AMONG. THE “WATER. FowL 
tantly responded, and_ flew out, as before. . Every 
egg had hatched, and the little creatures were active 
and well dried off, ready for their. exit_to the great 
laké and the ‘wide world... I ° hoped: to> see: them 
taken from the nest, but the next morning it was 
rainy again, and, when I got there later in the day, 
theychad) departed? ~ Wheres the ‘tree. is~ over: the 
water, the young have been seen to leap out them- 
selves; but other observers report that the old bird 
usually carries them out one by one in her bill. 
As hollow trees—or any others for that matter— 
are not very plentiful in Dakota, and there are a 
good many families of the American Golden-eye 
and Hooded Merganser, like Abraham and Lot of 
old the two kinds have wisely decided to separate. 
The Golden-eyes seem to monopolize the hollow 
trees- by the lakes, the Mergansers those by rivers 
The fact is that they prefer still and running water 
respectively. In one trip that I made. down the 
Sheyenne River after the middle of June, I found 
the pretty hooded fowl with the saw-like bills quite 
abundant on the stream; but a hollow, with green- 
ish white egg-shells, from which the brood had 
hatched and gone, indicated that we were too late 
for eggs that season. The male Hooded Merganser 
is a very striking bird, with his fine crest and con- 
spicuous black and white plumage. I shall not for- 
get how a pair of them on this river looked, as they 
floated near together on its quiet-surface. In sum- 
mer the stream-is but:a few yards wide, so when. | 
crawled up through the bushes to the edge of. the 
bank just opposite the Ducks, I was very near, 
indeed. They did not see me, and not: until after 
200 
