152 



ORNITHOLOGIIST 



[Vol. 14-^o. 10 



o'clock in the afternoon, so I accordinoly made 

 myself comfortable, and with the window up 

 I took in the country as we flew by, and jotted 

 down things of interest. 



About the first thing that attracted my at- 

 tention was a fine Loon sitting majestically on 

 her nest out in the clear water of a pond, al- 

 though the train passed within thirty yards of 

 her, she did not appear tlie least concerned. 

 On my return, three weeks later, she was still 

 there with her mate swimming close by. As 

 we passed the town of Waconia I noticed a 

 female Robin sitting on the nest built on a 

 protruding stick of a wood-pile, but this is no 

 more odd than their building under the eaves 

 of a house and on the top of a small stump, 

 having seen nests in both situations. 



A little later, as we neared a small town, a 

 Red-tailed Hawk rose off its huge nest in plain 

 sight. Surely, I thought, no collector lives 

 there. At noon we stopped at a place for 

 dinner, and after that over, there was still 

 about ten minutes before the train started, so 

 I went down to some willows close by and 

 soon found three sets of Bronzed Grackles. 



As yet the country passed tli rough was not 

 unlike that of Minneapolis, hilly and woody, 

 but soon after dinner we struck the level 

 prairie. Quantities of birds were now con- 

 stantly in sight, the fields wei-e teeming with 

 Bobolinks. Western Meadow Larks, Sparrows 

 of various kinds, PMeld Plover and Killdeers 

 are very abundant. From every alkaline pool 

 Sandpipers rise in clouds as the train passes. 

 Large troups of Yellow-headed Blackbirds and 

 flocks of Ducks cross the prairie ph route from 

 slough to slough. An occasional Prairie Hen 

 rises out of the gi-ass and is oft" like the wind, 

 or a Short-eared Owl flops out of a marsh and 

 soon has an army of small birds worrying 

 after him. Marsh Hawks are quartering off 

 the ground in search of their favorite food. 

 On the whole it forms a grand picture, I want 

 to get out among them. I wonder if it will be 

 like that at Madison. This continued all 

 along. Occasionally I would get a glimpse of 

 a strange bird ; I could only satisfy myself by 

 saying I would get one like it at Madison. 



Well, I anived at my destination in due 

 time, and found Madison to be a thrifty young 

 prairie town of about 500 inhabitants. I was 

 met at the depot by my father, and after being 

 given the freedom of the store I busied myself 

 in rigging me vip a "shop" in the backroom 

 where I could "peel" my birds. After supper 

 I took a walk into the country which I found 

 very level; wherever there was a depression 



you were sure to find a marsh ; there were no 

 trees around except where they had been set 

 out around the farm houses. I flushed num- 

 bers of Le Contes Finches from the tall grass, 

 and the marshes were filled with the cries of 

 the retiring birds. That night I made arrange- 

 ments to go out in the morning with my father 

 and in the afternoon with the section boss on a 

 railroad velocipede. 



My father and I started at seven o'clock the 

 next morning and went out upon the railroad a 

 short distance. The first bird secured was a 

 Pectoral Sandpiper which rose from a pool of 

 water near tlie track. Before I had put my 

 bird away safely two more came flying over- 

 head, and were cut down nicely by my father 

 at a shot, proving he had not lost the "knack," 

 not having shot a gun for several years. I 

 next got a pair of Field Plover, one sitting and 

 the other as he started off. Upon skinning 

 the female I found a soft egg in her, pi-oving 

 that the breeding season had commenced. 

 Upon shooting a Le Contes Finch on the edge 

 of a marsh, numbers of Duck rose out and cir- 

 cled annind; among others I identified Mal- 

 lards, Gadwalls, Shovellers, Pintails, Canvas- 

 backs, Redheads, Blue-wing Teal, Wood Ducks, 

 and Ring-necks, all of which were evidently 

 breeding. Black Terns and Yellow-headed 

 Blackbirds were in abundance and breeding. 



From here we went to a large pasture, and I 

 was agreeably surprised to find Chestnut-col- 

 lared Longspurs in numbers, walking around 

 on the ground or mounted high in the air 

 singing for all they were worth. They were 

 mated and evidently breeding, a fact I found 

 to be true soon afterwards, collecting a fine 

 series of nine sets of their eggs, a description 

 of which I intend to give the readers of the 

 O. & O. at a later date. 



The birds were in fine spring plumage so I 

 collected a few pairs. Every little while large 

 flocks of Sandpipers would fly overhead, flock 

 after flock would go by, all headed in the same 

 direction, which gave me the idea there must 

 be a large marsh in that direction. Soon a 

 large fiock of Golden Plover went by with a 

 loud whistle of the wings; fine black-breasted 

 fellows they were, how I wished they were in 

 range. On our way back I secured a couple 

 more Le Contes Finch. 



When I reached home I went right to work 

 on the birds and had them put up before 

 dinner. In the meantime I took a "sling" 

 with some coarse shot and went over to a grove 

 of young poplars that had been planted. It 

 was alive with birds, being the only grove in 



