416 Bent, Summer Birds of Southwestern Saskatchewan. [o"t k 



Lake and its surrounding sloughs at the mouth of Bear Creek, 

 where the water-fowl were breeding in such great profusion and 

 in such a limited area, less than one square mile, as to make it the 

 crowning glory of the whole region. We spent considerable time 

 here both seasons and recorded in all 35 species of birds, mostly 

 water-fowl and shore-birds, that were either breeding or probably 

 preparing to breed within this limited area. On the prairies and 

 meadows near the lake we found scattered nests of various ducks, 

 where Long-billed Curlews, Western Willets and Marbled Godwits 

 were also breeding. On the shores of the lake and the island 

 American Avocets, Killdeers and Spotted Sandpipers were nesting. 

 The extensive deep-water sloughs, surrounding the island, which 

 were filled with scattered clumps of tall bulrushes, concealed the 

 nests of hundreds of Western Grebes, American Coots and Ameri- 

 can Bitterns. A fair sized colony of Franklin's Gulls was found 

 and a number of nests of Horned and American Eared Grebes. 

 Large flocks of Canvasbacks and Redheads were constantly 

 floating in the lake or flying over us, though we succeeded in find- 

 ing only a few nests of each. Small flocks of Ruddy Ducks fre- 

 quently darted past us and we saw the gaudy little males swimming 

 among the reeds. Thousands of Yellow-headed Blackbirds kept 

 up a constant din all through the sloughs and Red-winged Black- 

 birds were nesting about the edges, where a few Soras were also 

 seen . 



The island was about 300 or 400 yards in length by about 

 100 yards in width, fairly high at one end and everywhere covered 

 with a thick growth of long grass, through which were scattered 

 on the higher portion numerous small clumps and in some places 

 large patches of rose bushes, offering ideal conditions as a breeding 

 ground for ducks. There were several small ponds near the center 

 of it lined with fringes of cattails and bulrushes. On the lower 

 portion of the island the grass was shorter, and where it extended 

 out into a point the ground was bare. A colony of Common Terns 

 occupied this point, which was also the favorite resort of a flock 

 of White Pelicans which may have bred here later in the season. 

 Marbled Godwits, Wilson's Phalaropes and Spotted Sandpipers 

 were breeding here as well as Western Savanna Sparrows. A 

 pair of Crows had a nest in the only tree on the island, a small 



