186 The Wilson Bulletin — No. 65. 



OCTOBER BIRDS OF WALL LAKE, SOUTH DAKOTA. 



BY ADRIAN LARSON. 



The following notes are from observations made from Octo- 

 ber 12 to 23 inclusive at Wall Lake and the surrounding 

 country for a radius of about two miles. 



Wall Lake, which lies about twelve miles west of Sioux 

 Falls, is somewhat triangular in shape, being nearly a mile 

 long and about three-quarters of a mile wide. Its greatest 

 depth is about fourteen feet. It is fed by springs, but were 

 it not for the heavy snow and spring rains for the last few 

 years the lake would be much smaller. 



The shore line is marked mostly by small boulders, except 

 for a long stretch of sandy beach at the south end. 



The banks of the lake are covered with a small growth of 

 such timber as the willow, cottonwood, ash, box-elder and soft 

 maple, with a plum or choke-cherry thicket, interspersed with 

 locust, gooseberry and other bushes, scattered here and there. 



The margins of the lake, mostly on the east, but also a little 

 on the south and west sides, are covered with rushes which 

 extend out about a hundred feet from shore, and scattered 

 throughout the lake are the various fresh water aquatic plants. 



There is an abundance of small fish, frogs, and water newts 

 in the lake, which make it a great resort for the fish-eating 

 waterfowl. 



To the south, west, and north of the lake are scattered 

 the innumerable sloughs which vary in depth from about 

 dried up to six or more feet deep ; these sloughs are covered 

 more or less with wild rice, and other water grasses. 



The weather for the first four days was mostly clear, with 

 the wind from the south ; the 17th and 18th, were cloudy days, 

 with the wind from the north ; on the 19th the wind changed 

 to southeast which brought a small shower ; on the 20th it was 

 cloudy with a light southerly wind ; on the 21st the wind 

 changed around to north and the air became cooler and the 

 sky cloudier and continued this way until the 23rd, when it 

 brought on a fine snow which soon changed to rain. 



