URINATORIDyE — THE LOONS — URINATOR. 440 



aquatic plants, and though quite bulky, is seldom raised more than six inches above 

 the water. Sometimes this elevation is barely large enough to contain the nest. 

 There is no attempt at concealment ; on the contrary, the most open situation is 

 chosen, where the view is unobstructed in all directions. If a boat approaches, the 

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

 watched, is rarely seen. Two eggs is the usual number, measuring 3.40 by 2.33 

 inches, the ground-color yellowish brown, covered more or less thickly over the whole 

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

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

 absence of the bird. The young leave the nest as soon as hatched, are expert divers, 

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

 their defence ; on one occasion approaching close to the boat and dashing water 

 over Mr. Goss with her wings. 



Audubon states that, in Labrador, in a number of instances he found the nest of 

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

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

 eter and seven inches high. He claims to have more frequently found three than 

 two eggs — a statement that leads me to think he may have sometimes mistaken the 

 nest of the sej^tentrionalis (=: lamme) for that of tliis bird. Certainly I have never 

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

 gives 3.75 inches by 2.25 as the average size of its egg ; ground-color a dull greenish 

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

 covered with a stiff black down. 



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

 I know. Nuttall mentions having received three from a nest in Sebago Pond ; but 

 as he did not take them himself, it is quite 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 B. Stearns, Avho, 

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

 the lakes of Northern Maine. He collected the eggs of twelve pairs; in each 

 instance the number in the nest was two ; but in one case a third egg was in the water, 

 and had evidently rolled out of the nest. This was fresh, and possibly 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 differences in the structures used as 

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

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

 In one instance she remained on her nest until the boat had approached v/ithin 

 fifty feet, only at first lowering and trying to hide her head. In other cases the 

 parents 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. ISIr. Stearns found in 

 some cases one egg much incubated, the other quite fresh. One nest was the mere 

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

 tially detatched. 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. 

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

 alive just after her leaving her nest. 



The Loon moves with difficulty on the land ; but locomotion is not impossible, and 

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



VOL. II. — 57 



