In North-West Canada. 121 



stretched in front. It flaps heavily, ami is very easily shot on 

 the wing. When only wounded or winged it tights well, using 

 its strong beak, inflicting no slight wound on an uncautious 

 hand. The food of this bird consists of small aquatic animals, 

 such as crawfish, frogs, lizards, snakes, fishes, as well as insects. 

 I have a clutch of three eggs of the American bittern that 

 were collected in a bog near Stratford, Ontario, June 9th, 1890: 

 another clutch of three eggs taken May l!)th, 1S.SJ), at Otter 

 Lake, X.Y., and k clutch of four eggs taken May 24th, 188(5, 

 in Orleans Co., N.Y., so that three or four appear to be the 

 usual number of eggs laid by this bird. My next find was a 

 set of four spotted sandpiper's eggs, found by flushing the 

 bird oft* its nest. This clutch was handsomely spotted and 

 blotched with blackish brown, chiefly around the butt end of 

 the egg, where the heavy blotches almost formed a zone. I 

 walked around the slough and saw hundreds of yellow -headed 

 blackbirds, but could not find their nests. Black terns were 

 were also very numerous, but they had not yet commenced to 

 lay. 



A Wilson's phalarope fluttered from in front of my feet, and 

 I found its nest and four eggs well concealed in the centre of 

 a tussock of coarse marsh grass. Soon afterwards I came 

 across another clutch of four eggs, also found by flushing the 

 bird. The nests are well hidden, cup-shaped, and generally 

 made in the centre of the tussocks of grass that grow around 

 the sloughs. They are usually found high up on the dry 

 ground, many yards away from the water's edge. When the 

 birds are flushed they stumble along in front of one's feet, 

 fluttering as if winged or wounded, and making a squeaking 

 kind of a noise. It is the male bird that is always startled 

 oft 1 the nest. I never yet surprised a female on the nest, but 

 when the male bird is flushed, he goes away and soon after 

 returns with the female, who has been feeding along the 

 water's edge, not far off, and both birds then begin to fly 

 around the head of the intruder. The male bird alone attends 

 to the duties of incubation, which is rather singular. After 

 blowing and packing the eggs, I sat down and rested awhile, 



