156 Bird-Nesting 



In driving across the prairie I almost ran over a Bartram's 

 sandpiper, as she sat on her nest ; it took me some time to pull 

 the horse up, as he was so anxious to get home, and on turning 

 back I could not find the nest. Bartram's sandpipers sit very 

 close and will almost suflfer themselves to be stepped on before 

 taking flight. 



On my way back to the hotel I stopped at a wood of scrub oaks, 

 and saw a brown creeper climbing up a tree trunk, but was 

 unable to find its nest. Both this species and the winter wren 

 breed in the bluffs on the prairies. The brown creeper's nest 

 is usually found built between the loose bark of decayed trees, 

 it is made of twigs, leaves and bark ; the number of eggs is 

 from five to seven. 



A set of six eggs taken near Toronto, June 4th, 1889, are 

 similar to those of the chickadee. They are white, speckled 

 with reddish-brown, and the nest, a mass of twigs and leaves, 

 was crammed between the loose bark of a fir tree. 



Dr. Coues, in " Birds of the North- West," says : "I am unable 

 to perceive any difi'erence between American and European 

 examples of this bird, and I ain not aware that any tangible 

 character has been ascribed to our l:)ird by those writers who 

 have technically separated it." 



The winter wren also breeds throughout Manitoba, One is 

 recorded as having Imilt its nest in the pocket of a man's 

 coat that was hung on the door of a ferryman's house on the 

 Souris river. This bird also breeds near Toronto, Ontario, 

 wliere its nest is occasionally found in the upturned root of a 

 fallen tree, this also being a favourable site for this bird's nest 

 in England, where I have found it on many occasions. I have 

 come across its nest in various other situations, such as in the 

 bank of a stream amongst tree roots, or attached to the mo.ss- 

 covered trunk of a tree ; but wherever its nest is found, it 

 greatly resembles the surroundings, and the birds wisely adapt 

 the materials, to correspond with the site selected, thus helping 

 concealment. The nest is a beautiful compact woven structure, 

 with a hole at the side for an entrance, like that of the water 

 ouzel. It takes very little to make the bird forsake its nest, a 



