Editorials 



145 



A Bi-monthly Magazine 

 Devoted to the Study and Protection of Birds 



OFFICIAL UKGAN <jF THE AUDUBON bUCIETIES 



Edited by FRANK M. CHAPMAN 

 Published by THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 



Vol. Ill 



Published August 1. 1901 



No. 4 



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COPYRIGHTED, 1901, BY FRANK M. CHAPMAN. 



Bird-Lore's Motto: 

 A Bird in the Bush is Worth Two in the Hand. 



We had in mind an editorial on the tenth 

 Supplement to the American Ornitholo- 

 gists' Union's 'Check-List,' which presents 

 the results of the deliberations of the 

 Union's Committee on Classification and 

 Nomenclature, at its session held in Wash- 

 itifiton, in April last ('The Auk,' July, 

 1901, pp. 295-320), but our surroundings 

 are so little in harmony with the technicali- 

 ties of ornithology that we may well leave 

 our proposed remarks until it is our misfor- 

 tune to return to the editorial desk and in 

 the meantime hope that all Bird-Lore's 

 readers are as near the heart of the bird 

 world as this 3d of July finds us. 



I'lie days are long in this latitude. For 

 birds they begin at half after three in the 

 morning and eighteen hours have passed be- 

 fore the last bird's voice is hushed. One 

 wonders whether the greater amount of 

 food received per day does not here increase 

 the rapidity of nestlings' growth and 

 shorten their time in the fH>t. 



There is no marked sultr\ nooiidiu 

 peri(jd, but from morning imtil night bir(i> 

 ran be seen and heard in numbers. 



lit the ea>tcrn i)ird sludcni doubtks> 

 one of the most striking sigiits in the binl- 

 life of this region is furnished by the l^rairic 

 (julN and Terns. 



Experience has so taught us to associate 

 these birds with bays and sandy beaches, 

 where alone their food is to be found, that 

 it is not a little surprising to look from your 

 tent door in the early morning and find the 

 prairie round about dotted with Franklin's 

 Gulls, looking more like chickens at first 

 sight than members of the genus Larus. 



Nor does one soon tire of the novelty of 

 seeing these same beautiful birds or active 

 Black Terns hovering thick over the plough- 

 man in eager quest of grubs in the length- 

 ening furrow. These Terns resemble 

 Swallows in habit as much as anything. 

 They appear to feed exclusively on insects, 

 and it is only when high winds set the 

 prairie grasses rolling in long billows, over 

 which they glide lightly, hovering here and 

 there to pick an insect from a grassy crest, 

 that one is reminded of their relationship. 



It was not, however, prairie birds that 

 brought us to this region, but the feathered 

 inhabitants of Shoal Lake itself with its often 

 mile wide fringe of reeds and marshes. 

 Here are to be found breeding. Grebes of at 

 least three species — Western, Halboell's, 

 and Pied-billed — White - winged Scoters, 

 Mallards, Blue-winged Teal, Shoveller's, 

 Scaups, and other Ducks; Sora, \^irginea, 

 and probably the Yellow Rail; Coots, or 

 Waterhens, as they are much better called, 

 in great abundance, ^ ellow-headed Black- 

 birds beyond calculation. Red -winged 

 Blackbirds and Long-billed Marsh Wrens. 



In the immediately surroimding prairies 

 are Wilson's Phalaropes and Nelson's 

 Sharp-tailed Finches, and on little rocky 

 islets, or reefs, as they are locally known. 

 Common Terns, Herring CJulls, Double- 

 crested Cormorants and White Pelicans 

 find secure nesting places. 



But it is the life of the reeds which hoKIs 

 the strongest interest for the bird student at 

 Shoal Lake. In the endless reed forests 

 anything is possible, and from them as I 

 write (at 10 i*. M.) there issues a chorus of 

 weird groans, whities and calls comparable 

 to nothing known to man and which it re- 

 i|uires little imagination to believe are ut- 

 tered by creatures tliemselves unknown to 

 man. 



Shoal lake. Manit'iha . Jul\' 3, 1901. 



