The Loon or Crested Grebe. 257 



On the larger sheets of water you are almost sure to 

 see some of the more noted divers — beautiful birds and 

 well worth watching. You are lucky if you see the loon, 

 which is very shy and very expert. John Burroughs, 

 the well-known American naturalist, says^- 



" Its wings are more than wings in the water. It 

 plunges into the denser air, and flies with incredible 

 speed. Its head and beak form a sharp point to its 

 tapering neck. Its wings are far in front, and its legs 

 equally far in the rear, and its course through the 

 crystal depths is like the speed of an arrow. In the 

 northern lakes it has been taken forty feet under water 

 upon hooks baited for the large lake trout. I had 

 never seen one till last fall, when one appeared on the 

 river in front of my house. I knew instantly it was 

 the loon. Who could not tell a loon a half-mile or 

 more away, though he had never seen one before ? 

 The river was like glass, and every movement of the 

 bird as it sported about broke the surface into ripples, 

 that revealed it far and wide. Presently a boat shot 

 out from shore, and went ripping up the surface toward 

 the loon. The creature at once seemed to divine the 

 intentions of the boatman, and sided off obliquely,, 

 keeping a sharp look-out as if to make sure it was 

 pursued. A steamer came down and passed between 

 them ; and when the way was again clear, the loon was 

 still swimming on the surface. Presently it disappeared 

 under the water, and the boatman pulled sharp and 

 hard. In a few moments the bird reappeared some 

 rods further on, as if to make an observation. Seeing 

 it was being pursued, and no mistake, it dived quickly, 

 and when it came up again had gone many times as 

 far as the boat had in the same space of time. Then 

 it dived again, and distanced its pursuer so easily that 



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