4 BIRDS OF NORTH DAKOTA 



high water. This lake is the largest body of water in the county. The water 

 is clear and fresh and is very palatable, the taint of decaying vegetable growth 

 being its only bad feature. It is nine or ten miles in length and in one or 

 two places a mile or more in width. There is a distinct drainage to the north 

 through Badger Creek, Long river, etc. This lake is the summer home and 

 breeding grounds of countless numbers of all the ducks common to this sec- 

 tion. Here also were found, breeding in large numbers. Coots, American Eared 

 and Piedbilled Grebes, Caroline Rail, Wilson Phalarope, Bitterns, Night Herons, 

 and several pair of Canada Geese and Sandhill Cranes. This lake was selected 

 for our headquarters, and nearly all the species in this list were collected 

 or noted around this lake during the season of 1895. The warblers and other 

 wood birds were found on two islands in the lake, the largest being about 

 five acres, the other one acre in extent. They were covered by a thick growth 

 of bushes, principally the Hawthorne and Willows with clumps of Wild Plum, 

 Currant, Raspberry, and Rose bushes, almost impenetrable except where paths 

 had been kept open by stock. 



A topographical map of this region would show the prairies around Cando 

 to be of a generally level appearance, slightly rolling to the south and east. 

 To the west and north it is of a more broken and abruptly rolling nature. It 

 is divided and drained by the Big Coulee and its branches. The drainage is 

 to the south and east through the Chain Lakes and into Devils Lake. Nearly 

 all the lands to the south, west and east of Cando are broken up and farmed, 

 making excellent feeding grounds for the migratory birds, and to a limited 

 extent, breeding grounds for a few species. To the north, northeast, and 

 northwest, it is more broken and less thickly settled and affords abundant 

 room for the shyer species to keep well away from the habitations of man. 



There is a distinct but gradual rise to the surface of the country north 

 of Cando for about 25 miles to the divide from which the drainage is to the 

 north and northeast into the Pembina river. 



To the northwest of Rock Lake the rolling prairies soon merge into the 

 foothills of the Turtle Mountains, and those into the mountains proper. They 

 are but a succession of hills of greater and less size rising to about 400 feet 

 above the surrounding prairies. The soil is sandy, overlaid with a shallow- 

 covering of decayed vegetable matter. The numerous hills are interspersed 

 with sloughs and lakes, some of which are quite large and deep. The timber 

 growth is principally a species of poplar and Balm of Gilead, with small tracts 

 of Oak and White Birch. Ash and Elm are found in small clumps or isolated 

 trees amongst the other growth. Willows fringe the lakes. The edges of the 

 cleared tracts and also the burnt over ground have thick growths of choke- 

 cherries, currants, raspberries, mountain cranberries, a sand cherry, June 

 berries, rose, hawthorne, and hazelnut, all of which grow in profusion, making 

 a dense and almost impenetrable thicket. The Mauvaise river has its source 

 in the southeastern part. Willow and Oak Creeks in the south and southwest, 

 and Long river heads in the northwestern part of the mountains. 



Devils Lake is about 40 miles to the south and east of Cando. It covers 

 a large tract of ground some 10 by 50 miles in extent. Generally speaking, 

 it is a shallow lake, the water of a strong alkaline nature, and is a mecca for 

 all the water loving birds migrating over this section. Its shore is fringed 

 with a heavy growth of timber and bushes which serve as resting places for 

 the wood loving birds of all kinds. This lake and the surrounding territory 

 is, and probably always will be an ideal place for a collector to put in his 

 time during the migrations. 



If it proves to be of any value or interest to fellow students of Ornithology, 

 then my work has not been in vain, and my desire to show the wealth of bird 

 life as I found it in the early settlement of this section has been fulfilled. 



Respectfully submitted, 



ELMER T. JUDD, 



Cando, No. Dak. 



