard at a distance of a mile or more from the vessel, a 

 statement we can very easily believe. Years ago, or in 1868, 

 when the present writer was collecting water fowl on the lakes of 

 Wisconsin, he distinctly heard the cry of the Great Northern 

 diver at even a longer distance than that, for when the air was 

 clear and motionless, its sound was carried to the ear nearly 

 across La Belle Lake, at a point where it was over two miles 

 wide. 



In a brief chapter, such as the one we are now writing must 

 necessarily be, it is quite out of the question to attempt to offer 

 descriptions of the beautiful plumages of all our species of di- 

 vers; for those the reader must be content to refer to any one of 

 our now many excellent standard works upon descriptive orni- 

 thology. Nevertheless with respect to this part of our subject, 

 I would fain invite attention to the exquisite plumage of the 

 male of the Black-throated diver. There is a magnificent mount- 

 ed specimen of this bird, with others of the same family, in one 

 of the cases at the Smithsonian Institution at Washington. In 

 conversation with Mr. Eidgway the other day the curator of 

 that department he informed me that that species was now very 

 rare in our avifauna, and the Institution possessed but a few 

 mounted examples, with no skins. He kindly placed at my dis- 

 posal the individual in the case, and I made an accurate, life-size 

 sketch of its head, the reproduction of which, one-third reduced, 

 is shown in Fig. 46 of this chapter. 



The bill of this species is black, while the irides of the eyes are 

 a, bright red. Behind, the neck is a clear gray which gradually 

 deepens as we pass to the top of the head and about the eyes. 

 In front, the neck is black with purplish reflections, and this 

 region is divided by a transverse bar of black and white feathers. 

 Below this, on the sides of the neck, somewhat similar black and 

 white longitudinal bars form a distinct area. Above, the bird 

 is black with greenish reflections, shading to brown behind. 

 Longitudinal areas of white spots embellish this region two 

 upon each side. The lower parts are white. Young divers of this 

 species are different, but the females resemble the males though 



