Feb. 1891.] 



AND OOLOGIST. 



21 



tlie nest I saw tlieie were more eggs. I have 

 placed the seven eggs in one tray as a single 

 set, although it is probably larger than was 

 originally intentleil. Xo two of them are 

 marked alike, but they are about the hand- 

 somest set of eggs I ever saw. The nest, I 

 have it yet, is smaller than those of Cooper's 

 Hawks but is exactly like them in composition, 

 — hemlock, bark and all. I). D. Stone. 



Oswego, N. Y. 



The Least Bittern and Long-billed 

 Marsh Wren at Mud Lake. 



Mud Lake is one of those numerous, small 

 bodies of stagnant water that are to be found 

 scattered all through Oakland County, where 

 it is said there are by actual count over two 

 hundred lakes, some of them large, beautiful, 

 clear sheets of water covering beds of gravel 

 and rock, while others, by far the more numer- 

 ous, are of the Mud Jjake sort, merely great 

 treacherous bogs and "sink holes," usually 

 covered with water, with mar.shy shores, and the 

 larger part of the lake proper, grown to various 

 reeds and rushes, affording breeding grounds for 

 myriads of swamp biids, as well as si)len<lid 

 cover for pickerel and the beautiful and gamy 

 little speckled bass. 



As our party api)i<>aclie(l the lake the .'id of 

 June, 1887, we were tilled with that sense of 

 exhilaration and freedom that attends a day's 

 outing among the birds, especially if you are 

 approaching "new ground" and are expecting 

 to meet new species. A loud, discordant 

 cackle coming from somewhere out in the 

 vast sea of waving rushes, together with the 

 liner, more musical notes of numerous small 

 birds that were to be seen flitting here and 

 there, now making short flights and 

 settling on the bending tops of the reeds, 

 now hovering over some spot of seeming inter- 

 est. A low flying Heron here, and a group of 

 some species of Ducks away off on the lake to 

 the right or left, together with the freshness 

 of the spring morning, all served to ,aild to 

 our enthusiasm and make the prospect of the 

 trip delightful. It all hajipened long ago, 

 but as I look back it is all vividly brought back 

 to my memory, and is one of the pleasant 

 things that serve to connect the present with 

 the past. 



All are, I presume, familiar with the nesting 

 habits of the Long-billed Marsh Wren, so to 

 recount their already well-known traits would 

 prove a bore. Sever.al fine sets in vaiicnis 



stages of incubation were secured, and the 

 usual circumstances of the duplicate nest 

 building noted. They are lively, cheerful lit- 

 tle fellows, and their songs are as melodious as 

 they are peculiar. They were there nesting in 

 great numbers, and on every hand have their 

 compact grass and reed nests securely fastened 

 about midway up the coarse stalks of the 

 reeds. 



I have rarely seen anything j)ublislied re- 

 garding the domestic traits and habits of the 

 graceful and attractive little Bittern with its 

 rich and varied markings of chestnut brown, 

 black and bright yellow, its straw-colored 

 bill and iris and the intense blackness of 

 its tiny bead-like sights that seem to lose 

 none of their animation even in death. 

 They were nesting about the lake wherever 

 a suitable place could be found, but we 

 found them in greater numbers on a boggy, 

 springy island that occupied to some 

 considerable extent the surface of the 

 lake. Here their nests were built either upon 

 platforms of fallen reeds or woven midway up 

 the shafts of the standing ones. The nest is a 

 rude affair, merely a loosely constructed plat- 

 form of dog reed stems with a depression 

 scarcely adequate to contain the coni])l(nu'nt 

 of four pale green ur bluish-white uus|iotted 

 eggs that resemble somewhat those of the 

 Yellow-billed Cuckoo. The birds themselves 

 are very undemonstrative, merely making oft' 

 in a succession of jerky, awkward flaps, cran- 

 ing their long necks from side to side, and 

 perhaps uttering one or two (juick notes of 

 alarm when flushed from lluir nest or the 

 close cover of the rushes. We succeeded in 

 capturirg a fine male bird alive, which had 

 somehow got into the water, and as he could 

 not ii.se we, by a little maiiojuvering, got him 

 ashore. And as his feathers were wet and 

 heavy it placed him at oui' disposal, which di>- 

 posal reflects great credit on the taxidermnl 

 skill of the member of our combination who 

 represents that branch of applied science. 



A spring or two later Mr. W. A. Davidson of 

 Detroit had the good fortune to di.scover a nest 

 of the queer and rare little Saw-whet Owl. 

 The nest contained four eggs, and upon ex- 

 amining the female bird which he killed with 

 a stick as she left the nest, he discovered an 

 egg in utero which he by the exercise of his 

 knowledge of obstetrics succeeded in abstract- 

 ing. The nest was in a grove of tamaiacks 

 on the banks of Mud Lake. 



I have no doubt that a ra(ue thorough in- 

 vestigation of the vicinitv of the hike wipuld 



