190S.] 



BIEDS. 



255 



species almost daily on the various lakes between there and Great 

 Bear Lake during the remainder of the month. On Great Bear Lake 

 I noted it at my camp east of Leith Point, September 2, and nearly 

 every day while traveling westward along the south shore of the lake. 

 I saw one at Fort Franklin, September 20. and one on lower Bear 

 Kiver. September 30. The last one was seen on the Mackenzie near 

 Xahanni Eiver, October 15. 



In the spring of 190-1: I first observed this loon at Fort Simpson, 

 Mackenzie, on May 23, noting two on the river near the post. Their 

 notes, however, had been heard previously by the natives. A'NTiile 

 descending the Mackenzie I saw a few 50 miles below Fort Simpson, 

 June 2, and near Xahanni River, June 6. I saw one near the mouth 

 of Peel Eiver, June 30. and at Fort McPherson obtained from Mr. 

 W. H. Walker the skins of two which he had taken there late in 

 May. On my return trip I noted the bird near the outlet of Atha- 

 baska Lake, August 6. 



The natives, especially the Dogribs, relish the flesh of this bird, 

 and frequenth^ obtain it by concealing themselves on the margin of a 

 lake and decoying the bird within range by means of a tin plate or 

 other Ijright object, which they so manipulate as to attract its atten- 

 tion and excite its curiosity. 



Richardson was the first to formally record this species, describing 

 a specimen from Great Bear Lake.'' Later he speaks of observing 

 the birds migTating toward the southeast along the Arctic coast, near 

 Darnlev Bay, August IT, 1848.^ King recorded the species from 

 Clint on-Colden Lake;^ and Ross, specimens from Fort Simpson and 

 Peel River.^ Armstrong recorded it under the name Colymhus 

 (jlacialis from Mercy Bay. Banks Land, Avhere 5 T^'ere killed July 13, 

 1852.^ Loons probably of this species were recorded by Parry from 

 Winter Harbor, Melville Island,^ and by Sutherland from Assistance 

 Bay.i' 



The catalogue in the Xational Museum shows that specimens were 

 received from Fort Resolution, Fort Xorman, and Big Island. Mac- 

 Farlane found 0 nests, each with 2 eggs, in the Anderson River 

 region and the head of a female taken b}^ him there in Jidy, 1864, 

 is still in the X^ational Museum. Hanbury noted a common loon, the 



^ Fauna Boreali-Americana, II, p. 474, 18.31. 



^ Arctic Searching Expedition, I, p. 282, 1851. 



^ Narrative of Journey to Arctic Ocean, I, p. 235, 1836. 



^ Can. Nat. and Geo!., VI, p. 444, 1861. 



^ Narrative Discovery Northwest Passage, p. 536, 1857. 



^ .Tourn. Parry's First Voyage, p. 218, 1821. 



f .lourn. Voy. to Baffin's Bay and Barrow Strait, II, p. 209, 1852. 

 ^ Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., XIV, p. 416, 1894. 



