-OOLYMBUS ADAMSI I .
WHITE-BILLED LOOT.
GOLTMBUS ADAMSII. G. R. Gray. Proc. Zool. Soc. (1859), p. 167.
The various species composing this genus are shy, retiring birds, inhabiting the more secluded streams and inland waters of our
land, where they breed and rear their young, departing for the searboard only when their retreats have become frozen over by the
chill breath of winter. What person, who has ever encamped, in the summer time, upon the shore of some one of our beautiful lakes
lying deep within the silent woods, does not remember seeing a large bird swimming slowly along, disappearing at intervals beneath
the surface of the water, and usually emerging with a fish in its bill, the spoil of its successful pursuit after the finny prey? At
intervals it gives utterance to its c ry , so plaintive and sad in tone, that it seems as though it came from some person in distress, and
to cause even the virgin forest which surrounds its abode to appear more lonely. Should the bird discover any strange object,
which it is very quick to do, as its watchful eye is ever scanning the limits o f .its retreat, the body is immersed deeper into the
water, to affect concealment, and a few quick short notes are heard, like a mocking laugh, as it gradually increases its distance from
th a t which has excited its suspicion. It dives frequently and with great rapidity, and is capable of remaining under water for a
considerable length of time. When desirous o f taking flight, it rises with difficulty, beating the surface o f the lake with both feet
and wings, for some distance, and, gaining the level of the surrounding woods by repeated circling of its watery limits, determines its line
o f flight, and is soon lost to sight behind the intervening forest. This bird is the Great N o rth e rn Diver, well known to every frequenter
of the wilderness, and to which the present species bears a strong resemblance; and although the White-Billed Loon is a native of
the more northern lakes and waters, rarely, if ever, coming far to the southward, yet we can have little doubt but that its habits
are the same, and that its plaintive note is often heard in those far-off wilds, and its mocking laugh often greets the intruder who
ventures near its abode.
Like its relative, it feeds on fish, which it pursues beneath the surface, and water is its native element, as it rarely comes upon
tho land unless for the purpose of incubation.
Thia t o species was flist made known to Ornithologist» by Mr. Gray, in the Proceeding, of the Zoological Society of London,
as nhovo quoted, and named after Mr. Adame, Surgeon of H. SI. S. Enterprise, commanded by Captain Qoffinson, in the voyage
through Behring's Straits. It resembles the Colymbws ffloeiniis (Great Northern Diver), but its great white bill will always serve to
distinguish it from that species.
My figure was taken from a very fine specimen received at the Smithsonian Institution from Arctic America.