166 Bird-Nesting 



other females, who spend their time in feeding and swimming 

 about and flying around chasing each other for sport. Wil- 

 son's phalaropes are like turtle doves among birds, they are 

 gentle, handsome in plumage, elegant in form, and graceful 

 in their movements. 



In approaching the thick part of wild rice and rushes, two 

 great birds flew up with a big flap and a splash, which gave 

 me such a sudden start that it caused me to stumble into deep 

 water, and I sank up to the waist. I got out as soon as I 

 could, but I was pretty damp. However, I was going to 

 examine that clump of rushes if I got up to the neck in the 

 attempt. So, after wading cautiously, I reached the patch of 

 rushes, when to my delight I beheld a great nest, the size of a 

 cart-wheel and nearly two feet high. Four steps farther, and 

 my eyes rested on — what do you think ? Great Scott ! two 

 handsome eggs of the little brown crane. Well, you can 

 guess my heart throbbed with joy, and I felt like yelling out 

 at the top of my voice. The eggs were warm, but on trying 

 them with a drill I found they were only slightly incubated. The 

 nest was a mass of rushes and aquatic plants, centre hollowed 

 and lined with grass and feathers, and the eggs were yel- 

 lowish-drab, mottled and blotched with reddish-brown, and 

 are larger than the eggs of the Canada goose. Putting one 

 in each pocket, I waded to the shore, and as I was very wet 

 I directed m}^ steps to the cabin which was a mile and a half 

 away, and changed my clothes. I took as many eggs as I 

 could cany with me, intending to return later for the rest. 



The little brown crane breeds throughout Manitoba and 

 around most of the lakes and larger sloughs. It breeds at 

 Crescent Lake, Oak Lake, Shoal Lake, and amongst the nu- 

 merous small lakes at the south end of Lake Manitoba. It is 

 also common at Big Grass Marsh which is twenty miles in 

 length and five miles wide, and is situated west of the southern 

 end of Lake Manitoba. This great swamp swarms with bird 

 life, but it is not safe to enter it without a compass, as the 

 rushes and wild rice grow so high it is an easy matter to get 

 lost in this extensive swamp, and it can only be explored by 



