10 
THE NORTHLAND BIRD LIFE 
some of them closest to the ground stopped 
suddenly as if they had struck something. 
They seemed to flutter there for a moment 
and then all together, three or four, or as 
many as ten of them, would go flop! to 
the ground, and though they seemed to be 
struggling to rise, they didn’t leave the 
ground. Now, that would have looked very 
strange to the watcher. If he knew Little 
Baby Laughing Loon very well and had 
liked her as well as we would be certain 
to do, he would have hurried to her down 
there among the flowers and told her what 
he had seen and warned her not to go any 
farther. But the watcher was not there, so 
Little Baby Laughing Loon walked on and 
on, still nodding to the flowers and saying, 
“Good morning, good morning, everybody! 
How are you today?” Every now and then 
down would go more of the little Puffin 
folks, only to struggle and rise and to fall. 
So Baby marched sturdily on and on until 
at last she was quite above the flower beds 
and was thinking of going back, when Zing! 
