52 Bird-Nestincj 



CHAPTER IX. 



EXT morning (June 10th), while at breakfast, an 

 Indian walked into the house and offered the land- 

 lady the hind-quarter of an antelope for fifty cents. 

 She asked me if I would like some, and on my 

 approval she bought it. I found it to be excellent 

 meat, and almost lived on it for the next three days. 

 Some' Indians had arrived the night previous, and had 

 erected their tepees near the section house, opposite my bed- 

 room window. We were read}^ to start, so my new guide John 

 took my gun and we ascended the hills north of Rush Lake. 

 It was a lovely morning, and the sun glittered on the lake 

 below us. The prairie was covered with sw^eet-scented flowers, 

 their names unknown to me. There is a rich purple flower 

 that grows in patches many yards square ; they are found in 

 the hollows between the hills, and when seen from an elevation 

 they look like ponds of purple ink. There is another flower, 

 bright yellow in colour ; I call them wild calceolarias. They 

 also grow in great patches. McCown's longspurs were very 

 numerous, and we found several nests by flushing the birds 

 from before our feet. They flutter along the ground for a few 

 yards, and then, threading tlieir way through the short grass 

 for some distance, take wing. Their nests are made of fine 

 grasses, and lined with a few horse hairs ; tliey are built flush 

 with the sfround, and the brim of the nest is thick, but the 

 bottom is shallow. The nests are usually built at the side of a 

 tuft of grass. I w^as successful in obtaining a fine series of the 

 eggs of this species during my stay at Rush Lake, and also 

 found several nests at Moosejaw. The eggs can be distin- 

 guished from those of the chestnut-collared longspur by their 

 larger size, and the ground colour is usually darker, and the 

 markings heavier. Some clutches, however, so closely resemble 

 those of the chestnut-collared longspur as to be scarcely dis- 



