Penobscot Bay, Maine.
1896
July 16
(no 2)
as shy as most of her wary species. Of the nest itself
I have recorded a general description in connection with that
of the nest found yesterday & under date of July 15. Here
is a copy of the detailed notes that I took on the spot:
  "Loon's nest at N.E. corner of Walker's Pond, examined July 16, 1896.
  On edge of cat-tail bog bordering creek covered with
lily pads and about 15 or 20 yards from the point where
the creek enters a cove of the pond. Nest built up on
a firm (although soft) bottom of mixed sand & mud covered
with water two or three inches deep, the water all around
the nest two to four inches deep with a channel of open
water about a foot deep leading in from the creek to
the very edge of the nest & probably made, either
designedly or incidentally close behind & on two sides of the nest & bending
over it, Saggitaria pushing up through it. Nest composed
of mud soaked bunches of grass roots and moss-like
aquatic plants with a scanty lining of dry blades of
the cat-tail flags. Total width across top exactly 2 ft.
width of inner cup exactly 1 ft. Cup just 1 inch deep
in the middle. Rim raised 4 inches above the water.
Nest as regularly circular both without & within as if
modeled on a potters' wheel. Fragments of the egg shells
and the lining of one of the eggs lay within it, the
lining of the other egg in the shallow water opposite.
From the creek side this nest was a conspicuous object."