Penobscot Bay, Maine.
1896
July 15
(No 6)
source of real pain to me for a prettier and more
engaging little pet has never come under my care. When I
first took him from the egg his eyes were wide open but
I am bound to admit that they were, for a bird's, dull
and expressionless eyes. His usual call was a loud peep
not unlike a young chicken's but fuller & more "throaty".
He also gave a succession of whistling notes very like those
of an Osprey. On the day of his assisted birth I put
him in a tub of water where he swam about with 
some ease but with his bill beneath the surface. I 
think that there was something the matter with his
neck from birth for he could not hold up his head
without great effort[.]
  In this connection, also, I will describe another Loon's
nest which we visited on the 16th. It was in the town
of Brooksville at the N.E. end of Walker's Pond (cf journal
of July 16 for description of pond). Like the first nest
it was composed wholly of bunches of grass roots and it
measured exactly the same in total width as well as in
the width of the egg cup but the sides were built up 
higher and the rim more distinctly marked while the whole
structure was more symmettrical[sic]. In fact I have never 
seen any large nest so absolutely round. It looked as if
it had been formed on a potter's wheel. Like the other
nest, also, it was placed near (or rather on) the edge of a
shallow winding creek perhaps 30 yards from its mouth
but unlike the first nest it rested on a solid foundation
having been built up on a hard bottom of mixed sand &
mud in water about 2 inches deep. The surrounding were
also slightly different for a bed of cat tails formed a
background to this nest & several of their tall stems