The Zoologist — October, 1869. 1853 



the side of a lake, I have never known the nest more than three feet 

 from the water, and very rarely so much : the birds are very awkward 

 walkers, although wonderfully strong on wing, and breed on many of 

 the lakes in the interior of Newfoundland ; not only on the plains, but 

 on the high table-land, upwards of two thousand feet above the sea. 

 Loos are often taken in the salmon-nets of the settlers : I got a 

 very fine adult male taken in this way on July 10th, 1867. The 

 settlers easily " tole " these birds within gunshot by secreting them- 

 selves and waving a cap or red handkerchief. So fascinating is the 

 red handkerchief that I have seen the same bird " toled " up within 

 easy range, and shot at two or three times before it was killed : they 

 are such expert divers, that they are far more easily toled than shot 

 on the water. Young birds are sometimes so fat in the fall of the 

 year, that I have seen the fat lining the inside of the skin average half 

 an inch in thickness ! The settlers affirm that there are two species 

 of Loos ; the great northern, which they call the " spotted loo," and 

 another with the throat white, which is termed the " whitethroated 

 loo," and which is distinguished from the young of C. torquaius in its 

 first years plumage by having the feathers on the back spotted with 

 white instead of " margined with greyish white." Certain it is that 

 plenty of such birds are seen every summer, i. e., June and July ; and, 

 although the settlers say that they have found nests of the " white- 

 throated" species (.^), I am under the impression that they will prove 

 to be non-breeding birds of C. torquaius in the second year's plumage 

 —a state of which I have seen no description. The fact, however, of 

 these birds being found at midsummer white-throated and with the 

 back spotted is worthy of note, because the great northern diver has 

 scarcely commenced laying at that season.* 



Redthroated Diver, C. septentrionalis, Linn.— A common summer 

 migrant, breeding generally in some of the smaller ponds in the 

 marshes; placing its nest on a tussock of grass surrounded by water. 



Podiceps ? A species of grebe was caught in the marshes 



near Cow Head by one of the settlers, and was considered a great 

 curiosity by all who saw it. This occurred a year or two before I got 

 there, and unfortunately no part of the bird was preserved : it was 

 probably a straggler from the Labrador shore, as none have been taken 

 since, neither could I learn of any previous capture. 



* Adult specimens of C. torquaius had the bill black tipped with horn ; while 

 immature birds had the bill horn-coloured, with ridge of upper mandible black. 



