GREAT NORTHERN DIVER. 
253 
robes made of the skins of Loons ;* and abundance of these birds 
during the time that they wintered at Fort Clatsop on that river. •j' 
The Laplanders, according to Regnard, cover their heads 
with a cap made of the skin of a Loom (Loon), which word signi- 
fies in their language lame, because the bird cannot walk well. 
They place it on their head in such a manner, that the bird’s head 
falls over their brow, and its wings cover their ears. 
“Northern Divers,” says Hearne, “though common in Hud- 
son’s Bay, are by no means plentiful they are seldom found near 
the coast, but more frequently in fresh water lakes, and usually in 
pairs. They build their nests at the edge of small islands, or the 
margins of lakes or ponds ; they lay only two eggs, and it is very 
common to find only one pair and their young in one sheet of 
water ; a great proof of their aversion to society. They are known 
in Hudson’s Bay by the name of Loons.”§ 
The Great Northern Diver measures two feet ten inches from 
the tip of the bill to the end of the tail, and four feet six inches in 
breadth ; the bill is strong, of a glossy black, and four inches and 
three quarters long to the corner of the mouth ; the edges of the 
bill do not fit exactly into each other, and are ragged, the lower 
mandible separates into two branches, which are united by a thin 
elastic membrane, and are easily moveable horizontally or reced- 
ing from each other, so as to form a wider gap to facilitate the 
swallowing of large fish ; tongue bifid ; irides dark blood red ; the 
head, and half of the length of the neck, are of a deep black, with 
a green gloss, and purple reflections ; this is succeeded by a band 
consisting of interrupted white and black lateral stripes, which en- 
compasses the neck, and tapers to a point on its fore part, without 
joining — this band measures about an inch and a half in its widest 
part, and to appearance is not continuous on the back part of the 
* Gass’s Journal. t History of the Expedition, vol. ii, p. 189. 
t} Hearne’s Journey, p. 429, quarto. 
3 S 
VOL. IX. 
