ico^ 1 Currier, Sutnmer Birds of Leech Lake, Minn. "2 I 



'pot-holes ' between. On many of the larger hills are depressions, 

 some water-filled, forming lakes of several acres. Another pecu- 

 liarity of the country is the great number of boulders of different 

 sizes scattered haphazard over the landscape. The lake beds 

 and shores are strewn with them, they protrude from the marshes 

 and swamps, and are plentiful on the hilltops. In places they 

 are piled up as if they had drifted there. 



In its primitive state the forest is heavy, the principal trees 

 being white, Norway and jack pines, balsam, cedar, tamarack, 

 hemlock, poplar, birch, sugar and soft maple, oak, linn, elm and 

 black ash. The hills become covered with birch and poplar after 

 the pines are cut away. 



The low growth consists of black alder, hazel, wild raspberry, 

 currant and gooseberry. A wild rose is also numerous. The 

 ground in the clearings and old burns is carpeted with winter- 

 green, wild strawberry, and the abundant blueberry. The great 

 ' brakes,' and more delicate species of ferns are in profusion every- 

 where. 



The country is wild and new, and fences are few and far 

 between, as little land is under cultivation. The soil is very 

 sandy with much gravel, and looks unpromising. 



I. Colymbus holbcellii. Holbcell's Grebe. — ^A colony of from six 

 to ten pairs was found breeding in a bay formed by Minnesota Point in 

 both 1902 and 1903. In 1902 I saw the following nests, with contents as 

 stated : June 2, two nests, each containing one ^^^., and one nest contain- 

 ing six eggs ; June 10, three nests, containing four, five, and seven eggs 

 respectively. In 1903 we saw the following: May 31, two nests, each 

 with one egg, one with three, and another with four eggs ; May 24, two 

 nests, each with one egg, and two containing three eggs each. 



One nest was high and dry on a muskrat house — a hollow in the side 

 of the house, and about ten inches above the water. The muskrat house 

 was in a patch of tall canes, growing in deep, open water, forming a small 

 island. The other nests were similar in situation, style of architecture, 

 and material used. They varied only in size, and this depended upon the 

 time the birds had been laying. Nests containing only one egg were 

 simply irregular piles or rafts of floating flags, soft and rotting, with the 

 egg often awash and covered with foam. In more advanced sets the nests 

 formed quite a mass of material, with a deep cup above water line. No 

 birds were seen on the nests, or leaving them, but in 1902 I saw one swim- 

 ming away from a patch of canes in open water that contained a nest. 



