4() Biril-Nextliui 



side of iny feet, giving me a sudden start, and there in a hole 

 underneath a chnnp of rushes I discovered a beautiful nest of 

 twelve eggs of the American widgeon. I could see the eggs 

 were fresh, and, as 1 was parched with thirst by the broiling 

 sun and we could not reach the water of the lake owing to the 

 belt of mud, 1 took out an egg drill and, lioi-ing a hole in the 

 side, 1 sucked foin- eggs and found them \'ery good, and re- 

 freshing. This nest of the baldpate consisted of a hollow in the 

 sand one foot in diameter, and this was thickly lined with grass, 

 and feathers and down, on which rested the twelve pale buff- 

 coloured eggs. Hie American widgeon appears to be a latei' 

 breeder than most otlier ducks. I have a clutch of ten eggs that 

 were taken on the bst of June, 1<SJ)0, in Miner County, South 

 Dakota, and another clutch of eleven eggs that were collected 

 in Minnesota, June lOth, and another of seven eggs that were 

 taken June !>tli, 1S!H), so this species seems to nest late, even 

 much further south than Manitol)a. l^r. Cones, in his " Birds 

 of the North-West, ' says, "In Northern Dakota I was siu'- 

 prised to find young widgeons still unable to Hy, even as late 

 as the middle of Septend)ei', at a time when all other ducks ob- 

 served were on the wing." The eggs of the baldpate are like those 

 of the Eui'opeaii widgeon, pale creamy liufi'in colour, but are 

 smaller, averaging 2.10x1.50. As we had now more birds and 

 eggs than we could cany, we hid them from hawks and vul- 

 tures, and fastened a piece of paper to some tall rushes, so that 

 we could easily tind the spot on our return. We then directed 

 our steps to the south shore of the lake, and on our way startled 

 three joracefnl anteloi)es, which bounded away at a tremendous 

 speed, and wei-e soon out of sight. On reaching the southern 

 end of Rush Lake we found avosets very lunnerous and shot 

 three handsome specimens: tlie}^ were evidently nesting some- 

 where in the vicinity, but we were unable to find their nests. 

 Three kildeei-s had nests containing four eggs each, and we 

 also flushed a Wilson's snipe, which Hew up calling out " escape," 

 and, suiting the action to the word, dashed away and aliglited 

 in the rushes sonie distance off! We soon found its nest, a 

 sliii'ht hollow in the m-ound lined with bits of drift rushes, 



