282 



RECREA TION. 



and carefully. When up about 75 feet he 

 straddled a crotch in the tree and with a 

 whoop and a yell declared he saw a coon on 

 a limb over his head. 



Snyder then declared he knew all the 

 time he was up there, as his old dog Carl 

 never lied. Then the boy let down a ball 

 of heavy twine after first retaining pos- 

 session of one end. 



I slipped in two shells and Snyder tied 

 the gun on end of string securely and up 

 went the gun. The boy was quite shaky 

 by this time, partly owing to his height and 

 partly owing to his fear of the coon. 



However he got the gun, aimed at its 

 head and fired. Nothing dropped, but the 

 boy yelled down that the coon was moving. 

 Again the report was heard and again noth- 

 ing dropped. Down came the gun again, 

 for reloading, as the boy had taken no shells 

 up with him. 



All was commotion and excitement, 

 particularly so as we could now make out 

 the genuine bunch at the end of a limb in 

 the large tree. The dogs were keeping up 

 a constant barking and momentarily an- 

 ticipating a drop. 



The gun went up again and we saw the 

 boy quickly grasp it, as quickly take aim, 

 flash, bang. " He's coming down," 

 shouted the boy; and sure enough down 

 he came kerplunk, between Snyder and his 

 two dogs. Old Carl was the first to bound 

 on him and he fairly hugged him for joy. 

 There was no fight left in the coon, how- 

 ever, as its entire head was shot off, down 

 to one ear. 



The boy quickly descended and all gath- 

 ered around the much coveted prize. , Up 

 went three rousing cheers in honor of our 

 first coon. My friend P. producing his 

 pocket fish-scale, we found we had just 10^2 

 lbs. of coon, without the head. 



Snyder then declared that our coon was 

 a young one, that the others were not far 

 off, and away we went again. 



It was then just midnight and we found 

 ourselves about ^4 of a mile from where 

 Mr. S. resided. On his mentioning sweet 

 cider, all voted him the right sort and we 

 headed for his house. 



In a short time however the dogs again 

 opened up and soon became quite inter- 

 ested in their work. Snyder moved up 

 toward them and then began running. We 

 followed as fast as we could, considering 

 our tired condition, and before we could 

 get to him he sang out " all right, I've got 

 him." Then back he came with a fat pos- 

 sum which the dogs had cornered and 

 nearly killed. 



Mr. S. went on ahead and was barely in 

 the house, when Carl opened up again and 

 in a few minutes was at a stone wall directly 

 in front of the house. 



Snyder said it was another possum as he 

 heard him snarl, and he was permitted to 

 remain on his stone house. 



Now 1 o'clock and sandwiches with sweet 

 cider was in order. Leaving Mr. S. we 

 started homeward, on a 2 mile course, and 

 Mr. P. and I were soon lost in the deepest 

 and soundest slumbers. 



THE GREAT NORTHERN DIVER. 



J. A. MACKENZIE. 



Last April I secured a good specimen of 

 the great Northern diver, or loon, from 

 some boys who caught it in the village of 

 Springfield, Ontario. It was sitting on the 

 bank, at the edge of the water, into which 

 it dove upon being disturbed. At that 

 point the creek is only 2 or 3 yards wide, 

 and a foot or 2 in depth, with occasional 

 riffles and wider stretches. 



Whenever the loon showed its head 

 above the surface the boys pelted it with 

 sticks and stones, and thus kept it diving 

 and dodging for some time. At last one 

 of the youngsters hit upon a scheme, to 

 capture the bird alive. Placing some fence- 

 rails across a shallow place, the largest boy 

 lay down full length upon them and when 

 the bird was driven under by the other 

 boys, he caught it. 



In spite of a great deal of squalling, 

 flapping and pecking the prize was carried 

 home and safely housed. When brought 



to me the following morning it was still 

 lively, and ready to strike at everybody 

 and everything that came within its reach. 

 My old pointer soon found out that it was 

 wise to keep out of range. Evidence of 

 the force with which the loon could use 

 that long, sharp bill covered my thumb for 

 weeks afterward. The boys were glad to 

 get 50 cents for their troublesome prize, 

 and I was equally well pleased with such 

 an opportunity to study the habits of this 

 wonderful diver. 



To fit the bird for diving, its feet were 

 placed so far back that it could not stand 

 erect, much less walk, but only managed 

 to progress by a series of hops, raising it- 

 self on its feet and falling forward on its 

 breast. The 3 toes were fully webbed, and 

 so constructed that when closed for the 

 forward stroke, they presented a sharp, 

 narrow cutting surface to the water. 



When placed in a tub, the loon instantly 



