286 
NEW-YORK FAUNA-BIRDS. 
THE RED-THROATED LOON. 
COLYMBUS SEPTENTRIONALIS. 
PLATE CXXXVII. FIG. 300. 
(STATE COLLECTION.) 
Golymbus septentrionalis. Linnaeus, p. 220. Pennant, Arct. Zool. Vol. 2, p. 520. Bonaparte, Ann. Lyc. N. Y. 
Vol. 2, p. 421. Richardson, F. B. A. Vol. 2, p. 476.. Nottall, Man. Orn. Vol. 
2, p. 519. Audubon, B. of A. Vol. 7, p. 299, pi. 478. Giraud, Birds of Long 
island, p. 380. 
Characteristics. Bill 2‘0-3'0 long, slightly upturned: lower mandible channelled. Adult: 
Head and neck glossy ash-color ; front of the neck deep reddish brown ; 
hind part of the head and the neck streaked with black and white. 
Young, ashy brown, with minute marginal spots on the dorsal plumage. 
Tail of twenty feathers. Length, 25 - 0. 
Description. Bill black, slender, slightly recurved, tapering to a point. Tail very short, 
rounded, of twenty rounded feathers. Tarsus compressed, 2-8 long, shorter than the outer 
toe. Hind toe with a small lobe, and connected to the inner one by a web. 
Color. Adult : Summit of the head, chin and sides of the neck of a deep ash ; centre of 
the neck with a stripe of deep orange or reddish brown, widening beneath ; occiput, back of 
the neck, upper part of the back and sides of the breast black, streaked with white, the white 
streaks becoming fewer beneath ; back and wing-coverts brownish black, with distant minute 
white spots ; wings, rump and tail black, the rump slightly glossed with green ; beneath 
white ; lower tail-coverts greyish, tipped with white. Young : Head and back of the neck 
ash, finely streaked with white; brownish black above, each feather having an oblong spot 
on either margin near the tip ; neck beneath white, varied with light brown ; white beneath ; 
an obsolete dusky band across the vent; rump and upper tail-feathers bimaculate with white. 
Length, 23'5-26'0. 
The Red-throated Loon, or Scape-grace, as it is occasionally called, is comparatively a 
rare bird in this State, and the young are most usually found here. It breeds from New¬ 
foundland northwardly. Eggs olive-brown, spotted with darker brown. It ranges on this 
coast from 36° to 74° north latitude, and is common to Europe and America. 
(EXTRA-LIMITAL.) 
C. arcticus, Linn. (Aud. B. of A. Vol. 7, pi. 477.) Bill 3*5; the upper mandible slightly curved; 
the lower not wider in the middle than at the base, and without groove beneath. Tail with 18 
feathers. Adult: occiput and nape ash brown; front of the neck violet-black. Young, ashy 
brown above: occasionally a blackish band on the sides of the neck. Length, 29‘0. Northern 
Regions. Columbia river. 
