THE OOLOGIST 



41 



A Flight of Loons. 



While glancing over my note books 

 I came across the record of an inter- 

 esting flight of Loons. 



This flig'ht occurred here in late 

 April, 1901, and was the result of a se- 

 vere storm. This storm commenced 

 on the night of the 17th, in the shape 

 of a high south wind. All day of the 

 18th, this continued, becoming a gale 

 by night. During the afternoon of the 

 18th a number of flocks of ducks, 

 mostly Scaup and Bufflehead, appear- 

 ed. 



About dark a hard rain set in and 

 all that night it blew a gale and grad- 

 ually grew colder as the wind shifted. 

 By daylight on the 19th, the wind was 

 high Northwest and was driving the 

 sleet and snow in blinding sheets. 



From two to five Loons were in 

 every eddy and a bombardment soon 

 began. The Loon is a remarkable div- 

 er and for every one killed a good lot 

 of ammunition is usually burned up. 

 Altogether I know of thirteen being 

 shot in the close vicinity of Warren 

 on the 19th, and two or three each day 

 for several days afterwards. 



Most of those seen escaped by pass- 

 ing on down swimming and diving. 

 From the' severe nature of the storm 

 I expected a flight of waterfowl so I 

 braved the elements and reached my 

 old ducking grounds at daylight. The 

 wind, waves, sleet and snow were too 

 strong a combination for my punt 

 boat so I took a good skiff instead. 

 When I reached the river the weird 

 shrieks of the Loons sounded above 

 the storm. I soon saw a big old fellow 

 nearly one hundred yards off and sent 

 a load of BB's at him. A stray one hit 

 in the neck at the base of the skull. 

 It was a very long shot and of course 

 pretty much of an accident. Although 

 I saw more than thirty pass during 

 the day I got only two more. One 



tried to fly over as I lay in my boat 

 in ambush and I knocked him heels 

 over head. The third floated past too 

 near with just his head and neck 

 above water and was added to the bag. 

 All three were fine adults. The larg- 

 est was a handsome male and weighed 

 nine and a half pounds. Of the entire 

 fiight, no gray ones were reported. 



Flocks of Bonapartes and single 

 Herring gulls were common. A num- 

 ber of flocks of ducks were about and 

 I added fifteen fine males to my bag. 

 They included Black Duck, Bufflehead, 

 Lesser Scaup, Ruddy, Whistler. By 

 blazing away Into everything in sight 

 I could have taken a boat load that 

 day. As it was I had more than I 

 could carry of full plumaged Spring 

 males. One foot of snow fell during 

 the day, and toward night it was any- 

 thing but pleasant out. It continued 

 to storm for several days more and 

 Loons were about every day. 



This was the only real flight of 

 Loons I have seen here. The Loon is 

 a regular Spring migrant, but is very 

 rare in the Fall. Have never seen it 

 here earlier than March 31st. During 

 April and early May it is frequently 

 seen and I have noted it as late as 

 May 20th. 



Some seasons they are scarce and 

 others they are frequently seen. Be- 

 fore shooting was prohibited at town, 

 Loons frequently got in the river be- 

 tween the bridges and the gunners 

 would line up and start a great bom- 

 bardment until the Loon was killed 

 or escaped by diving past the lower 

 bridge. 



The Loon easily carries off all hon- 

 ors when it comes to diving. They 

 are hard to kill and will stand a worse 

 shooting up than any birds I ever 

 hunted. Once fired upon only the 

 head is shown above water, and they 

 seem to depend on diving rather than 

 flight to escape. 



