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Range (Breeds from northern Illinois)

Breeds from northern Illinois, Minnesota, and northern New England to the Arctic Circle; winters from the southern limit of its breeding range to the Gulf of Mexico.

LOONS.

Washington, common W. V., Sept. to Apl. 25. Long Island, abundant T. V., common W. V., Sept. to June. Sing Sing, common T. V., Mch. and Oct. Cambridge, not common T. V., Apl. to early May; Sept. to Nov. Nest, a slight depression in the ground within a few feet of the water. Eggs, two, grayish olive-brown, thinly spotted with blackish, 3.50 x 2.20. This wild inhabitant of our northern lakes and ponds possesses all the characteristic traits of the Divers. Its remarkable notes are thus described by Mr. J. H. Langille: "Beginning on the fifth note of the scale, the voice slides through the eighth to the third of the scale above in loud, clear, sonorous tones, which on a dismal evening before a thunderstorm, the lightning already playing along the inky sky, are anything but musical. He has also another rather soft and pleasing utterance, sounding like who-whowho-who, the syllables being so rapidly pronounced as to sound almost like a shake of the voice-a sort of weird laughter." Loons may be seen migrating by day singly or in small companies, generally at a considerable height. Their flight is strong, rapid, and direct. 9. Urinator arcticus (Linn.). BLACK-THROATED LOON. Ad. in summer. Throat, foreneck, back, wings, and tail black, with purplish and bluish reflections; a band of white streaks on the throat; sides of the neck, back, and wings streaked, barred, or spotted with white; top of head and nape gray; breast and belly white; a blackish band at the base of the under tail-coverts. Ad. in winter and Im.-Similar in color to U. imber, not spotted above with white. L., 27.00; W., 11.00; Tar., 2.60; B., 2.00.