82 Bird-Nesting 



and insects. It is particularly fond of frogs. These goggle- 

 yed creatures suffer more from the harriers than from all the 

 school boys that ever stone them on Saturday afternoon. This 

 bird is called harrier on account of .its method of beating, or 

 quartering the ground when in search of prey, putting one in 

 mind of the evolutions of the hound similarly engaged. The 

 clutch of five eggs just collected were blown and then packed 

 in a box, and I then examined the far end of the creek, when 

 I was successful in flushing a pintail duck from its nest of 

 down, containing nine greyish-olive eggs. The nest, as usual, 

 consisted of a hollow in the ground, lined with down from the 

 breasts of the birds, the top of the nest being level with the 

 surrounding soil. The pintail is one of the most elegant and 

 graceful ducks found in the North- West, and can be easily 

 recognized by its long-pointed tail; and its long slender neck. 

 The pintail is abundant in Iceland, from which country I have 

 just received a number of clutches, with beautiful nests of 

 down, together with nests and eggs of harlequin duck, goos- 

 ander, long tail, Barrow's golden eye, redbreasted merganser, 

 scaup, and other species of the duck family which breed in 

 Iceland, as well as in North America. As it was nearly dinner 

 time, I returned to the station-house, and on my way disturbed 

 a Bartram's sandpiper off her nest and four eggs ; this clutch 

 was prettily marked with large umber brown spots, and pur- 

 ple grey splashes on a clear buff ground. 



Macdonald informed me he had seen a whooping crane fly- 

 ing towards the lake, and asked if I had seen any around there, 

 which I had not. While at dinner he told me of a nest of the 

 whooping crane he once found on the banks of the North Sas- 

 katchewan ; he said he remembered that nest well, as he and 

 his brother came near losing their lives on the same day he 

 found the nest. Seven years ago, just before the rebellion 

 broke out amongst the North-West Indians, Mac. and his bro- 

 ther were camping near Battleford, on the North Saskatche- 

 wan, and were out on a tramp over the prairie, when they 

 came across a nest of the whooping crane containing two eggs, 

 which they left in the nest intending to call for them on their 



