LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN DIVING BIRDS. 73 
interior it is different. Though the summer is short, the sun is high 
in the heavens and the days are long; the abundant moisture in the 
air stimulates the growth of vegetation; the snow disappears rapidly 
and the verdure of spring follows quickly in the wake of retreating 
winter. Within a few feet of a vanishing snowbank I have seen 
the dwarfed willows, recently uncovered, already budded and burst- 
ing into leaf and a few yards farther away fully leaved out or even 
blossoming. Back from the rocky coast only a short distance the 
rolling hills are softly carpeted with deep mosses, covered with 
fresh verdure and dotted with blooming wild flowers in great va- 
riety and profusion. Here among the thousands of small lakes and 
ponds in the sheltered hollows, fed with the water from melting 
snow and studded with little islands, the red-throated loons find a 
congenial summer home and hither they come as soon as the fetters 
of winter are unlocked. We saw them everywhere along both the 
south and north coasts almost daily, flying inland to the lakes or 
even about the little ponds on the islands. 
Courtship—aAudubon’s (1840) graphic pen thus describes their 
courtship : 
High over these waters, the produce of the melted snows, the red-throated 
diver is seen gamboling by the side of his mate. The males emit their love 
notes, and, with necks gracefully curved downward, speed by the females, 
saluting them with mellow tones as they pass. In broad circles they wheel 
their giddy flight, and now, with fantastic glidings and curves, they dive to- 
ward the spot of their choice. Alighted on the water, how gracefully they swim, 
how sportively they beat it with their strong pinions, how quickly they plunge 
and rise again, and how joyously do they manifest to each other the depth and 
intensity of their affection. Now with erected neck and body deeply immersed 
they swim side by side. Reynard they perceive cunningly advancing at a dis- 
tance; but they are too vigilant for him, and down like a flash they go, nor 
rise again until far beyond his reach. Methinks I see them curiously con- 
ecealed among the rank weeds under the bank of their own islet, their bills 
alone raised above the water, and there will they remain for an hour, rather 
than show themselves to their insidious enemy, who, disappointed, leaves them 
to pursue their avocations, 
Many of the birds are paired before they start on their northward 
migration, as they are often seen migrating in pairs, traveling high 
in the air, their long necks pointing northward and their white 
breasts glistening in the sunlight. Perhaps they are mated for life, 
as the common loon is supposed to be. They often arrive on their 
breeding grounds while the lakes are still frozen, when they fre- 
quent the mouths of rivers or'the open sea until the melting snows 
produce the first pools of water in the interior and their summer 
homes become habitable. After that they return to the sea only 
to feed. 
Throughout northern Alaska the red-throated loon is the most 
abundant and most widely distributed species, a characteristic fea- 
