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 plash 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 Susquehannah 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 circumstances. Some of those which breed in the State of Maine, place it on the hillocks of weeds and mud prepared by the musk-rat, on the edges of the lakes, or at some distance from them among the rushes. Other nests, found on the head-waters of the Wabash River, were situated on the mud, amid the rank weeds, more than ten yards from the water. Authors have said that only one pair breed on a lake; but I have found three pairs, with their nests, on a pond not exceeding a quarter of a mile in length, in the State of Maine. One that I saw after the young had left it, on Cayuga Lake, in 1824, was almost afloat, and rudely attached to the rushes, more than forty yards from the land, though its base was laid on the bottom, the water being eight or nine inches deep. Others examined in Labrador were placed on dry land, several yards from the water, and raised to the height of nearly a foot above the decayed moss on which they were laid. But, in cases when the nest was found at any distance from the water, we discovered a well-beaten path leading to it, and very much resembling those made by the Beaver, to which the hunters give the name of “crawls.” The nest, wherever placed, is bulky, and formed of the vegetable substances found in the