THE GREAT NORTHERN DIVEN. 



283 



put its head under water and eagerly 

 searched about for something to eat; but 

 being unsuccessful, it finally raised itself, 

 and fell heavily over the side on to the 

 floor. Meat and bread it would not touch, 

 but fish it seized greedily, tossing them up, 

 catching them head first, and swallowing 

 them with one or 2 gulps, even though 

 some of them were 6 or 8 inches long. 



Only a few times, during its short captiv- 

 ity, did my loon utter its wild,, dismal call, 

 often heard on stormy nights coming from 

 the dark bosom of a lake, in a distant wil- 

 derness. About a month before that, on 

 a wild and stormy night, when the wind 

 was roaring about the eaves, I heard one 

 of these birds going up the creek. The 

 creek had risen the day before, and was 

 washing through the lower corner of the 

 garden. Impressed by the wild beauty of 

 the scene I stood on the back stoop watch- 

 ing the rushing flood as it swept on to the 

 lake. The twilight was fast deepening into 

 darkness, when from down the valley came 

 the wild call of this strange bird, mingling 

 with the roar of the waters. Nearer and 

 nearer it came, and then presently died 

 away as the bird swept onward toward its 

 Northern home. The night before my bird 

 was captured, another was heard as* it 

 passed over Springfield — perhaps this same 

 bird or his mate. The weird, uncanny cry 

 of the loon made me think of the witches 

 in Macbeth, and of Blanche of Devon, 

 " Lady of the Lake," as she warned Fitz 

 James of the treachery of his guide. The 

 same wild, dismal wail must have been 

 uttered by the Indian maiden who, as tra- 

 dition tells us, leaped from a tall, rocky 

 cliff into the dark depths of a mountain 

 lake to stifle the cry of her broken heart. 



Anxious to see how the loon would per- 

 form in its native element, I tied a small 

 "but strong cord around one foot, above the 

 tarsal joint, and to this attached a ball of 

 coarse twine. Thus secured against loss, 

 we put the bird into the creek, and im- 

 mediately there followed an exhibition of 

 fancy diving that beat everything in that 

 line we had ever seen. It would dart down 

 stream for 20 or 30 yards, and upon find- 

 ing itself checked would dodge back, with- 

 out coming to the surface, only occasional- 

 ly sticking its bill above the surface to 

 breathe. Presently, however, the loon 

 found that its efforts to escape were of no 

 avail, and immediately decided to do some 

 fishing. Swimming slowly along, with its 

 head under water, it would peer into every 

 nook and cranny, for fish or crayfish, and 



woe betide the unfortunate creature that 

 came within range of those sharp red eyes. 

 Once I saw the loon follow a fish 3 times 

 round a circle, only 6 or 7 feet in diameter, 

 then straight up stream for about 20 feet, 

 until at last he caught it, and swallowed it 

 before coming to the surface. In the last 

 stretch it made use of its wings, driving its 

 body forward with short, quick strokes. 



Out of one school of minnows the loon 

 took 6 before coming to the surface. 

 Whenever it caught a crab, however, it 

 would come to the surface, toss the crus- 

 tacean into the air, bite it in 2, or snap off 

 the pincers, then swallow the pieces. Once 

 he got a crab that was too much for him, 

 and after trying several times to break its 

 hard shell, he let it go. Large fish were 

 in like manner brought to the surface, 

 tossed into the air and swallowed head 

 first. So far as I could see, the loon never 

 used his bill to spear the fish, but always 

 seized them between the open mandibles. 



The third day after getting this loon, the 

 weather turned very cold and fish were 

 scarce. He did not seem to care to fish, 

 but sat on the sand, by the water, quiet 

 enough. Gradually he drooped, grew 

 weaker, and by 4 o'clock he was dead. He 

 was a beautiful male specimen, in almost 

 perfect plumage, and in size nearly as large 

 as a goose. When I skinned and mounted 

 him, I took from the upper part of the 

 neck and head 13 pellets of shot, mostly 

 No. 6, but some were No. 1. The wounds 

 were entirely healed up, and the shot lay 

 just under the skin, some of the pellets 

 having been a little flattened against the 

 skull. Evidently he had carried this extra 

 ballast for some time, and seemed none the 

 worse for its presence. 



The shape of the body of this bird 

 strongly resembles the shape of the mod- 

 ern racing yacht, minus its keel or centre- 

 board, rounded in front and with no sharp 

 cut-water, the greatest beam abaft the cen- 

 tre and a long, easy run. The wiser men 

 get, the nearer they keep to nature. 



Perhaps no bird is more difficult to 

 shoot than the loon. When once started, 

 it dives and swims several rods under 

 water before coming up to breathe, and 

 even then it puts only its bill above the 

 water, for but a few seconds. However 

 when found on a small lake or pond, and 

 several persons attack it from different 

 directions, the odds are against the bird. 

 Even in such tight corners as this, it has 

 often taken a long time to effect its capture. 



