Congdon—Saskatchewan Birds. 
575 
tained four or five. These eggs are a pretty bluish or greenish 
white when laid, but soon become stained brown and often have 
numerous bits of the nest material adhering to the shell. Fre¬ 
quently a nest is found in which the egg most recently laid is 
light blue and unsoiled, while the remaining eggs of the set are 
stained light brown. The eggs are oval in shape, and, as a com¬ 
parison of many specimens taken seems to show, of a more elon¬ 
gated oval than eggs of the Horned Grebe. The average size, of 
ten eggs taken from a number of different sets, is 1.76"xl.l8". 
7. Look. 
Grama, imber (Gunn.). 
Although the Great Northern Diver, as the Loon is often 
called, is not a common bird in this locality, several pairs were 
seen on the larger lakes. On Crooked Lake there were two or 
three pairs, and their peculiar and piercing cry could frequently 
be heard. The actions of the birds seemed to show that they 
had nests on this lake but none were found here. At Glen Lake, 
a smaller lake about seven miles from Crooked Lake, two nests 
were found. The first one found on Mjay 26, contained but one 
egg and was not disturbed; the second, found on the same day, 
contained two eggs which, on being blown, proved to be slightly 
incubated. While the nest was being examined, the pair of 
Loons swam about., a little distance out in the lake. The nest 
was similar to that of Holboctl’s Grebe, being composed of 
reeds, Jrass-roots, mud and rushes, floating in the water, with 
much of the mass below the 1 surface. It was moored to a stump 
or stake, in open water near the edge of a low island'. It was in 
a very exposed situation, not being hidden by any grass or rushes 
whatever. This nest is pictured in Plate XLIV. The nest 
measured twenty-three inches in outside diameter and ten inches 
inside diameter. The height of the nest from the top to the 
water was two and one-half inches, and the depth of the hollow, 
one and one-half inches. 
When the first nest was again visited eight days later, June 3, 
it still held but one egg, which was cold. On blowing, it was 
found to be fresh. Apparently the nest had been deserted by the 
birds. This nest was similar to the other, being a floating mass 
of partly water-soaked vegetation, moored among grass near the 
edge of a small, low island. It differed from the other in that 
