146 



BIRDS OF THE ROCKIES 



or perhaps I would better say their tails they would 

 hold out their bills, when the little ones would swim up 

 and pick off the toothsome morsel. It must not be 

 supposed that the bantlings opened their mouths, as 

 most young birds do, to receive the tidbits. No, indeed ! 

 That is not coot vogue. The little ones picked the 

 insects from the sides of the papa's or mamma's beak, 

 turning their own little heads cunningly to one side as 

 they helped themselves to their luncheon. 



The other waterfowl of the lake acted in an ordinary 

 way, and therefore need no description. It was strange, 

 however, that this was the only lake seen in all my 

 Rocky Mountain touring where I found water- 

 fowl. At Seven Lakes, Moraine Lake, and others in 

 the vicinity of Pike's Peak, not a duck, crane, or coot 

 was to be seen ; and the same was true of Cottonwood 

 Lake, twelve miles from Buena Vista, right in the 

 heart of the rugged mountains. 



Two facts may account for the abundance of birds 

 at the little lake near Buena Vista ; first, here they were 

 protected from gunners and pot hunters by the owner, 

 whose residence commanded a full view of the whole 

 area ; and, second, large spaces of the upper end of the 

 lake was thickly grown with flags and rushes, which 

 were cut off from the shore by a watery space of con- 

 siderable breadth. In this place these birds found 

 coverts from enemies and suitable sites for their nests. 



" From their 

 . place among 

 the reeds " 



