no Birds of Lakeside and Prairie 



hand. Out of curiosity I threw myself prone on the wet sod 

 at the side of the path and peered under the bridge. I 

 thought I should find something there, and I did find enough 

 to pay me for damp clothes and a strained neck. A phoebe's 

 nest of perfect architecture was fastened to one of the beams 

 of the bridge, with the mother bird holding faithfully by her 

 charge even in the face of the intruder. Father Phoebe from 

 his fence-post perch did not seem at all put out at the 

 encroachment on his dooryard. While the inspection of the 

 nest was going on he unconcernedly flew out, snapped up a 

 fugitive fly, and then went back to his post. After each of 

 us had taken a peep at the mossy structure under the bridge 

 we bothered the brave little mother no more. Within twenty- 

 five yards there was another foot-bridge, and on a cross-beam 

 beneath another pair of phoebes had a nest half completed. 



When the Kankakee overflows its banks and makes a 

 broad lake of a part of the country and a marsh-land of the 

 rest, this Indiana region is a favorite resort for gunners. 

 Some of the water birds linger late into the spring, many of 

 them staying weeks after the time that the law first gives 

 them protection from persecution. Some of the pools in the 

 meadows do not dry up until June, and there the hunter who 

 carries an opera-glass instead of a shotgun has a fleeting 

 chance to scrape acquaintance with strangers. We started 

 out after breakfast to seek the marshes. The way to them 

 was along a road which ran parallel to the river and through 

 a wood that was musical with the voices of birds. The 

 orioles of the Kankakee were a revelation to me. They were 

 there in great numbers, and were found not only in the trees 

 near the dwellings of men, but in the depths of the woods. 

 I never knew until that May morning that an oriole could 



