URINATOUID.E — THE LOONS — UlUNATOR. 447 



with white. Bill bhick, ]);iler at the tip ; iris carmine ; legs and feet " livid grayish blue, their 

 inner sides tinged with pale yellowish flesh-color ; claws black, lighter at the base ; weVjs brownish 

 black, lighter in the middle" (Audubon). Young: Upper parts dusky, the scapulars, interscap- 

 ulars, and upper tail-coverts bordered terminally with plumbeous-g:ay ; lower parts, including 

 malar regicju, chin, throat, and Ibreneck, white, the sides and flanks dusky brown, squamated with 

 grayish. " Bill pale yellowish green, the ridge and tip of uppper mandible dusky ; iris brown ; 

 leet dusky externally, pale yellowish ilesh-color internally, webs dusky, but yellow in the middle" 

 (Audubon). Downy young: Uniform dark fuliginous, lighter and more slaty on the throat, fore- 

 neck, jugulum, and sides, the entire abdomen velvety yellowish white, shaded with pale ash-gray 

 exteriorly. The down short and very dense, very similar to the fur of an otter or other fur-bearing 

 mammal. 



Total length, 32.00 to 36.00 inches ; extent, 52.00 to 57.50 ; wing, 13.05-15.25 (average, 14.06) ; 

 culmen, 2.75-3.50 (3.07) ; depth of bill through base, .90-1.05 (.96) ; tarsus, 2.75-3.85 (3.35) ; 

 outer toe, 3.85-4.65 (4.22). (Thirteen adults.) 



Two examples from Iceland are identical with American specimens. 



The Loon, or Great Northern Diver, of North America has a high northern distri- 

 bution during its season of reproduction. It is found from the Atlantic to the Pacific, 

 and breeds from about latitude 42° to within the Arctic Circle. During the winter 

 it is found on both the western and eastern sea-coasts, from lat. 48° N. to San Diego 

 on the Pacific, and from Maine to Florida and Texas on the Atlantic and Gulf coast. 

 In the interior it is found as far north as it can procure food and find open water. 



According to Professor Reinhardt it is a resident species in Greenland. It is 

 common throughout the interior of the Fur Countries in the summer season, frequent- 

 ing lakes and ponds. Mr. Ross procured specimens on the Mackenzie, and j\Ir. ]\lur- 

 ray received them from the Hudson's Bay Region. Mr. Bannister mentions this bird 

 as common on the Island of St. Michael's, and Mr. Dall as not uncommon on the 

 Yukon, particularly near the sea. It was obtained by Mr. Kennicott at Fort Yukon. 

 It breeds at Kyska, and is abundant at Amchitka in July ; but was not seen else- 

 where among the Aleutian Islands, except at the Shumagins, where it is a summer 

 resident, according to Mr. Dall. 



Dr. Cooper states that it is abundant during the Avinter in San Diego Bay, and 

 along tlie whole coast up to the forty-eighth degree of north latitude, and in all open 

 fresh waters. He saw it about San Diego as late as May, where the birds were 

 in pairs. They are found in the summer about every lake and pond in the Cascade 

 Mountains and the Sierra Nevada. They build on the borders of these lakes, and, 

 north of the Columbia, down nearly to the level of the sea. As soon as the young 

 have been hatched, the males desert their mates, and repair to the salt water. Soon 

 after this they moult, and become so bare of feathers as to be unable to rise from the 

 water. 



A specimen was taken by Dr. Holden in the Colorado River ; and a single indi- 

 vidual was secured by Mr. Dresser in Southwestern Texas. 



Mr. N. B. Moore states that in Florida, in winter — usually in December — he 

 has occasionally seen as many as eight of this species, in immature plumage, swim- 

 ming in company. It does not always swallow its fish when under the water. He 

 has frequently seen the Loon bring the fish to the surface, if large, and there attempt 

 to swallow it. He has known this bird to be taken in a common cast-net thrown by 

 the hand. 



Mr. George A. Boardman informs me that the Loon breeds abundantly in the 

 ponds of the neighborhood of Calais ; and he has ascertained that the number of its 

 young is invariably two. These, as soon as they are hatched, are taken by the old 



