82 



THE OSPEEY. 



thirty niinntes, within a space twenty' yards 

 wide and one-fourth of a mile long'. My experi- 

 ence and observation of these wild and wary 

 creatures leads nie to believe that this record 

 will not soon be surpassed. One nest of either 

 of these birds per year would be creditable work 

 for a single searcher almost anywhere in the 

 Northwest. 



The junction of two coulees flowintf from 

 some considerable marshes and lakes has gradu- 

 ally cut a flat valley from one-quarter to one- 

 half a mile wide between high, blufty banks. 

 Spread out over this valley is generally a shal- 

 low sheet of marsh, through which the insignifi- 

 cant .stream finds its way. Last fall no rain 

 fell, and this whole valley, except a narrow strip 

 along the little stream, became entirely dry and 

 was swept bare by fierce prairie fires that black- 

 ened the surroundin.g country. A very light 

 snow fall last winter did little to restore the 

 usual wet spring conditions, and the i>nly 



available nesting situations in the region re- 

 maining to the Geese and Cranes were offered 

 by the narrow strip of rushes bordering the 

 slender stream through the center of the valley. 

 It was here that our search was so well rewarded. 

 On a small fiat hammock rising from the shal- 

 low water among the rushes lay the two big, 

 polished, drab-colored eggs of the Crane, with 

 light brown and gray markings. A few coarse 

 weed-stalks carelessly laid on the bare earth of 

 the hammock represented the sole effort at nest- 

 making of the pair of great birds that stalked 

 awkwardly back and forth on the opposite hills, 

 uttering their peculiar guttural croaks as we 

 trespassed on their preserves. This nest in its 

 general features and situation was almost iden- 

 tical with that taken by me two years before, 

 about a mile distant in the same valley. The 

 date, too, was also identical, and it is not impos- 

 sible that this was the same pair of birds. 



The three nests of the Canada Goose taken 

 here contained six, .seven, and eight eggs re- 

 spectively, and were not appreciably dilferent 

 from that described above, except that in each 

 case they were upon the ground and surrounded 

 by, instead of being placed over, water. One 

 pair of the Gee.se were inclined to be .somewhat 

 pugnacious, making angry dashes at me and 

 suddenly swerving' aside after the manner of 

 other smaller birds attempting defense of their 

 nests; and. as might be imagined, a big lit or 

 IS pound bird like this is capable of making' 

 quite a "bluff." 



On May 16 I took a set of five eg'gs of this 

 species that were evidently very far gone, and 

 though they were out of the nest fully four 

 hours before I reached home and got them under 

 a hen, yet all hatched the next day. Three sur- 

 vived and are now, of course, fidl grown. They 

 come at call, suffer handling readily and are 

 nuich like domestic Geese. Just now, in early 

 December, immense flocks 

 of Geese are passing- daily 

 in their migration south, 

 and as their stirring' /n>/iA- 

 resounds in the morning' 

 or evening' our three cap- 

 tives join in the cry and 

 vainly wave their crippled 

 wings in the effort to fol- 

 low their fellows over- 

 head. 



On July .^, accom- 

 panied by my .son, I dx'ove 

 to the extremity of a low, 

 flat point jutting' far out 

 into one of the arms of 

 Devil's Lake. On a 

 gi"assy spot we halted to 

 eat our lunch. Suddenly 

 a male Wil.son"s Phala- 

 rope started from its nest 

 .Mid four eg'gs in the 

 i:iidst of a slight tus- 

 .-nck of g'rass a dozen 

 feet awaj-. While focus- 

 sing' the camera on the 

 richly spotted eg'g's in the 

 nest I noted the clear, 

 flute-like note of the Belt- 

 ed Piping Plover, and 

 glancing- up saw the 

 pair running along the sandy beach some 50 

 feet away. Then we finished up our picture- 

 taking, and having turned the horse loo.se to 

 graze, opened up the hamper. A stretch of 

 clean, dry gravel and sand, scantily dotted with 

 weeds, lav between us and the shoi'e, and toward 

 this carefully crept a graceful Belted Piping 

 Plover. We were particular to make no unneces- 

 sary commotion and g^nadually she crept toward 

 us until in the space of ten minutes she had ap- 

 proached within 25 feet and remained motion- 

 less, only her upper parts being visible to us on 

 account of intervening weeds. Just then the 

 horse became entangled in its harness and it 

 was necessary to straighten him out. This 

 frightened away our little Piping Plover, 

 but it quickly returned and edged cautiou.sly 

 toward us again, until it had reached the iden- 

 tical spot from which it had been disturbed. In 

 the meantime the interrupted Phalarope was 



