70 OUT WITH THE BIRDS 



marsh tern colony, and when I got tired f rogging 

 in the mud and water, trying to find bottom 

 where there was none, I left the noisy place and 

 slipped up through the sand-hills. I chose a 

 roundabout way so that I might call on a hatch- 

 ing sharp-tail grouse to see how she and her fif- 

 teen eggs, hidden aw^ay in the grass on a silver- 

 berry knoll, were faring. When I found that all 

 was well with her, I stole away without making 

 any disturbance and, leaving the hills, followed 

 along the edge of an old deserted field. Here 

 while peering into the willow clumps I spied a 

 nest, and on it was mother shrike. 



The nest was built of silvery weeds and other 

 coarse material and was placed about seven feet 

 from the ground in a dead willow clump on the 

 northwest corner of the little thicket. When I 

 noticed it, the old bird's burglar-visage was peer- 

 ing over the rim, but not till I stood right below 

 her did she deign to notice me. Then she vacated 

 the nest, and in a strangely unconcerned sort of 

 way eyed me stolidly from a distance of three or 

 four feet. Not a sound did she or her mate utter 

 even when I gently slipped my fingers into the 

 nest to count the gray-specked treasures — six of 

 them. With some birds this would have been a 



