Diving Birds 



set far back near the rudimentary tail that serves as a prop to help 

 support the top-heavy, awkward body. 



Holboell's Grebe 



Horned Grebe 



Pied-billed Grebe or Dabchick 



Loons 



(Family UrinatoridceJ 



Loons, while as famous divers and swimmers as the grebes, 

 are not quite so helpless on land, for they use both bill and wings 

 to assist them over the ground during the nesting season, almost 

 the only time they visit it. They dive literally like a flash, the shot 

 from a rifle reaching the spot sometimes a second after the loon has 

 disappeared into the depths of the lake, where it seems to sink like 

 a mass of lead. It can swim several fathoms under water; also, 

 just below the surface with only its nostrils exposed, and pro- 

 gressing by the help of the feet alone. The sexes are alike. 

 They are large, heavy birds, broad and flat of body, with dark 

 backs spotted with white, and light under parts. Owing to the 

 position of their legs at the back of their bodies, the loons stand in 

 an upright position when on land. The voice is extremely loud, 

 harsh, and penetrating. 



Common Loon 



Black-throated Loon 



Red-throated Loon 



Auks, Murres, Puffins 



(Family Alcidce) 



Unlike either the grebes or the loons, these diving birds are 

 strictly maritime, passing the greater part of their lives upon the 

 open sea and visiting the coast chiefly to nest. Enormous colonies 

 of them appropriate long stretches of rocky cliffs at the far north 

 at the breeding season, and return to the same spot generation 

 after generation. In spite of their short wings, which are mere 

 flippers, several species fly surprisingly well, although the great 

 auk owed its extinction chiefly to a lack of wing-power. Under 

 water the birds of this family do use their wings to assist in the 



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