BIRDS FOUND NEAR SHORE OR IN BAYS 29 



they seem to be standing on their heads and paddling 

 their feet in the air. They soon become expert swim- 

 mers and divers. Yet under the water as on it, lurk 

 the Loon's enemies. The large pickerel are fond of 



catching him by the feet, and great 

 wait for a delicious piece of Loon i 

 meat. If he floats serenely on the 

 surface, hawks and gulls are ever 

 ready to swoop down upon ^ 

 him. Fortunate it is for the 

 poor mother that she has 

 but two to guard. 



The peculiar cry of the 

 Loon has been 

 well described 

 by Mr. J. H. 



mud-turtles 



7. Loon. 

 SSH^L. " The young loons are taken into the water.'' 7 



Langille : " Beginning on the fifth note of the scale, 

 the voice slides through the eighth to the third of 

 the scale above in loud, clear, sonorous tones, which 

 on a dismal evening before a thunderstorm — the light- 

 ning already playing along the inky sky — are anything 

 but musical. He has also another rather soft and pleas- 

 ing utterance, sounding like who-who-who-who, the syl- 

 lables being so rapidly pronounced as to sound almost 

 like a shake of the voice — a sort of weird laughter. 



