Hukweem the Night Voice. 137 



noticed for the first time the entrance to a great bay, 

 and paddled up cautiously behind a point, .so as to 

 surprise the loons at their game. For they play games, 

 just as crows do. But when I looked in, there was 

 only one bird, Hukweem the Inquisitive. I knew him 

 instantly by his great size and beautiful markings. He 

 would give a single sharp call, and listen intently, with 

 head up, swinging from side to side as the separate 

 echoes came ringing back from the hills. Then he 

 would try his cackling laugh, Ooo-dh-ha-ha-ha-hoo, 000- 

 dh-ha-ha-ha-koo, and as the echoes began to ring about 

 his head he would get excited, sitting up on his tail, 

 flapping his wings, cackling and shrieking with glee at 

 his own performance. Every wild syllable was flung 

 ■ back like a shot from the surrounding hills, till the air 

 seemed full of loons, all mingling their crazy cachinna- 

 tions with the din of the chief performer. The uproar 

 made one shiver. Then Hukweem would cease sud- 

 denly, listening intently to the warring echoes. Before 

 the confusion was half ended he would get excited 

 again, and swim about in small circles, spreading wings 

 and tail, showing his fine feathers as if every echo 

 were an admiring loon, pleased as a peacock with him- 

 self at having made such a noise in a quiet world. 



There was another loon, a mother bird, on a different 

 lake, whose two eggs had been carried off by a thieving 



