BIRDS. 113 



hand it is a quiet companion of the solitudes, while at a distance its 

 mellow hoy-ee-ujt comes to be pleasantly associated with the beauti- 

 ful lakes where it makes its home. 



Family GAVIID^: Loons. 



LooN : Gavia immer. — Few of the large conspicuous birds which 

 once dignified our frontier are left to delight the eye of the nature 

 lover. Trmiipeter swan, sandhill and whooping cranes, Hudsonian 

 curlew, and godwit alike have fallen prey to the thoughtless marks- 

 man, and even the great blue heron is now rarelj^ to be seen. But the 

 loon, though driven by the advance of the gunning tourist and the 

 motor boat to seek deeper and more remote solitudes, is still to be 

 found on the forest-encircled lakes of Glacier Park, which afford him 

 ideal refuges. 



While the name Loon Lake has been given locally to Eogers Lake 

 on Camas Creek, Mr. Gibb saj's he has seen dozens of young loons 

 in other parts of the park, and they apparently breed on the lakes 

 of both eastern and western boundaries, and from Sherburne Lake 

 below Many Glaciers to the Waterton Lakes on the Canadian line. 

 On the small lake.s along the North Fork of the Flathead — Bowman, 

 Quartz, and Logging — Mr. Gird says they have to leave in October, 

 as the water is generally frozen over by November ; but at the upper 

 end of Kintla Lake Mr. Bailey saw a returned migrant on AjDril 

 16, 1918. They can stay all winter on Lake McDonald, as both the 

 inlet and outlet remain open. On the Lower St. Mary, just outside 

 the park, during October and the first half of November, 18S7, Dr. 

 Grimiell saw several of the loons, and reported hearing them fre- 

 quently. 



In the nesting season one pair of the great, handsomely marked 

 black and white birds seems to populate a mountain lake, their loud 

 weird crj^ adding a rich flavor of wild life to its forested shores. 

 On two of the most secluded lakes that we visited, fleeting glimpses 

 were had of the noble birds. Glenn Lake, whose four miles of narrow 

 timbered lengih lead up a glacial amphitheater, offers peculiarly safe 

 harbor for the hunted creatures of forest and lake. Here, on leaving 

 (he trail to get sight of the lake, after forcing a passage through 

 the dense undergrowth and the down timber, at the edge of the 

 water a resting loon was almost stepped on, and up at the head of the 

 lake under the glacier a group of Canada geese was discovered. 

 Another lookout across the lake revsaled a dark reddish brown form 

 standing on a short strip of beach on the opposite shore, and the 

 glass excitedly raised showed the long stiltlike legs and dark color 

 of a vouno- moose. A congenial home, indeed, for the solitude-loving 



