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Jfuktaeem 

 Voice:. 



mother loon felt safe in leaving the open 

 shore, where she generally nests, and placing 

 her eggs on a bog at the head of a narrow 

 bay. I found them there a day or two after 

 my arrival. 



I used to go at all hours of the day, hoping 

 the mother would get used to me and my 

 canoe, so that I could watch her later, teach- 

 ing her little ones ; but her wildness was 

 unconquerable. Whenever I came in sight 

 of the nest-bog, with only the loon's neck 

 and head visible, standing up straight and 

 still in the grass, I would see her slip from 

 the nest, steal away through the green cover 

 to a deep place, and glide under water with- 

 out leaving a ripple. Then, looking sharp 

 over the gunwale into the clear water, I 

 would get a glimpse of her — just a gray 

 streak with a string of silver bubbles — pass- 

 ing deep and swift under my canoe. So she 

 went through the opening, and appeared far 

 out in the lake, where she would swim back 

 and forth, as if fishing, until I went away. 

 As I never disturbed her nest, and always 

 paddled away soon, she thought that she had 



