THE OSPREY. 



3t 



THE ENCHANTED ISLES. 



By Rev. Herbert K. Job, Norili Widdk-boro, Mass. 



UK purpose of this article 

 is to describe the 

 bird colonies on a 

 group of islands in the 

 Devil's Lake region that 

 I visited during a col- 

 lecting trip in North 

 Dakota in the spring of 

 1S9S. The islands are 

 four in number, small 

 as to area, barren as to 

 flora, stony and grassy as to 

 topography, and as to fauna — 

 I have named them as 1 have. 



My first visit was on May 23, a day iu a thou- 

 sand, clear and calm, ideal for photography. 

 What 1 shall call island JS'o. 1, because the 

 first visited, is the smallest of the group, per- 

 haps 100 yards long, and quite narrow. The 

 first sign of bird life as we approached was a 

 group of erect black objects, resembling in 

 the distance a companj- of soldiers drawn up 

 in line, which proved to be a colony of Double- 

 crested Cormorants on their nests. Soon we 

 could discern a mantle of white on the rest of 

 the island, and over it, too — another colon}-, of 

 King-billed Gulls. Even before the clamor 

 of the Gulls became audible, the honking of 

 Canada Geese rang out over the placid lake 

 from the island, exciting pleasant anticipa- 

 tions. A quarter of a mile away we were 

 when the shy Cormorants began to leave their 

 nests in detachments, flying around anxiously, 

 but at a distance. When close up the gulls all 

 rose, and the scene was indeed enlivening. 

 After taking a snapshot at the island and 

 Gulls, we landed, and our party of four pro- 

 ceeded to explore. 



Here was the Cormorant rookery close at 

 hand, with just 30 sets of 

 eggs— 2 of 5, 23 of 4, 3 of 

 3, and 2 of 2, besides a few 

 empty nests. With most 

 of the eggs incubation had 

 begun, though, for all 

 that, some of the sets may 

 not have been complete. 

 The nests were about two 

 rods from the shore, on ^ ^ 



clear rising ground, ar- 

 ranged in an iri-egular 

 curve, two or three deep. 

 Each nest was about a 

 foot in height, placed as 

 close as possible to the 

 next one, and made en- 

 tirely of sticks, with a lin- 

 ing of grass or weeds. So 

 compactly are the sticks 

 intertwined that the struc- 

 ture is a veritable unity. 

 I found one on the shore 

 of the mainland, where it 

 had apparently drifted in 

 a storm, with every stick 



still in place. The picture shows only a part 

 of the rookery. 



Just as we reached this interesting spot, a 

 female Gadwall flushed a few yards ahead of 



§^ 



us, and under a thick growth of tall, dry weed 

 stems was her downy nest, with 10 fresh 

 eggs. A few steps away, just at the top of the 

 beach and close to the boat, another Gadwall 

 went out from the grass at our feet almost 

 like a shot, leaving four eggs in a very small 

 nest that barely held them. 1 supposed it was 

 an incomplete set, but they proved to be 

 heavily incubated. Apparently the nest was 

 made "to fit the eggs, not finished before the 

 eggs were laid. 



We now had to be careful where we trod, for 

 eggs of Ring-billed Gulls lay all about us. Our 

 rough estimate was that there were from 200 

 to 300 nests on the island. Three was the al- 

 most invariable number of eggs in the sets, 

 only three or four sets of four being found — 

 one of which latter I photographed. Nearly 

 all the eggs were advanced a week or ten days 

 in incubation. The nests were not bulky, yet 

 substantial enough to give the eggs a soft 

 bed, and were built of weed-stems, drift-weed, 

 and grass, lined with feathers. 



A few of the Gulls seemed larger than the 

 rest, and mj- attention was called to the fact 

 that some of the eggs were large. We found 

 that the only sets of large eggs, seven in num- 

 ber, were in one group, in a row along the 

 upper part of the beach, adjacent to the Gad- 

 wall's set of four. It was a colony within a 

 colon}- — of the American Herring Gull. 



Now came the best find of all. Entering a 

 patch of sparsely-placed, tall, dry, woody- 

 stemmed weeds, there lay a wide, flat nest of 

 weed stems and grass, sui-mounted by a pile 

 of white down, through which something else 

 white peeped. Opening the nest to view, it 

 was a memorable experience to gaze upon the 

 sixgreat chalky eggs of the Canada Goose — my 







-4.— 3^ 



NESTS OF DOUBLE-CRE^TkLi r. i \l, i[v AM . 



first set. They were clean and almost fresh. 

 Strangely enough, the nest was so built as to 

 Include the rounded end of a rock projecting 

 from the ground, which received its share of 



