216 BESIDE THE GEE AT SALT LAKE. 



When we had looked our fill, we straightway 

 sought out and questioned some of the wise men 

 among the " peculiar people." This is what we 

 learned : that when plowing is over the birds 

 retire to their home, an island in the lake, 

 where, being eminently social birds, their nests 

 are built in a community. Their beneficent ser- 

 vice to mankind does not end with the plowing 

 season, for when that is over they turn their at- 

 tention to the fish that are brought into the lake 

 by the fresh-water streams, at once strangled by 

 its excess of salt, and their bodies washed up on 

 the shore. What would become of the human 

 residents if that animal deposit were left for 

 the fierce sun to dispose of, may perhaps be im- 

 agined. The gull should, indeed, be a sacred 

 bird in Utah. 



What drew us first to the pasture which we 

 came to at last was our search for a magpie's 

 nest. The home of this knowing fellow is the 

 Rocky Mountain region, and, naturally, he was 

 the first bird we thought of looking for. There 

 would be no difficulty in finding nests, we 

 thought, for we came upon magpies everywhere 

 in our walks. Now one alighted on a fence-post 

 a few yards ahead of us, earnestly regarding our 

 approach, tilting upward his long, expressive 

 tail, the black of his plumage shining with bril- 

 liant blue reflections, and the white fairly daz- 



