Feb. 1887.] 



A^D OOLO(^lST 



21 



Ort. 2i) and 30, and Nov. T) ; wliilst a Shrike, 

 which we think, niorc of a T.oiiii'crhcad than a 

 White rump, was taken on Nov. "if!, alter det'y- 

 \n^ all our ettorts for three months. Shrikes 

 do not appear to be quite as scarce as last yi'ar, 

 I)ut they are very shy and exceediui^ly liard to 

 api)roach, though I never used to find any dif- 

 ticulty in that way in 18S3 and 1884, in l)otli ol 

 wliich years tliey were tolerably common. 



Loon Lake. 



BY CIIAS. S. WHITEHEAD, E.SQ. 



"Thousands o'Loous!" " Whar's tliousauds 

 o'LoousV" " Up at Loon Lake, Tim Briggs was 

 up tliare last week and sez the air is jist black 

 with em' an they're nestin' on the island so yer' 



can't see it for eggs." " Oil git out." "D d 



if 'taint sol'' Thus spake one after theotlier 

 of a circle of loiterers around the village store 

 in Spencer as they in succession endeavored to 

 spit into the broken door of the stove, and their 

 endeavors were crowned with tliat success that 

 arises from nightly practise. I, a loitei'cr in the 

 town, heard the tale — a tale that was current 

 througoutall Iowa and the next raorning,taking 

 a team of prairie-bi-ed horses and a genial com- 

 panion, and inquiring the route, we spun away 

 over the grassy trail that led to Okobojie, and 

 thence to Spirit liake, and thence north toward 

 the Minnesota State line and the lake renowned 

 over all Iowa as being the breeding place of 

 the Loons. 



We passed beautiful lake Okobojie, and the 

 Little Okobojie, and the oak bluff that divides it 

 from Spirit lake — tlien along the narrow sandy 

 beach, half submerged between Spirit lake and 



the lesser Spirit lakes on the west, and on \v(^ 

 sped in the dewy freshness of early morning. 

 A stoj) at Arnold's fishing house for l)reakfast 

 and then the road took the open prairie and at 

 noon we looked down on Loon lake, a sheet of 

 water two miles broad, partly surrounded by 

 woods, and containing one rough island covered 

 with low timber. 



"Friend, is this Loon lakeV" said 1 to a native 

 riding a bare-back horse. 



"Va'as" he replied i-eining in and swinging 

 himself half off the horse in order to face us. 



" Are there any Loons here nowV " Ya'as, 

 some show of em', not nigh as much as last year 

 they pester 'em so a shootin' at 'em." 



" Are tliere any nests here now?" 



"Ya'as, there's a grist of em in the trees on 

 the island yender." 



1 drove on, thinking of Loon's nests in trees 

 and a sliade of doubt crept into my mind. 



Another native told me where there was a 

 canoe hid in the bushes, and soon our horses 

 were liitched to a tree, and two happy in(|uisi- 

 itive souls might have been seen paddling a 

 leaky boat toward the island. 



Just then we caught sight of two cormorants 

 flying high in air going northward. Tliey saw 

 us and sliunning the boat flew to the upper end 

 of tlie lake. Another shade of doubt darken(!d 

 my mind. As we ivached tlie island we saw a 

 long line of cormorants sitting on the rocky 

 point like penguins, swimming off as we ap- 

 proached: finalh^ awaj' vanished the Loon leg- 

 end, as a cloud of roving cormorants arose from 

 the island, croaking their discontent at our 

 visit. 



We found the island covered with cormorant 

 nests, and the remains of nests, rudely con- 

 structed of small sticks, and laid on the crotch- 

 es of low spreading trees that covered most of 

 the island, some trees contained several nests, 

 and some nests were placed on the edge of the 

 cliff, and other projecting places. All the nests 

 were within easy reach of the hand and most 

 of them empty, the young being hatched and 

 gone to sea. 



We found some eggs of a light pale blue col- 

 or, and there seemed to be from two to four 

 eggs in a nest. The young in nests were two 

 in number and were all mouths and eyes, and 

 were being fed by their parents witli fish. 

 The fish of this lake could not maintain so large a 

 breeding, and Ave saw the parent birds high in 

 the air going and coming to neighboring lakes. 

 Some of the young, much lighter in color than 

 their metallic black coated mothers were being 

 convej^ed out into the open waters, and had al- 



