126 



THE OOLOGIST 



The Nesting of the Greater Yellow- 

 legs in Manitoba. 



(Totanus melanolcucus) 

 Last year (1914) the Greater Yellow- 

 legs was only a migrant In this part 

 of Manitoba. During the whole sum- 

 mer I did not see a single individual, 

 until late in the autumn they arrived 

 here in great numbers from their 

 northern breeding grounds. If any of 

 them remained here during the sum 

 mer, they were so few that they en- 

 tirely escaped by observation. 



This year (1915) several pair re 

 mained here to breed. I am certain ol 

 at least three pair breeding within a 

 radius of four miles from my home. 

 One particular pair was constantly 

 seen at our lake shore not more than 

 two hundred yards from the house. It 

 is hardly necessary to mention that 1 

 paid very close attention to the move- 

 ments of these birds, having a slight 

 hope of being able to locate their nest. 

 One morning in June, while I was 

 with one of my neighbors building a 

 fence through a slough, the big Yellow- 

 legs were there also and appeared to 

 be very much agitated about our pres- 

 ence. I felt sure that their home was 

 somewhere near and partly forgetting 

 my work, I commenced to match my 

 wits against theirs. For the whole day 

 this state of affairs continued and I 

 must admit that I was completely de- 

 feated in the end. I hunted and watch- 

 ed the motions of the birds, but all 

 that I gained by my efforts was the 

 satisfaction of knowing that the fe- 

 male was setting somewhere, as she 

 put in an appearance only once dur- 

 ing the whole afternoon, while her 

 mate circled about us nearly all the 

 time; sometimes disappearing for half 

 an hour or more and then returning 

 again; but I never saw him perch on 

 any of the nearby tree-tops, a fact that 

 at last made me think that the nest 

 was not, after all, as near as the anx- 

 iety of the birds indicated. 



On the following day, June 24th, 

 while on my way to look over some 

 government haylands, I had to drive 

 over a very nasty swamp, where no 

 rig had ever passed before. This was 

 about a quarter of a mile from the 

 place where we had been building th( 

 fence on the day previous. Every 

 thing went smooth until I was on the 

 far side of the swamp where I saw a 

 very soft and spongy looking spot 

 right ahead of the horses. There was 

 no way of getting around it, I either 

 had to go over it or turn back entire- 

 ly as Birch Lake was about two hun- 

 dred yards on the right side of me and 

 a small pond nearer still on the left. 

 An old moose trail led through the 

 swamp. For a moment 1 hesitated, 

 then, thinking that as a moose had 

 gone through it, the horses ought to 

 be able to do the same, I gave them 

 the word of comamnd to go ahead. 

 The obedient animals plunged at once 

 into it and in a moment were wallow- 

 ing up to their bellies in mud. Now 

 and not before, the thought flashed 

 through my mind that the moose that 

 had made the trail had no wagon to 

 pull through the mud hole. 



The following moments certainly 

 were full of excitement, but in about 

 thirty seconds we had "made it" and 

 were on the other side on "terra firma" 

 once more. "Whoa," I yelled to the 

 horses to give them a chance to take 

 their wind and at that very moment a 

 bird flew up right in front of the front 

 wheel of the wagon. "Killdeer!" said 

 the lad who was with me. "Like the 

 dickens," said I, for there within twen- 

 ty feet of us the Greater Yellow-legs 

 lit upon the ground and anxiously 

 started to watch our movements. I 

 looked over the dashboard of the 

 wagon and "lo and behold," there was 

 the nest not more than one foot from 

 the front wheel of the wagon. Less 

 than half a minute before this I re- 



