SOME BIRDS OF THE YELLOWSTONE 



133 



face. This secured delay enough to let 

 the duckling gain a lead. Soon the race 

 was on again and the enemy was get- 

 ting uncomfortably near. The mother 

 drove him off a second time, and yet a 

 third time, before she had her brood 

 safe on shore. 



Some of the big Canada geese stay 

 in Yellowstone Park all winter, finding 

 favorable conditions along the rivers 

 kept open by the hot-spring water. But 

 most of them arrive from the South in 

 early April, and then the ponds and 

 flooded meadows are a riot of noise. The 

 "honk-ah-honk" of geese flying far up 

 overhead is a silvery, musical note ; but 

 heard near at hand, especially on a cold, 

 stormy morning when the tired camper 

 is trying to sleep, it arouses other feel- 

 ings than appreciation of musical qual- 

 ity. Geese are long-lived and are be- 

 lieved to mate for life, yet every spring 

 they become as restless and ardent as 

 any of the courting song birds. After 

 the selection of the nest site, usually 

 the top of a beaver house, a rock sur- 

 rounded by M^ater, or a low mound of 

 some kind, the birds settle down and 

 give their whole attention to important 

 affairs. There is no nest building be- 

 yond lining a slight hollow with a few 

 feathers from the goose's breast. About 

 eight eggs are laid and the goslings ap- 

 pear late in May. It is amusing to see 

 the old goose swimming across a pond 

 with her little ones strung out at regu- 

 lar intervals behind — just as if she were 

 a tugboat towing a string of barges. 

 About four hundred pairs of geese are 

 believed to nest within Yellowstone 

 Park. Like the mallards, the geese be- 

 come very tame, and are an unfailing 

 source of interest. 



I know of no place where protection 

 makes the big hawks as tame and as 

 easily studied as in Yellowstone. Or- 

 dinarilv hawks are so hunted and har- 



ried that the bird-lover must devote 

 considerable time to them before he can 

 say he knows them. Here everything 

 helps the acquaintance. Few of us have 

 much love for the fierce accipitrine 

 hawks, but fortunately these are rare. 

 The western red-tail is the largest hawk, 

 but he does even less damage than his 

 eastern relative, and confines his atten- 

 tions almost exclusively to gopher and 

 ground squirrel. It is Swainson's hawk 

 that upsets one's preconceived notions 

 of hawks. This species is nearly as 

 large as the red-tail and much more 

 numerous, enough so in the open coun- 

 try to be called abundant. Even the 

 timid little wood warblers have so much 

 confidence in this big rodent catcher 

 that they fly fearlessly all about him 

 and even nest in his immediate neigh- 

 borhood. Both this hawk and the red- 

 tail vary much in color, from reddish 

 brown to almost black. The marsh 

 hawk is guilty elsewhere of killing 

 small birds; but in the park he too is 

 on his good behavior and devotes his 

 time to mice with an occasional frog or 

 small snake for relish. He is a pretty 

 chap when seen just skimming the 

 brush tops on his way to and fro across 

 the meadows. In places like the Peli- 

 can and Hayden valleys, the marsh 

 hawk is astonishingly abundant. It is 

 the little sparrow hawk, however, that 

 attracts the most attention. He does 

 not get up into the elevated sections 

 nor into the timber, but often he is the 

 only animated thing to be seen as we 

 ride through the lower, warmer open 

 country. 



In the southeastern part of Yellow- 

 stone Lake are two small islets known 

 collectively as "Molly Island." They 

 are low and consist of sand and gravel 

 with only a few bedraggled bushes, but 

 the big white pelicans find them a suit- 

 able nesting place. There every summer 



