liaXATOUID.K - Till-; LOON'S — IJUIXATOll. 



449 



torovisr 

 liis she 

 iize. 

 (H'ssity 

 DuviiiK 

 mjihout 

 istiuitly 

 nliiittly 

 lan. It 

 tl'S tluit 

 ii(!h was 

 ■wn the 

 )oarance 

 e wound 



equently 



alarmed, 

 itiT. Its 

 [I, it flios 

 •oves and 



as lu'inj; 

 coast, Itut 

 ■st on till' 



wo I'gK'S ; 

 ion of ono 



t is sonuv 

 \gli l)lack, 

 swiftness 

 IOC vavi!ly 

 y, tliou|;;li 

 Riehard- 

 of a wolf, 

 several in 



to arrive 



the lakes 



l-ge Hocks ; 



season to 

 I of its legs 



its home 

 atest ease, 

 knee under 

 lice will be 

 Iructed and 

 I sometimes 



the edge, 



moss, and 



aqiiatie jilants, and though (|uit(> hulky, is st-ldoni raised ni(in> tliaii six inelies alH)ve 

 the water. Sonn'times this flevatioii is l)arfly hu'ge rinmgli to rdiitiiiii the nest. 

 Tlicre is no atti'ni)it at cnncfalmoMt; on tlic coiitiary, the most opi-n situation is 

 chosen, wliere the view is unol)strii('ted in all directions. If a hoat approaches, the 

 liiid glides silently into the water, rising only at a great distance, and unless closely 

 watched, is rarely seen. Two eggs is the usual nunihcr, measuring .'{.40 hy L'..'>.'{ 

 iuiihcs, the gi'ouud-color yellowish hrown, covered more or less thickly over the whole 

 egg with spots, and sometimes large blotches, of black. The shell is very hard ; ami 

 when two are struck together they rattle like stones. They are never covered in the 

 ai)sence of the bird. The young leave the nest as soon as hatched, are expert divers, 

 and ditticult to catch, even when very small. The old bird is often very brave in 

 their defence; on one occasion api)roacliing close to the boat and dashing water 

 over Mr. (Joss with her Mings. 



Audubcni states that, in Laltrailor, in a number of instances he found the nest id' 

 tills bird several yards from the water ; and where this was the ease, a well-beaten 

 path was found leading from it to the water. Tlie nests were tifteen inches in diam- 

 eter and seven inches high. lie claims to have more fre(juently found three than 

 two eggs — a statement that leads lue to think he may have sometinus mistaken the 

 nest of till! neptciiti'iondlis (=zliimmi;) for that of this bird. Certainly I have never 

 seen, nor have I ever heard of, more than two eicgs in a nest of this .species. Ife 

 gives y.7r> inches by 2.'J~» as the average size of its egg; ground-color a dull greenish 

 ochrey, marked with sjiots of dark umber. The young, when just from the shell, is 

 covered with a stitt' black down. 



In regard to the number of eggs in a nest, two is the unvarying number, so far as 

 I know. Xuttall mentions having reeeivetl three from a nest in Sebago I'ond; but 

 as he did not take them himself, it is (piite possible he inferred rather than knew 

 that they were all taken from one nest. The only apparent exception to there 

 being but two eggs to a nest is one mentioned by Mr. Thomas 1?. Stearns, who, 

 ill the summers of 1877 and 1878, carefully observed the habits of this species among 

 the lakes of Northern Elaine. Ho collected the eggs cd" twelve pairs; in each 

 instance the numiier in the nest was two ; but in one casi; a third egg was in the water, 

 and had evidently ndled out of the nest. This was fresh, and jiossibly its loss was 

 supplemented, and not that there are ever at any one time three eggs in a nest. 

 Mr. Stearns informs me that he found great ditfercncos in the structures used as 

 nests, some being quite elaborate, others a mere scooped-out cavity in the Dog or 

 sandbank. In hardly any two eases was the behavior of the parent bird the same. 

 In one instance she remained on her nest until the boat hail approached within 

 fifty feet, only at tirst lowering and trying to hide her head. In other cases tin* 

 jtarents were very shy, and did not permit themselves to be seen. In another instance 

 the parents kept closely about his boat, uttering mournful cries, and only removed 

 to a .safer distance after having been several times shot at. Mr. Stearns found in 

 some ea' "S ono v^g much iijcubated, the other ipiite fresh. One nest was the mere 

 surface of a muddy bog that was floating on the surface of the water, but only jiar- 

 tially detatehed. These eggs were visible some thirty feet distant, and the hollow 

 in which they lay was so damp that their under side was wet. Another nest had two 

 distinct paths leading in different directions, thus furnishing two avenues of escape, 

 ill one instance the water was too shoal for the bird to dive, and she was captured 

 iilive just after iier leaving her nest. 



Tiie Loon moves with dittioulty on the land ; imt locomotion is not impossil)le, and 

 when stimulated by fear it can flounder over the ground with consideralde rapidity. 



vol.. II. — ')7 



