104 



THE OOLOGIST. 



most painful efforts on a rough dry surface. 

 A bog, old muskrat's house, (Fiber zibeth- 

 icus), or one of those peculiar formations in 

 some lakes, found rising from the bottom 

 which it is difficult to account for, but 

 of very old vegetable matter, form the 

 base of the loons nest. On this foundation 

 is heaped more or less vegetable material, 

 of dead acquatic plants principally, the 

 bulk of the matter being soft and pliable, 

 and of the nature of substances usually 

 found at the edges of lakes. Elevations 

 seem to be unnecessary, to the loo n's" ideas 

 of housekeeping, and they select, contrary 

 to advice given in the good book, the very 

 lowest place, actually above the surface 

 of the water, to be found. The rains may 

 come and the winds blow and yet the 

 loon cares not, even if the eggs are par- 

 tially submerged. She si's with the great- 

 est patience, waiting the day when she 

 shall be rewarded for the labor which 

 instinct dictates. I cannot assert from 

 positive proof that the eggs hatch after 

 being partially submerged, as my cupidity 

 never has allowed me to leave the nest un- 

 touched, as an experiment, the firjds ever 

 remaining good ones and not to be over- 

 looked by an avaricious oologist. It may 

 be asserted from observation, however, 

 that young, but a few days old have been 

 seen in the vicinity of deluged nests, 

 lately occupied. 



The nests are oblong in shape, being all 

 of twenty inches long and twelve to four- 

 teen wide. The eggs are placed about 

 one-third of the distance from the rear or 

 hind part of the nest. To be more explicit, 

 the old bird invariably sits in a certain 

 position, always with the head toward the 

 deep water, and the eggs are situated 

 well back from the middle of the parents 

 body. At the slightest evidence of danger 

 the bird pitches forward into the water, 

 with greater celerity than would be expect- 

 ed, and reappears from fifteen to twenty-five 

 rods away. 



The eggs, invariably two in number, 

 quite two-thirds the size of a goose egg, 

 olive-brown in color, and marked more or 

 less thickly with a darker shade, are deposit- 



ed from May twelfth to the thirtieth. 

 There is an interval of two days between 

 the depositing of the two eggs. The young 

 on their appearance take immediately to 

 the water, swimming and diving as if to 

 the manner born, and quickly learn to 

 conceal themselves from observing eyes. 

 It is very interesting to observe the move- 

 ments of a family soon after the young 

 appear. It has been my good fortune to 

 see a young ona sitting on the broad back 

 of one of its parents and borne along by 

 the rapid swimming of its protector. 

 When the old bird thinks that danger is 

 past and that the young may with safety 

 again swim about, the body is quickly low- 

 ered in the water leaving the offspring 

 swimming about on the surface. The 

 young also, it sppears to me, hang to the 

 old one's tail or other feathers when it 

 dives, as I have repeatedly observed them 

 when just behind or en the side of the 

 parent when it disappeared, and they 

 would reappear at quite a distance in the 

 same relative position. From this it is 

 fair to judge that the young catch hold of 

 the feathers of their parents to facilitate 

 removal from places of danger. 



The eggs which are great and curious ad- 

 ditions to a cabinet, vary in aize from 3.32 

 to 3.87 in length, and from 2.18 to 2.37 

 in-smallest diameter, and often differ ex- 

 ceedingly in size in the same set. In thir- 

 teen nests that I have had the pleasure of 

 finding, only one pair of eggs were of a 

 light shade, or almost a dirty greenish 

 white, the general color being 

 a heavy olivaceous brown 



potted and splashed with markings of a 

 darker shade. The eggs in a few cases are 

 of the regulation ovoid shape, and about 

 equally often are found of the elliptical 

 form, so nearly so that the ends would re- 

 main indistinguishable were it not for the 

 markings which in a majority of instances 

 are rather thicker at the larger end. The 

 term, narrowly oval, would perhaps, best 

 describe the usual shape. 



In conclusion the peculiar notes of this 

 bird should be described. Any one who 

 has heard the effort will remember the sound. 



