194 



THE OOLOOIST 



tained five for photographic purposes, 

 but after trying for more than half 

 the day to catch them in natural pos- 

 es had to give up in despair. The old 

 birds were not very fearless in de- 

 fense of their young as was shown 

 when we went out in the boat, for the 

 parent birds would merely scream ex- 

 citedly when we picked their young 

 out of the water. Occasionally they 

 would scoop at us but never did any 

 come close. 



While tramping thru the thick 

 grass bordering a small bay on the 

 south end of the island I flushed a 

 duck of some sort from her nest. As 

 the grass was so high I could only 

 follow the course she took by the 

 waving of the grass as she waddled 

 towards the water. Reaching the 

 edge of the bay she plumped in, swam 

 quietly thru the reeds, then pattered 

 along until she gained wing. The 

 view I had was sufficient to let me 

 know that it was a Red-breasted Mer- 

 ganser. During the search for the 

 nest I flushed a family of Mallards 

 which although fully fledged were 

 still able to fly. One was unfortunate 

 enough to try to make an escape by 

 land and as a result was captured. 

 Returning to finish the hunt for the 

 nest I was soon rewarded by discover- 

 ing a beautifully conceald home con- 

 taining ten well-incubated eggs. It 

 was in a deep depression in the 

 ground, between the main roots of 

 two small poplar saplings one of 

 which was across the front entrance 

 to the nest. The whole structure 

 was cleverly arched over with dead 

 grasses and the concealment was so 

 perfect that only by flushing the bird 

 vo'ilfi its pre'^ence be suspected. By 

 bending back the grass from the front 

 I was able to secure a tolerably good 

 picture of the eggs. All attempts at 

 photographing the old bird failed. 



Towards evening another nest of 



the Red-breasted Merganser was 

 found. This one was built beside an 

 old log around which several thick 

 bushes had grown, thus offering a 

 well-concealed nesting-site. The sev- 

 en eggs were quite fresh as was 

 shown by returning in three weeks to 

 find only two hatched. Whenever the 

 ovrncr of this nest departed for any 

 length of time she would completely 

 cover the eggs with down. This may 

 be clearly seen by the picture. 



During my entire stay only two 

 male Mergansers were seen although 

 at least a dozen females v/ere noted. 

 Both Black Ducks and Mallards were 

 breeding on the island but both had 

 young almost grown. At least one 

 pair of Common Terns bred there as 

 the old birds were seen with food, 

 but no young could be located. A 

 pair of Least Sandpipers were there 

 the entire three days of my stay but 

 they were undoubtedly early migrants 

 ar. Goose Island is too far south to be 

 included in their breeding range. 

 Twenty-five or more pairs of Spotted 

 Sandpipers made the island their 

 home and within an hour after our 

 arrival I accounted for five of their 

 nests containing the usual set of four. 

 All stages of young were found from 

 the newly-hatched to the fully-grown. 



The finding of a Song Sperrow'y 

 nest with one Cowbird's egg in it in- 

 terested me as no Cowbirds were 

 seen on the island and the nearest 

 land was four miles away. 



Could Goose Island only be made 

 a bird preserve it would no doubt be 

 of great benefit to a large number of 

 water and shore birds of the great 

 lakes region as it affords an admira- 

 ble breeding ground for Gulls, Terns. 

 Ducks, and Sandpipers. 



Albert D. McGrew 



Personal. 



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