NOTES OF AN EGGING EXPEDITION TO SHOAL LAKE. 429 



some short intervals, continued during the fono\ving day. The third day was 

 dry and clear. In the evening' our hunters returned, bringing ducks, grebea, 

 and eggs in abundance. On their arrival at the hunting ground tliey were not 

 a little surprised to find others there before them. These people were from 

 Manitowaba lake, having transjiorted their little <lng-out canoes on carts drawn 

 by oxen over the very ground which our Indian friend had represented as one 

 continuous quagmire. However, as we had ahead}' made a good beginning, wo 

 decided on remaining where we were, and extended our excursions thence. As 

 soon as we had skinned our birds and emptied their eggs w"e took to the lake for 

 more, which operation we repeated from day to day, until we had secured a con- 

 siderable number of specimens. 



The annual resort of the Podiceps occidentalis to Shoal lake is, as has been 

 observed, '' remarkable." From the most reliable information that I could obtain 

 from the Indians at this place, it has never been seen on the lied river, nor on Lake 

 Winni])eg ; and I never heard of its having been seen anywhere in what is com- 

 monly known as Rupert's Land, except at Shoal lake and ilanitowaba ; and I 

 may add that it is also remarkable that there are very few grebes to be found in 

 any other of the bays connected with the lake, although all these bays abound 

 in reeds and rushes. Possibly these liirds prefer the bay on the north point, on 

 account of its being sheltered from the wiu<l ; and probably a greater facilit}^ for 

 obtaining food in tliat locality ma}' influence them in the choice they make. I 

 am inclined to think tliat the large grebes feed on aquatic plants. I opened 

 several of their gizzards and found nothing in them but grass. The western 

 grebes, when seen in groups on the smooth, unruffled waters of the lake, make 

 a splendid appearance, sometimes raising themselves out of the w'ater and flap- 

 ping thcjr W'ings, their white breasts. glistening in the sun like silver. They are 

 not timorous, but when alarmed they sink their bodies in the water, and if the 

 object of their fear still presents itself they plunge head foremost and dive, and 

 continue a long time under the water, often disappointing the expectations of their 

 pursuers by reappearing in a difterent direction from that anticipated. They 

 make their nests among the reeds, on the bent bulrushes of the last season ; the 

 frame or outer w'ork is of reeds and lined with grass from the l>ottom and reed 

 leaves. The nest is nearly on a level with the smTounding water, and may be 

 said to float at its "moorings," held there by the reeds. We found hundreds of 

 th!-se nests, containing two, three, and four eggs each ; I believe six to be the 

 highest number we found in any one. We took 13 grebes, of which the males 

 were larger than the females ; the largest males measured before skinning, 27:^ 

 by 36^ inches, and 14 inches round the body at the heads of the wings. Tli<o 

 largest female measured 24|^ by o2h inches. We shot not a few of them in the 

 act of leaving their nests, and most of them on being skinned proved to be 

 males ; which fact inclines me to believe that the male bird takes his turn in 

 sittino- on the eggs. 



The Pod(CC2)S auratus are very numerous in this bay. They make their nests 

 on the bulrushes, composed of the same material. We found as man\' as six 

 eggs in some nests, but in the greater number of nests only four. They are very 

 shy and expert divers ; are very common on the Red river, and breed in the 

 marshes near the lake. 



I may here observe that great numbers of night-herons breed here. They fix 

 their nests to the reeds eight or nine inches above the water, and deposit in eacli 

 four or five roundish, blue eggs. I think this is the only place in Rupert's Land 

 where this species is found. We gave them the "go-by" last sunnner. The 

 Indians call them kitche-geskman, /. c, big king-fisher. 



Ducks and their nests are found everywhere round the lake. Tlie ruddy duck 

 is sometimes found in s\vanq)3 near this river, but they are more numerous at 

 Shoal hd\e and ^Manitowaba. 



There are numbers of terns breeding annually at Shoal lake — some of -them 



