NATURE'S REALM. 
the lake or pond. The choice about here is 
‘generally from twenty to forty rods trom the 
edge of the water, and varies from this up to a 
half mile, and is always dependent on the 
depth of the shallower water. The loon is pre- 
eminently an aquatic species, and never at- 
tempts trips, however short, on land, or even 
through mud and water. It may well be 
doubted if this bird could move with anything 
but the slowest and most painful efforts over a 
rough, dry surface. A bog, well out from the 
margin of the lake, an old muskrat house, or 
one of those peculiar formations in some lakes 
found rising from the bottom, which is evi- 
dently of vegetable matter but difficult to ac- 
count for, for the basis of the loon’s nests. On 
this foundation, bog or levelled rat’s nest, is 
spread more or less vegetable material, mainly 
of dead aquatic plants. The bulk of the sub- 
stance is soft and pliable, and of the nature 
generally of matter usually found at the bottom 
of edges of lakes and ponds. Elevations and 
dryness seem unnecessary to the loon’s idea ot 
housekeeping, and they select, contrary to the 
advice given in the good book, the very lowest 
place actually above the surface of the water to 
be found. The rains may come and the winds 
blow, and still the loon cares not, even if the 
eggs are partially submerged. She sets with 
the greatest patience, awaiting the day when 
she shall be rewarded for the labor of love 
which instinct or reason dictates. I cannot 
assert from positive proof that the eggs hatch 
after being partially submerged, as my cupidity 
has never allowed ine to leave the eggs to hatch 
as an experiment, the discoveries of nests ever 
remaining fortunate ones to collectors, the eggs 
being valuable, and all odlogists are avaricious. 
It is reasonable to suppose that eggs, even if 
one-half submerged, will be hatched, and it 
may be added in support of this that young 
birds have been observed in the immediate 
vicinity of deluged nests lately occupied. 
The nests, or more properly, depressions, for 
that is all there is to them, are oblong in shape, 
being twenty inches long and twelve to fourteen 
wide. The shape is to accommodate the pecu- 
liar long body of the bird. The eggs are placed 
at about two-thirds of the distance from the 
front of the nest. To be more explicit, the eggs 
175 
are placed well back from a centre, in order to 
receive the warmth of the mother’s abdomen. 
The eggs, two in number, lie side by side in 
this oddly shaped nest, and from their position 
one can always tell which way the bird sets 
when on the nest. The bird invariably sets 
with her head out to sea, as we may say; in 
other words, she always faces the deeper water, 
where she can see danger on either side and in 
front. At the slightest evidence of danger the 
loon pitches forward into the water with greater 
celerity than would be expected, and reappears 
only after swimming from fifteen to twenty rods 
beneath the surface. 
Perhaps no bird possesses better ability to 
avoid the danger from the rifle and shotgun 
than the loon, and it is to be doubted if there is 
any bird on American soil which can dive so 
quickly or remain under the water as long as 
he. Every hunter north of 35°, north latitude, 
has had some experience with the loon, and all 
can testify to his crafty ways and numerous— 
we might say almost invariable—escapes. Only 
one way seems in any degree fairly sure of 
success in his capture, and this procedure fre- 
quently fails; it consists in getting the loon 
between fires on a stream or narrow lake. 
When so hunted the loon gets rattled, so to 
speak and as the boys call it, and is generally 
keeled over. It is no wonder the poor fellow 
becomes crazed and loses his head ; how many 
land loons would fail as well? And yet [ have 
seen a loon surrounded on a small mill pond, 
with not a ghost of a chance of escape by 
flight, keep a dozen shooters firing for an hour 
before it succumbed to the inevitable. When 
fired at, the great northern diver always dives 
tp avoid danger, and never attempts to escape 
by flight. The attempted harrassing of a loon 
by a whole flotilla does not seem to worry him 
at all, and he escapes in as easy a manner as if 
from a simple scow. It is not alone the loon’s 
knowledge ot his ability to escape by diving 
that causes him to adopt that means for safety, 
but as well his knowledge that he makes a 
first-rate mark for the gunner in his cumber- 
some efforts at taking wing from the water. 
After a careful review of the flights of birds, I 
think it fair to accord the loon the lowest place 
in the scale, in his efforts at rising from pond 
