THE OSPREY. 



observer know about the ways of a bird. 

 There is a strong- touch of human in the 

 seriousness with which I have been tokl 

 that this (and other like birds) while 

 abundemt in summer, do not nest at Heron 

 Lake. In truth, I once thoug-ht thus my- 

 self! 



I have but two seasons' record for the 

 Heron Lake habitat. According- to these, 

 the Terns beg-in to arrive about April 7th, 

 coming-, first, in sing-les or trios, then in 

 squads, and later, in strag-g-ling- flocks 

 that never become very larg-e. 



The first apparent Spring--time food 

 consists of dead fish and frog-s and other 

 aquatica that have perished in the win- 

 ter ice, and are being- revealed as the lat- 

 ter melts beneath the sun. At first the 

 Terns creep, scout-like, on the wing-, 

 along- the thawing- shores. Then, as heat 

 and wind-wave melt and crush the ice- 

 bonds of the lake, the Tern speedil}- as- 

 sumes the hawk-like (or swallow-like) 

 habit, wandering-, fitfulh' over the newlv 

 released waters with eye alert, beak point- 

 ing- downward, and with many a shrill 

 but cheery cry of self-g-ratification or of 

 brotherly g-ood-will. 



He knows not fear. As one rows iimong- 

 the innumerable "copses" of rush and 

 flag-, bent on reaching- the Mallard's feed- 

 ing- g-round, a skirmish-line of Terns will 

 wander by, twenty-, fifteen, ten feet over- 

 head, furiously, without swerving- a wing-- 

 breadth from their course, the one or two 

 that are passing- eye curiously the dumb 

 decoys in the boat's belly, and then saun- 

 ter on with a rattling- "jeer" of derision 

 at the hunter who toils at the oar, and 

 who, unlike the Tern, is never quite sure 

 of his g-ame. But then, our black-capped 

 jseg-er hunts all day! 



A thoroug-hly mis-avian spirit is he. 

 While sociable among- his kind, and, to 

 them, moderately- g-ood-tempered (except 

 in the breeding--time ), he is radically hos- 

 tile to all other birds. A veritable Ish- 

 mael among- the water-fowl, his spirit, 

 both of courag-e and of mean cowardice, 

 is never so clearly portra^'ed as when, by 

 mutual encroachment upon favorable wa- 

 ters, many species other than those of his 

 feather flock tog-ether. 



I shall never forg-et one day in early 

 May when, as the sempiternal south wind 

 swept the wide expanse of rush and g-rass 

 and cane along- the southern shore of He- 

 ron Lake, I drew a heavy boat, wife and 



baby laden, after a stern pull across the 

 well-nig-h drenching- waves, into a wide 

 and sheltered ba}'. There had been, re- 

 cently, a strong- north wind and many a 

 raft of appetizing- flotsam lav along- the 

 wave-whipped mucky shores. 



Dozens of little waders of half-a-dozen 

 sorts were winnowing- the ooze along^ the 

 mud-flats laid bare by the receding- waves; 

 a sing-le King- Plover stood in petrified 

 astonishment not ten feet from the boat's 

 bow, innocent brig-htness beaming- from 

 between his rounded coral eyelids; g-reat 

 awkward companies of Nig-lit Herons 

 went flai>ping- away in ridiculous terror; 



sorts of 



sweeping- 



of color; 



Hung-ry 



widely. 



and, overhead, as many 

 ducks, in whilom bevies, went 

 by. What bewildering- maze 

 what exquisiteness of motion! 

 black Terns were wanderinj 

 hovering- a moment, and then lig-htlv and 

 swiftly dropping- to touch the water for 

 one brief instant; an occasional squadron 

 of Franklin Gulls paused, in their dig-ni- 

 fied processions, to hawk for a bit among- 

 the invisible insect armies overhead; and, 

 withal, a spiteful troop of Forstcr's Terns 

 were scattered everywhere, expressing-, 

 with shrillest indig-nation their resent- 

 ment at the invasion of their favorite 

 hunting--g-round by all this feathered troop 

 and rabble. 



And very justly were they indig-nant. 

 This was, not merely feeding- g-round, but 

 breeding- g-round — that is to say, if one 

 may take a Tern's word for the extent of 

 territory, adjacent to the breeding- spot, 

 over which he asserts the rig-ht of emi- 

 nent domain. Not 5U0 3"ards from the 

 very bay is the area of watery marsh- 

 marg-in wherein, the previous autumn, 

 the muskrat had built their huts, and the 

 Terns were now laying- their eg-g-s. 



Plodding- heavily from the waterline up 

 the miry shore, one strikes throug-h a nar- 

 row belt of coarse rank g-rass, g-rowing- 

 rather in mats than in bog-g-y tussocks, 

 with an occasional clump of flimsy willow 

 lifting- up a weak apolog-y for existence, 

 and, as he pushes onward, suddenly steps 

 off into an areaof water densely islanded, 

 in spots, with cane-bog-s and studded with 

 g-roups of rushes and an occasional copse 

 of cat tail, or sweet-flag-. The water in 

 this reedy strip was at the time in ques- 

 tion — May of 1894— from 18 to 30 inches 

 deep, to say nothing- of the mud! 



On the 2bth of May, I beg-an to explore 



