38 Bird-Nrsiin;/ 



calling out " Tewitt," and they do not settle down until the in- 

 truder has retired to a considerable distajice. These birds are 

 very annoying, for they alarm the whole neighljourhood witli 

 their cries, which cause many of the l)irds to leave their nests 

 and thus spoils the collector's chances of Hushing other Inrds 

 off their nests. The eggs of the kildeer are rather handsome, 

 and a lai'ge series makes a tine dis])lay. Tlie groinid colour is 

 usually clay, sometimes drab, thickly spotted and l)lotched 

 with black and gfrev shell marking-s : some clutches have a 

 scratchy pattern of lines and sjiots. In size they average 

 1.53x1.10. My next find was a nest and four eggs of the 

 yellowshank, the nest consisting of a saucer-shaped hollow in 

 the ground, lined with grass, after the fashion of other plovers. 

 The eggs are smallei- and not so broad as those of the Bar- 

 tram's sandpiper, and are more ]:)ointed and pyriform. The 

 ground colour is like some specimens of the field plover, but 

 tile markings are Itoldei-. The eggs have a l)uffy clay ground, 

 and are thickly spotted with various shades of bi"own, with, 

 lunnerous shell markings of grey. 



Like the Wilson's snipe, the yellowlegs ar^^- not mniiprous on 

 the prairies of i\lanitol)a and Assinil)oia : both species become 

 more abundant northward towards the Saskatchewan region. 

 Yellowlegs are more numerous at Bittern Lake, near Eclmond- 

 ton, and are common in the neighbourhood of Little Slave 

 Lake. It \\'as now live o'clock, and as my horse was getting 

 restless, and kejit turning his head homeward, and moving off" 

 of his own accord, 1 concluded to leave this charming spot 

 and return to Moosejaw. But just tlien a couple of curlews 

 aro.se, so I left the horse and l)Uggy and went after them. 

 Bang went the gmi, Imt it was a miss this time, and the curlews 

 Hew away to some distance. I was searcliing the spot foi- 

 their nest, when, looking up I beheld the liorse and l)Uggv 

 going at a steady pace across the praii'ie. T at once gave 

 chase, calling out, " whow, whow, " as 1 ran aloup', but the horse 

 took no notice, but kept on at a steady trot. After running 

 (juarter of a mile he l)egan to gain on mc and I was almost 

 out of breatli I'unning and calling on him to stop, and I found 



