134 



THE OOLOGIST. 



mon Tern in my polleotioti. 1 1v' nests 

 were built of light dry rushes "cnrfJed 

 up" into a firm platform. They were 

 fully as large, hut much lighter than a 

 Coot's nest, and were small at the top 

 and deeply cupped. When the female 

 was on the nest she was entireh hidden 

 from sight, so deeply were ihe iiests 

 cupped. These White Terns Mere far 

 less pugnacious than the Black Terns. 

 The Black Terns are always n<>isy and 

 dart down toward you. even striking 

 your head as you near thei- nest, and 

 their cries may be taken as an index to 

 find their nest — "hot or cold" — as you 

 are near or far from the nest. But the 

 Forster's Tern simply flushed from the 

 nest and then flew around high over 

 head, uttering a few loud rasping cries, 

 but otherwise taking little apparent in- 

 terest in what was going on beneath 

 After a time the cries of the females 

 brought the males, and the birds thus 

 reinforced -about a dozen in number 

 now — screamed so loudly that the Frank- 

 lin's Gulls came nvm- to watch the in- 

 trusion. 



As it was getting time for us to b*i 

 thinking of going home, we turned to- 

 ward the colony "f Frankiiu's Gnlis. 

 They were nesting plentifully and most 

 of the nests contained three olive-cilor- 

 ed eggs, blotched and speckled vith 

 deeper olive brown. We watched tht; 

 odd birds for a time a- ihey screamed 

 and circled over head, and then we 

 went to shore, packed our eggs, and 

 started for lunch and the carriage. 

 Arrived there, we found Innch ready. 

 My brother had found a Plover's (Bar- 

 tramian Sandpiper) nest with four fresh 

 eggs and had dug out a Kingfisher's nest 

 with a slightly incubated set of seven. 

 I photographed the Plover's nest and 

 eggs, but the plate fogged aud so I was 

 disappointed in the only photo 1 tried 

 t© take. 



We got out of our wet, prickly clothes 

 as soon as we could, took a bath in a 

 secluded spot in the clear water of the 



creek, put on dry garments, ate our 

 lunch, to which the boys added warm 

 fried bass and hard boiled Coot's eggs, 

 and started for home. The day was 

 not very fruitful in eggs. We did not 

 take many sets— Virginia Rail, one- 

 six; Yellow headed Blackbird, two- 

 four; Americ^an Bittern, one four, 

 one three; Blue-winged Teal, one-nine; 

 Redhead, one-one; Eared Grebe, six- 

 four; Forster's Tern, six-three; 

 Franklin's Gull, four-three; Bartram- 

 iau Sandpiper, one-fnur; au<l King- 

 fisher, one-seven 



But I feel thit the time and 'disconi- 

 fort spent were amply repaid by the in- 

 teresting sights we saw and the habits 

 of the various species — all common — 

 noted. I have never aimed at a large 

 collection of eggs, but I have aimed at 

 a collection of uicely prepared sets 

 which I have taken myself and of which 

 1 know the complete history. 



Next year I hoptj to .«pend a week at 

 Heron Lake where I hope to make some 

 more observations — interesting at least 

 to myself — aud I hope to take some 

 good photo;;raphs, iov I aim hereafter 

 to take a photogr.ipli of every s«-t I add 

 to my collection. 



J. C. Knox, 

 Jackson, Minn. 



Sooty Grouse. 



In my opinion the Sooty (irrouse is 

 one of our finest same hir"!.-., they ;u-e 

 uf good sz a.id tiue flMvor, except in 

 thewiutei. wuen they live mostly on 

 fir leaves, at which tini'- they laste very 

 much like ihem. I'vvo and one half 

 pounds is a g md siz d Grouse, but I 

 killed one, a luale, that weighed three 

 and one-half pounds. This is the larg- 

 est one I ever saw. 



I took measurements of this bird, 

 whieh were the following: Length, 21 

 inches; extent, 29^ inches; wing, 9; tail, 

 7i; bill, 1; toes, 2i; claw, |; head, 2i; 

 the color of eye, oraiigf* brown; feet, 



