GREAT NORTHERN DIVER. 649 
the Southern States.* In the months of March and April, it is again 
seen, and, after lingering a while, it leaves us for the purpose of breed- 
ing. The Loons are found along the coast, as well as in the interior ; 
but in the summer, they retire to the fresh-water lakes and ponds. We 
have never heard that they breed in Pennsylvania, but it is said they 
do in Missibisci Pond, near Boston, Massachusetts. The female lays 
two large, brownish eggs. They are commonly seen in pairs; and 
procure their food, which is fish, in the deepest water of our rivers, 
diving after it, and continuing under for a ae of time. Being a 
wary bird, it is seldom they are killed, eluding their pursuers by their 
astonishing faculty of diving. They seem averse from flying, and are 
but seldom seen on the wing. They are never eaten. 
The Loon is restless before a storm; and an experienced master of 
a coasting-vesse] informed me that he always knew when a tempest 
was approaching by the cry of this bird, which is very shrill, and may 
be heard at the distance of a mile or more. 
gregarious, and choose the most precipitous cliffs on the sea, and deposit their eggs, 
without the least preparation, on the bare rock. The construction of the feet and 
tarse at once points out in the large birds their great facility of diving, and rapid 
progression under water ; the proportional expanse of web is much greater, and the 
form of it runs into that of Phalacracorax and Sula; the legs are placed very far 
back, and the muscles possess very great power ; the tarsus is flattened laterally, 
and thus presents a smal] surface of resistance ; and the whole plumage of the bird 
is close and rigid, presenting a smooth and almost solid resistance in passing 
through the water. ‘The adults require at least the first season to altain maturity. 
Dr. Richardson mentions the following method of shooting them during the winter : 
—“ They arrive in that season when the ice of the lakes continues entire, except, 
perhaps, a small basin of open water where a rivulet happens to flow in, or where 
the discharge of the lake takes place. When the birds are observed to alight in 
these places, the hunter runs to the margin of the ice; they instantly dive, but are 
obliged, after a time, to come to the surface to breathe, when he has an opportunity 
of shooting them. In this way, upwards of twenty were killed at Fort Enterprise, 
in the spring of 1821, in a piece pee only a few yards square.”’ 
The present species is the only one described in Wilson’s volumes as a native of 
America. Bonaparte mentions two others, which are also described in the North- 
ern Zoology, — the Black-throated Diver, (Colymbus arcticus,) common in Arctic 
America, but rare. and only found during winter in the Middle States ; and Colym- 
bus septentrionalis, Red-throated Diver. All are common also to Europe and 
Great Britain. 
The vast lakes and rivers of America, and her interminable swamps, would seem 
proper nurseries for another family, the Grebes; and their recluse, yet active 
aquatic manners, must either bave yet prevented the discovery of more species, or 
this form is comparatively wanting to that division of the world. Two species only 
are mentioned i. Vilson’s History, and Bonaparte adds other two. They are as 
follows, from that 2ntleman’s Synopsis: — 
Podiceps. 
1. P. cristatus, La ~.— Crested Grebo of Wilson’s List; rare in the Middle States, 
and only during v. ‘ter common in the interior nnd on the lakes. 
2. P. rubricollis, Lat, ,— Rare, and during winter only in the Middle States; very 
common in Arctic America. 
3. P. cornutus, LarH.— Common during winter, the young especially, in the Middle 
States. 
4, P. Carolinensis, LatH.— Little Grebe of Wilson’s List ; inhabits the whole conti- 
nent of America, not extending fur to the north, Common from Canada to Louis- 
iana, migrating in the Middle States. — Ep. 
* The Loon is said to winter in the Chesapeake Bay. 
55 
