I20 



Tfuktaeem 



me/T/ghf 



Voices. 



'^ifi 





before. There would be an interval of per- 

 fect silence, broken suddenly by wild yelling; 

 then the ordinary loon talk for a few minutes, 

 and another silence, broken by a shriller out- 

 /^G cry. That meant that something unusual 

 was going on ; so L left the trout, to find out 

 about it. 



When I pushed my canoe through the 

 fringe of water grass on the point nearest 

 the loons, they were scattered in a long line, 

 twelve or fifteen of them, extending from 

 the head of the bay to a point nearly oppo- 

 site me. At the other end of the line two 

 loons were swimming about, doing something 

 which I could not make out. Suddenly the 

 loon talk ceased. There may have been a 

 signal given, which I did not hear. Any- 

 way, the two loons faced about at the same 

 moment and came tearing down the line, 

 using wings and feet to help in the race. 

 The upper loons swung in behind them as 

 they passed, so as to watch the finish better; 

 but not a sound was heard till they passed 

 my end of the line in a close, hard race, 

 one scarcely a yard ahead of the other; 



