Audubon's Birds/BIRDSVER1_3.BIN/dp/0078/00784.txt

Text File | 1992-08-27 | 39KB | 545 lines

$Unique_ID{BRD00784}
$Pretitle{}
$Title{Great Northern Diver or Loon}
$Subject{Colymbinae; Colymbus; Gavia; glacialis; immer; Great Northern Diver;
Loon; Common Loon}
$Journal{Birds of America:  Volume VII}
$Volume{Vol. 7:282-294}
$Family{Colymbinae}
$Genus{Colymbus; Gavia}
$Species{glacialis; immer}
$Common_Name{Great Northern Diver; Loon; Common Loon}
$Log{
Plate CCCCLXXVI*00784P1.scf,26000020.aud
Bird Call*26000020.aud
Family*00782.txt
Genus*00783.txt
}

            (C) (P) Library of Natural Sounds; Cornell Laboratory
       of Ornithology 1990-91, 1992; Ithaca, N.Y., All rights reserved.
       Portions copyright (c) Creative Multimedia Corp., 1990-91, 1992

                       B I R D S   O F   A M E R I C A .

                    By John James Audubon, F. R. SS. L. & E.

                   ------------------------------------------
                                   VOL.  VII.
                        --------------------------------


                         GREAT NORTHERN DIVER OR LOON.
                    [Common Loon.  State Bird of Minnesota.]


                           COLYMBUS GLACIALIS, Linn.
                                 [Gavia immer.]


                  PLATE CCCCLXXVI.--ADULT MALE AND YOUNG MALE.


     The Loon, as this interesting species of Diver is generally called in the
United States, is a strong, active, and vigilant bird.  When it has acquired its
perfect plumage, which is not altered in colour at any successive moult, it is
really a beautiful creature; and the student of Nature who has opportunities of
observing its habits, cannot fail to derive much pleasure from watching it as it
pursues its avocations.  View it as it buoyantly swims over the heaving billows
of the Atlantic, or as it glides along deeply immersed, when apprehensive of
danger, on the placid lake, on the grassy islet of which its nest is placed;
calculate, if you can, the speed of its flight, as it shoots across the sky;
mark the many plunges it performs in quest of its finny food, or in eluding its
enemies; list to the loud and plaintive notes which it issues, either to
announce its safety to its mate, or to invite some traveller of its race to
alight, and find repose and food; follow the anxious and careful mother-bird, as
she leads about her precious charge; and you will not count your labour lost,
for you will have watched the ways of one of the wondrous creations of unlimited
Power and unerring Wisdom.  You will find pleasure too in admiring the glossy
tints of its head and neck, and the singular regularity of the unnumbered spots
by which its dusky back and wings are checkered.
     I have met with the Great Diver, in winter, on all the water-courses of the
United States, whence, however, it departs when the cold becomes extreme, and
the surface is converted into an impenetrable sheet of ice.  I have seen it also
along the whole of our Atlantic coast, from Maine to the extremity of Florida,
and from thence to the mouths of the Mississippi, and the shores of Texas, about
Galveston Island, where some individuals in the plumage characteristic of the
second moult, were observed in the month of April 1837.  Indeed, as is the case
with most other species of migrating birds, the young remove farther south than
the old individuals, which are better able to withstand the cold and tempests of
the wintry season.
     The migratory movements of this bird seem to be differently managed in the
spring and autumn.  In the latter case, a great number of young Loons are seen
to alight on the head waters of our great streams, on which, without much
exertion, being aided by the current, they float along, diving at intervals in
pursuit of the numerous fishes, as they proceed toward milder climes.  The few
old birds which, at a later date, appear on the same water-courses, frequently
take to wing, and shorten their way by flying at a considerable elevation
directly across the great bends or peninsulas.  These modes of travelling are
also adopted by those which advance along the Atlantic coasts, where, indeed,
the birds have the double advantage of meeting with food and obtaining repose,
on the rivers and on the sea.  I think, however, that this maritime course is
followed only by such of the Loons as have bred in the more immediate vicinity
of the coast.  But whether you are in the interior, or on the coast, it is
seldom that you see at a time more than one Loon travelling at this season;
whereas, in spring, they proceed in pairs, the male taking the lead, as is
easily ascertained by observing that the bird in the rear is the smallest.
     Although its wings are rather small, its flight is strong and rapid, so
that it is enabled to traverse a large extent of country on wing.  When
travelling, or even when only raised from its nest, it moves through the air
with all the swiftness of the other species of its tribe, generally passing
directly from one point to another, however distant it may be.  Its long
transits are at times performed at so great an elevation, that its form can
scarcely be distinguished, and yet, even then, in calm weather, the noise of its
wings striking the air comes distinctly on your ear.  I have seen them thus, on
their way towards Labrador, passing over the head waters of the Bay of Fundy, to
cross the Gulf of St. Lawrence.  Whenever it chances to alight on the water, in
the course of its long journeys, it almost immediately dives, as if to taste the
water, and judge whether it contains food suited to its appetite.  On emerging,
and after having somewhat raised the fore part of its body, shaken its wings,
and by a strong shiver re-arranged its plumage, it emits its loud echoing
call-note, to induce, perchance, some traveller of its tribe to alight for
awhile, that they may communicate to each other their experience of the past, or
their hopes of the future.  There is an absurd notion, entertained by persons
unacquainted with the nature of this bird, that its plaintive cries are a sure
indication of violent storms.  Sailors, in particular, are ever apt to consider
these call-notes as portentous.  In the course of a voyage from Charleston to
the Florida Keys, in May 1832, I several times saw and heard Loons travelling
eastward; but, notwithstanding all the dire forebodings of the crew, who
believed that a hurricane was at hand, our passage was exceedingly pleasant.
Although I have heard the notes of the Loon in rainy and blowy weather, yet I
never heard them so frequent or so loud, both by day and by night, as on the
Ohio, during that delightful and peculiarly American autumnal season called the
Indian summer; when, although not so much as a cloud was seen for weeks, I have
frequently observed the passing birds checking their flight, or heard the
murmuring splash which they produced on alighting upon the placid water, to rest
and refresh themselves.
     Another strange notion, not deserving of credit, although you will find it
gravely announced in books, is that, when the Loon is breeding, it will dart
down suddenly from the air, and alight securely in its nest.  I have never
witnessed such a procedure, although I have closely watched, from under cover,
at least twenty pairs.  On such occasions I have seen the incubating bird pass
over the dear spot several times in succession, gradually rounding and
descending so as at last to alight obliquely on the water, which it always did
at a considerable distance from the nest, and did not approach it until after
glancing around and listening attentively, as if to assure itself that it was
not watched, when it would swim to the shore, and resume its office.
     The Loon breeds in various parts of the United States, from Maryland to
Maine.  I have ascertained that it nestles in the former of these States, on the
Susquehanna river, as well as in the districts between Kentucky and Canada, and
on our great lakes.  Dr. RICHARDSON states that it is found breeding as far
north as the 70th degree of latitude.  The situation and form of the nest differ
according to c