THE LOON 
By ARTHUR H. NORTON 
The National Association of Audubon Societies 
Educational Leaflet No. 78 
Swimming 
and Diving 
One’s introduction to the Loon is likely to be through the medium 
its voice, and it may seem to be the incarnation of the spirit of the 
vilderness-waters, for its abiding-places are in the solitude of lakes 
rimmed with dark forests and distant blue hills, or on the broad bosom 
Df the tossing sea. Like the spirits of old legends, it seems never to 
deep, but to be ranging these realms both day and a S ' 't f 
night, sending abroad wild, loud notes at all hours. SoHtude^ 
Better acciuaintance with the Loon will show it to 
be a large, beautifully plumaged bird, remarkable for its masterly accom- 
plishments ; and although its notes often have a sad, or even a despairing 
sound, it is a happy, self-reliant creature, demanding our admiration 
rather than our pity. 
The Loon spends its life afloat, and no more powerful swimmer can 
be found in the bird-world. Its heavy, flattened body, 
half-submerged when swimming, affords little lever- 
age to the driving blast, while the great webbed feet, 
operated by powerful muscles, drive it onward against wind and wave. 
Matchless swimmer though it is, it is an even more wonderful diver, for 
it must chase and capture fishes in their own element. If pursued by 
man, or if attacked by an eagle, it instantly takes refuge beneath the sur- 
face, speeding away to a safe distance, now and then merely thrusting 
its head above the surface to catch breath, and again diving and speeding 
onward to a place of safety. 
Many a Loon has escaped death by ducking at the flash of a gun, 
ere the shot could reach him. Though quick in diving, head foremost, 
it has the remarkable ability to sink its entire body beneath the surface 
without visible effort. This faculty belongs to several other diving-birds. 
Trusting extensively in its powers of swimming over and under 
water to escape its enemies, and to procure its food, it nevertheless is a 
strong flier, although progressing with apparently 
labored movements, and in calm weather finding great 
difficulty in rising from the water. It must rise 
against the wind, so that the pressure of the breeze against its narrow 
pinions may assist in raising its weight from the surface. Once on 
the wing it may perform long journeys, as it does on its migrations, 
which take it many miles overland to and from the lake where it makes 
its home. On these flights it sometimes sends forth a defiant note. 
Powerful 
Flight 
309 
