94 HOW TO STUDY BIRDS 



nest. By this method, on a grassy island in a lake 

 out in Saskatchewan, a friend and I once found in 

 one hour about thirty-five nests of various species of 

 wild ducks which were hidden in the grass. 



Bushy, weedy, and briary tracts are good places for 

 the nests of quite a variety of birds. In such a place 

 it pays well to course through it systematically, and 

 with a long light switch strike at every bush, pile, or 

 clump of any sort, wherever a nest might be con- 

 cealed. By keeping patiently at this, one can be 

 pretty sure, in time, to find various nests of any of the 

 kinds of birds which are found in such a place. The 

 same tactics should be pursued in a swamp. It all 

 means activity and hard work, but it pays. 



In such searchings one needs to be constantly on 

 the alert, watchful for the slightest clue, the faintest 

 note or sound, the merest suggestion of movement. 

 Otherwise a great deal will be overlooked. Often 

 upon the merest trifle hangs all the difference between 

 success and failure. With the faintest rustle a rare 

 rail or a short-billed marsh wren will slip from the 

 nest and skulk off into the depths of secrecy. One 

 day while tramping through a swamp, I thought 1 

 heard a slight sound, and looking quickly around, 

 I barely caught sight of a quick movement, so quick, 

 indeed, that I hardly knew whether I had really seen 

 anything or not. It might have been a frog that 

 jumped. 



I stopped short in my tracks, laid my handkerchief 

 on a sprout to mark the spot, and began to look 



