SOME BIRDS 



sibly seventy-five yards of the boat. The two 

 younger birds dived promptly, but the mother 

 remained longer on the surface, undoubtedly for 

 the purpose of attracting the shot to herself and 

 away from the young ones, and as a result she 

 was in another moment stretched dead upon the 

 water, a deliberate sacrifice for her young. Al- 

 though the loon eats many fish in a season, I still 

 do not permit it to be shot at from the island. 

 It is decreasing gradually but certainly in the 

 region, and it will probably not be long before 

 this bird disappears before the advancing ranks of 

 the summer visitor with a gun. The female 

 lays but two eggs, but sometimes raises more 

 than a single brood in a season. The nest is very 

 rude, scarcely more than a hollow in the moss, 

 and is close enough to the water for the bird 

 to slide into it with little effort, for she is but a 

 clumsy and helpless traveller on land. When 

 the young birds are a few days old, the mother 

 pushes them into the water and forces them 

 to swim. They will crawl upon her back, and 

 with them as passengers she will sail out into the 

 lake ; then, when she wishes to give them a swim- 

 ming lesson, she has but to dive, and they are 

 compelled to make their own way on the water. 



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