THE OTTAWA NATURALIST '^^^s^ss^^ 



VOL. XXXIL 



MARCH, 1919. 



No. 9. 



THE BIRDS OF SHOAL LAKE, MANITOBA. 



By p. a. Taverner. 



(Continued from page 144) 



46. ^AMERICAN BITTERN, BotauTus leniignosus. 



In 1901, Seton found it abundant and breeding. 

 He says: "A conspicuous feature of the landscape 

 hard at work night and day pumping out the bog". 

 We found it in no such numbers. May 19 to 21, 

 1917, one was heard each night in a marshy spot 

 behind camp. The next day one was taken but 

 we did not hear the species thereafter. This bird 

 was a male with the skin of the throat greatly 

 thickened with a tough gelatinous tissue inside that 

 I have met with a number of times before in spring 

 males of this species, but have never seen referred 

 to in print nor found ornithologists generally familiar 

 with it. The tissue is very much like that behind 

 the throat puffs of the courting Prairie Chicken and, 

 judging from the dried specimens of breeding spring 

 Pectoral Sandpipers in our collection, probably 

 similar to conditions found in the inflatable sac of 

 that species. As the Bittern inflates its throat while 

 courting or booming it is likely that this deposit is 

 of similar origin in each of these species. It lines 

 the inside of the skin perhaps one-eighth of an inch 

 thick and is soft and rubbery, firmly attached to the 

 skin, and sliding away under the knife in a manner 

 that makes its removal very difficult. In 1918, 

 Young saw occasional birds in May, June and 

 August. 



47. GREAT BLUE HERON, Afdea heTodias. 



The Ward brothers say that this species was rare 

 on the lakes even in time of high water and extensive 

 marsh. They rarely observed over one or two 

 each year. In 1918, Young reports seeing two 

 birds on July 10 at the Narrows. 



48. BLACK-CROWNED NIGHT HERON, N^ct'tCOfax 



n^cticorax. 

 Reported by Chapman as breeding on the ground 

 in reeds two to three inches above water, the record 

 is accompanied by photographs of nests in "Camps 

 and Cruises". It is said by the Ward brothers 

 to have nested in large colonies on the floating debris 

 where the drift of the lake came in at the edge of 



the marshes. Only a few migrants have been seen 

 of late years. Seton describes a night herony where 

 "scores, probably hundreds of nests, were in the tall 

 quill-reeds; but none at all to the trees". He 

 quotes a resident farmer, G. H. Meacham, as 

 authority for the statement that three years previous 

 (to 1901) there were but twenty pairs present, but 

 remarks that their rapid increase was marvelous, 

 stating, "No doubt this is one of the species whose 

 number fluctuate with the rise and fall of the lake", 

 thus forcasting their present disappearance again. 



49. WHOOPING CRANE, Crus americana. 



We were informed by the Ward brothers that 

 Whooping Cranes used to breed and be fairly plenti- 

 ful. About 1901 they saw thirty birds together. 

 They have grown much scarcer of late years, but 

 still a few are seen each season. In 1916, three were 

 seen by Frank Ward, and even in 1917, about a 

 week before my return visit, two passed immediately 

 over him flying very low. 



50. SAND-HILL CRANE, Crus mexlcana or 



canadesis. 

 In 1917, we saw no cranes but a nearby farmer 

 had heard them a few days previous to our ques- 

 tioning. We looked for them but found their old 

 haunts dried up and encroached upon by settlers. 

 The Ward brothers say that, until very recently a 

 few still bred on nearby muskegs and in late summer 

 and early autumn they visit the grain fields in large 

 flocks, but are decreasing. A few days previous 

 to my return visit in the autumn, William Ward saw 

 several, but regarded this as a late date. In 1918, 

 a number were observed shortly before Young's ar- 

 rival, and he noted one April 25. Small flocks of 

 from three to eight were seen later from August 

 15 to Sept. 6, usually high in the air. The Ward 

 brothers think they recognized two sizes in the 

 cranes commonly seen, which would indicate that 

 both the Sandhill and Little Brown Crane occur; 

 in which case the former would likely be the breed- 

 ing form, and the latter a migrant. 



