168 Bird-Nesting 



dish brown and purple grey; size 3.65x2.25 and 3.62x2.27. 

 Nest, a mass of rushes and aquatic plants, with a hollow at 

 the top lined with grass and feathers. 



After changing my wet clothes, I returned to the place 

 where I had left the other eggs, opposite the little brown 

 crane's nest. Looking at my watch, I found it was eight 

 o'clock, and the sun was setting in the west. The mosquitoes 

 swarmed in myriads, and their stings were veiy painful. The 

 beak of the mosquito is simply a tool box, wherein the 

 mosquito keeps six miniature surgical instruments in perfect 

 working order. Two of these instruments are exact counter- 

 parts of the surgeon's lance ; the third is a spear, with a 

 double-barbed head ; the fourth is a needle of exquisite fine- 

 ness, a saw and a pump going to make up the complement. 

 The spear is the largest of the six tools, and is used for mak- 

 ing the initial puncture : next, the lances or knives are brought 

 into play to cause the blood ^o flow more freely. In case this 

 last operation fails to have the desired effect, the saw and 

 the needle are carefully and feelingly inserted in a lateral 

 direction in the victim's flesh. The pump, the most delicate 

 of all six of the instruments, is used in transferring the blood 

 to the insect's stomach. The mosquitoes of the North-West 

 are larger, and their stings are more painful, than the eastern 

 pests. 



My next find was a clutch of eight eggs of the Virginia 

 rail. The nest was made of sedges, like that of the Carolina 

 crake, and built in a tuft of reeds. The eggs are creamy buff, 

 finely spotted with reddish brown and obscure lilac, and aver- 

 age in size 1.25x95. They can be distinguished from the eggs 

 of the Carolina crake by their paler ground colour and finer 

 markings. I saw a number of nests among the rushes, but 

 did not wish to get my feet wet, so left them until the morrow. 

 The male ducks of many species were swimming out in the 

 open water, while the females were, no doubt, sitting upon 

 their nests among the rushes. I noticed canvas-backs, red- 

 heads, teals, mallards, shovelers, pintails, buffle-heads, Ameri- 

 can widgeons, ring-neck ducks, and others. Black terns were 



