THE OSPREY. 



41 



clump of weeds, for there was no telling what 

 picture of consternation — poor thing! I gazed 

 the search indicated that they must have reg- 

 ular bushes, or nothing. There proved to be 

 but one clump of bushes on the island, and 

 this not rose, but the common brush. "There 

 must be a Scoter in here," I thought. With 

 the end of my gun-barrel I cautiously parted 

 the bushes and looked in. There, about a yard 

 from me, sat a female Scoter, looking the very 

 picture of consternation — poor thing. I gazed 

 and gazed. She kept perfectly still and re- 

 turned my stare, ily thought then was to get 

 the camera from the boat and photograph her. 

 So I cautiously withdrew. But the bird recov- 

 ered her presence of mind. The bushes parted, 

 and out she waddled directly toward me, al- 

 most brushing against me. then taking to 

 wing, to drop into the lake and then dive. This 

 nest contained thirteen fresh eggs. All day I 

 could see Scoters singly or in pairs swimming 

 in the lake, and verj- probably there were 

 more of them breeding on the shores of the 

 mainland adjacent, thoug'h I had no time to 

 search there. 



The dav's work reveals several facts about 



the nesting of the White-winged Scoter, at 

 least in this locality. First, they lay their eggs 

 almost on the bare ground, in a frail, rude 

 nest. Second, the spot chosen is a clump of 

 bushes. Their seeming- preference for rose 

 bushes, however, may have been due to lack of 

 other kinds. Third, the nesting time is very 

 late, and full sets of eggs can not be expected 

 before the last of June or first week in July. 



The other finds on this island were four sets 

 of Lesser Scaup's eggs, three of Baldpate's, one 

 of Gadwall's — eight eggs, just hatching — and 

 one set of Spotted Sandpiper's. 



This is certainly a remarkable locality. To 

 find upward of fifty sets of ducks' eggs in a day 

 is by no means a common occurrence, even in 

 Dakota. My companion's estimate was sixty 

 sets.but I havestatedit well within bounds. The 

 copious notes and the series of photographs, 

 eggs and skins, secured here and elsewhere on 

 the trip, are a fruitful source of pleasure to 

 me. Of many interesting localities visited, one 

 comes most often to mind. Many are the times 

 that T dream of, and long again to set foot 

 upon. "The Enchanted Isles." 



NESTING OF THE WHITE-THROATED SWIFT. 



By Hakold C. VV.iiiij, .Mciuteruy, ( al. 



STARTED out to collect 

 some Farallone Cornjo- 

 rant's and Western GuH'b 

 eggs from the rooks off 

 the coast "f Monteiey 

 County, California, witli 

 Mr. R. S. Wlieeler, on 

 June 2, 1898. The fiist 

 night we stopped at the 

 old town of Montere , 

 and next morning drove 

 about 20 miles down the coast to some large 

 rocks that lav onc-r|uarter of a mile or less 

 off shore. Mr. Wheeler took about 200 sets of 

 Cormorant's eggs two years ago from these 

 same rocks. As the boat which he used the 

 last time was gone, we employed two Japanese 

 fishermen to take us out. The fisliernien live 

 about three miles from the rookery, so we 

 had them row the boat along shore, while we 

 walked along the beach until opposite the 

 rocks and then got in the boat. .'Vfter land- 

 ing on the rocks the only eggs we found were 

 about fifty sets of Western Gull's. There were 

 hvmdreds of Cormorants in sight, but no eggs 

 I su])pose it was too early for them, as 



Wheeler had made his haul on June 20; but 

 at that time he also found young birds, about 

 half grown. 



After spending an hour on the rocks we 

 set out for shore, and as the surf was break- 

 ing too heavily to land at the place we starteti 

 from, we inade for a little sandy cove about a 

 quarter of a mile further down the coast, in 

 order to beach the boat. We had to take our 

 shoes and stockings off to get ashore. After 

 a little while 1 noticed some birds, which at 

 first T supposed were Cliff Swallows. In about 

 (en minutes they came down lower, and I saw 

 they were Swifts. .Just then one of them 

 fiew into a small crack in a cliff about 30 



feet over my head. I called "Red's" attention 

 to it (we call Wheeler "Red" because he has 

 j'cUow hail-), but he said I must be dreaming, 

 as he had never known of Swifts in that local- 

 ity. The next thing was to get at the nest, 

 which was about 15 feet from the top of the 

 cliff. I went half a mile back into the woods 

 to an Italian's ranch, and asked the old lady 

 to let me have her roije for a few minutes, as 

 I saw one hanging in a coil on the fence. She 

 replied, "no rope;" but I pointed to the one 

 on the fence and told her that if she was 

 afraid that I would not return it, I would 

 leave $20 on deposit w-ith her as security. At 

 last she said I could take it for one hour, bul 

 to be sure and bring it back, as she wanted 

 to catch her cow with it at milking time. 



On the top of the rocky bluif was a small 

 pine tree to which I tied the rope and then 

 climljcd down. By putting my eye to the 

 crack and looking in about 2% feet, I could 

 see the nest wedged in between the two walls 

 I only had an old horseshoe and a round cob- 

 ble stone for tools; so you can imagine how ] 

 had to work. I thought if the old lady at the 

 ranch was depending upon that rope for milk 

 she would not get much supper. Finally I 

 reached the nest and found, to my sorrow, that 

 a small chip had drop])ed into it and dented 

 two of the three immaculate white eggs, but 

 left one perfect. The Swifts are very tame 

 w-hen in the rocks, as I caught the female bird 

 by the tail and pulled her off the nest. While 

 I was digging with the horseshoe, she kept up 

 a faint squeaking that made me think there 

 were young birds in the nest, and T came very 

 near giving up the job. The nest was com- 

 posed of feathers of all colors and a few pine 

 needles, but was lined entirely with white 

 feathers. There were two feathers about 5 

 inches long, which it was difficult to under- 



