so GREAT NORTHERN DIVER OR LOON.
tance ill' about ail hundred yards, shafce its head, and disgorge a:quantity
of iish mixed with Mood; on which it dreed)'again, seemed
lost to us. We rowedftonvcvRr to the spot in all haste, and the moment
it rose, sent ¡mother shut after it, which terminated its career.
Oil examining it afterwards, we found it quite; riddled by the heavy
'•»"I®-'ever so slightly wounded, the LoOn prefers diving to flying dff,
and all your endeavours to kill it are almost sure to prove unavailing,
You may shoot at it under such circumstances, hut you will lose both
your time and your ammunition. Its keenness of sight delies tlte best
percussioh-l0ckeS: gun, for it is generally deep in the water bèiffie the
shot reachepBe spot where it lias been. When fatigued with diving
in the ordinary manner, it will sink backwards, like a Grebe or a Frog,
make for some concealed spot among the rushes,- and there lie until
your eyes ache with searching, and your stomach admonishes you of
the propriety of retiring.
Loons are n ë » and"then caught in fishermen's nets, and are soon
drowned. I have also'«aught them with hooks fastened to lines laid
across the Ohio, but on no such occasion have I taken the bird alivé. A
method of shooting thesehirdsj which I have often practised, and which
was several times successfully employed by our Labrador party,'may here
be related. On Seeing a Loon im the water, at whatever distance, the
sportsman immediately places himself under the nearest ooVnr on the
shore, and remains there as carefully concealed;,as possible. A few
minutes are allowed to pass, to giio the wary and sharp-sighted bird
all due confidence ; during which time the gun, charged with largo
shot, is laid in a convenient position. The gunner then takes liiS%ip of
pocket-handkerchief, which if brightly coloured is so much the'better,
and raising it in one hand, waves i t three or four times, and the® suddenly
conceals it. The bird commonly detects the signal at wire,
and, probably imagining the object thus exhibited to be ono of its own
species, gradually advances, emitting its love-notes, which rêsemble a
coarse laugh, as it -proceeds. The sportsman imitates these rttfftffj
making them lind and yet somewhat mellow, waving his cap or kerchief
at the same time, and this he continues-to do at intervals. ' Tlli-
Loon, in order to arrive more quickly, clivés, perhaps rises -within
fifty yards of him, and calling less loudly, advances wilt: considerable
caution. He shews the signal less frequently, imitates the Tiot'o's o:"
GREAT NORTHERN DIVER OR LOON. 51
the bird moro family, and carefully keeps himself concealed, until the
Loon, having approached within twenty or even ten paces, dives and
on emerging raises itself up to shako'"it s wings* when 01T goes the shot,
amlfthe- deluded :bird floats dead on the water. Many spcies of Ducks
are procured in nearly the saiuo mannâr. -.The male Turkey, m the
gobbling season, and the Stag,in autumn, may also be drawn within shot
by the same means* I once two Loons with my ha,t frow.a
distance of nearly half a mile, and. although they were at one time so
near to» ¿ è that I ramld clearly perceive the eolpur of their eyes,-} had
no sure, opportunity of firing at thorn, as P was in the pairing season,
and they never or$e dived, or raised their wings, to flap them, so that,
knowing thi f i f t teme agility with,.which they disappear when they have
seen a gun snap, I judged it useless, to shootJ^Uiitil my visit to Labrador
I had supposed, agreeably 1.0 the. common belief, that the Loons
always repose at night on the water., which, licjwcver, I have since assured
myself they- rarely if over do.
Colonel Moxtagi;, thanwhom none has written more correctly on the
habits of the birds of Great .Britain,, having procured a; wounded Loon,
placed it. in a pond,, and observed the manner in which it made, its way
under the-snrinee-of the water.. " In swimming and diving," he remarks,
" only the legs are used and not thè, wings, as in the Guillemot
and Auk tribes, and by. their position, so ,far behind, and their little deviation
from the line of the body, the bird is-enabled to propel itself
in the water, with, great velocity,, in a straight line, as well as turn with
astonishing quickness. This I have no dytibt was the cage with the
individual observed ; but that this, is not the usual mode of proceeding
of the species is .equally true. Having myself seen Loons pass and
repass under boats, at the distance .of several foet from the surface,
and propel themselves both, with their feet, and their, half-extended
wings, I am inclined to believe that whan, not wounded, and when
pursuing.,their prey, they usually employ all the. li nibs.
l l v friend Thomas .Nuttai.i., who kept » e for some time, gives
the-following account of its manners while in Iris possession. " A
young b k i of this; .kind which I obtained in the Salt Marsh at Chelsea
Beach, and transferred- to.a tish-poud, made a good deal of plaint, and
would sume.times.wander oui of his.more naturai element, and hide and
bask in the grass. On these occasions he lay very still until nearly approached,
and ..then slid, into the pond and uttered Ms usual plaint.
s I