142 
LOONS 
treast, front and sides of neck, and sides of body, washed with brownish 
and indistinctly mottled with blackish; lower breast and belly white; a 
black band across bill. Ads. in winter and Im . — Much like the above, but 
throat white and no black band on bill. L., 13'50; W., 5*10; Tar., T45* 
B., 85. 
Range. — N. and S. A. Breeds from B. C., s. Mackenzie, s. Keewatin, 
Que., and N. B., s. to Chile and Argentina, but often rare or local; winters 
from Wash., Tex., Miss., and Potomac Valley southward. 
Washington, common W. V., Aug. 27- Apl. 24. Long Island, probably 
P. R., rare, most common in Sept. Ossining, common T. V., Apl. 6-Apl. 20; 
Sept. 3-Oct. 28; a few summer. Cambridge, T. V., common in fall, formerly 
bred in one locality; Apl. 6-Nov. 10. N. Ohio, often common T. V., rare S. 
R. Apl. 1-May 10; Sept. 1-Oct. 25. Glen Ellyn, not common S. R., Mch. 
20-Nov. 4. SE. Minn., common S. R., Apl. 2-Nov. 9. 
Nest , of water-soaked, decaying vegetation, sometimes built up from 
the bottom in shallow water, sometimes floating among rushes in a slough, 
when it is generally attached to its surroundings. Eggs, 4-8, dull white, 
more or less soiled or stained, l'74x 1T9. Date, Cambridge, Apl. 23; Seneca 
River Marshes, N. Y., June 3; Winnebago, 111., May 13; se. Minn., May 15. 
Any Grebe found breeding in the eastern United States will prob- 
ably prove to be this species which, generally speaking, is the best known 
of our Grebes. From the Eared Grebe, with which it shares various 
names indicative of its natatorial powers, it may be known by its brown 
breast, and the absence of a wdiite wing-patch. Its notes, as I have 
heard them in the Montezuma marshes, are very loud and sonorous with 
a cuckoolike quality, and may be written cow-cow-cow-cow-cow-cow - 
cow-cow-cow-uh , cow-uh, cow-uh-cow-uh. These notes vary in number, 
and are sometimes followed by prolonged wailing cows or uhs, almost 
human in their expressiveness of pain and fear. This is apparently 
the love song of the male in which his mate sometimes joins with a cuk- 
cuk-cuk — followed by a slower ugh , ugh , ugh. (“Bird Studies with a 
Camera, ” p. 70.) 
On Heron Lake, Minnesota, in early October, I have seen Pied- 
billed Grebes in close-massed flocks, containing a hundred or more 
birds, cruising about in open water. 
2. Family Gaviid^. Loons. (Fig. 225.) 
A family containing only five species, inhabiting the northern half 
of the Northern Hemisphere. The Loons are scarcely less aquatic than 
the Grebes, and are their equals as divers and swimmers. When nest- 
ing, they inhabit fresh-water lakes and ponds, but during the winter 
are maritime, often living fifty miles or more from land. They migrate 
by day (and doubtless also by night), and are strong fliers. Being larger 
than Ducks, and smaller or with shorter necks than Geese, they should 
not be mistaken for either. They visit the land rarely, when their 
clumsy progress is assisted by the use of bill and wings. The nest is 
usually a mere depression on a mud-lump, or so near the shore that 
the bird can slide quickly into and under the water, to come to the 
surface some distance away. Two eggs are laid and the young are 
