256 
COLYMBUS GLACIALIS. 
correctness of this observation I have myself since 
experienced in a winter voyage on the southern coasts 
of the United States. 
This species seldom visits the shores of Britain, 
except in very severe winters; but it is met within 
the north of Europe, and spreads along the arctic coast 
as far as the mouth of the river Ob, in the dominions 
of Russia. It is found about Spitzbergen, Iceland, and 
Hudson’s Bay. Makes its nest, in the more northern 
regions, on the little isles of fresh water lakes : every 
pair keep a lake to themselves. It sees well, flies very 
high, and, darting obliquely, falls secure into its nest# 
Appears in Greenland in April or the beginning of 
May, and goes away in September or October, on the 
first fall of snow.* It is also found at Nootka Sound f 
and Kamtschatka. 
The Barabinzians, a nation situated between the river 
Ob and the Irtisch, in the Russian dominions, tan the 
breasts of this and other water fowl, whose skins they 
prepare in such a manner as to preserve the down upon 
them, and, sewing a number of these together, they sell 
them to make pelisses, caps, &c. Garments made of 
these are very warm, never imbibing the least moisture, 
and are more lasting than could be imagined. J 
The natives of Greenland use the skins for clothing, 
and the Indians about Hudson’s Bay adorn their heads 
with circlets of their feathers# $ 
Lewis and Clark’s party, at the mouth of the Columbia, 
saw robes made of the skins of loons, || and abundance 
of these birds during the time that they wintered at 
Fort Clatsop on' that river.** 
The Laplanders, according to Regnard, cover their 
heads with a cap made of the skin of a loom, (loon,) 
which word signifies 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 wrings cover their ears. 
* Pennant. f Cook’s Last Voyage , ii. p. 237, Am. ed. 
| Latham. § Arctic Zoology \ || Gass’s Journal ; 
** History of the Expedition, vol. ii, p. 189. 
