172 Bird-Nesting 



hawks, owls, and buzzards, while from under the brushwood 

 one is constantly flushing nighthawks, whip-poor-wills, prairie 

 chickens, grouse and meadow larks. Out on the open prairie 

 may be seen numerous kildeers, curlews and field plovers. 

 Frequently a marsh harrier will come along, skimming a few 

 feet above the grass, while over the sloughs and ponds gulls 

 and black terns are always in sight. Walking along the mar- 

 gin of a slough, one will soon disturb a number of ducks, 

 grebes, bitterns, or rails. Glancing up in the vast expanse of 

 ether, Swainson's red-tailed and rough-legged buzzards may 

 frequently be seen sailing in circles, and occasionally a turkey 

 vulture, whose magnificent aerial evolutions cannot fail to 

 attract attention. Then again, it is a common sight to see an 

 eagle, peregrine falcon, goshawk, or hawk owl perched on the 

 top of some tree which over-tops all the others growing in the 

 bluff. From this elevated situation their keen eyes watch 

 the movements of the various birds below. Now and again 

 they descend with a terrific swoop on some luckless prairie 

 chicken or plover, and carry it off. A.t other times, falcons, 

 hawks and buzzards sit motionless for hours on the tops of 

 some leafless, decayed tree, and as you approach cautiously, 

 the sticks crack under your feet and the noise causes the wary 

 birds to sail away. 



Occasionally one surprises a few graceful, black-tailed deer, 

 who bound out of the far side of the bluff as you enter at the 

 opposite end. At other times a prairie wolf or a fox will 

 slink off as you push your way through the bushes and enter 

 the bluff, and sometimes a black or cinamon bear is met with 

 when least expected, but as a rule the latter at once make off 

 at a rapid pace, with a kind of a fast shuffling walk. 



Other small animals, such as skunks, gluttons or wolverines, 

 badgers, hares, squirrels, gophers and snakes all help to make 

 matters interesting to the naturalist, and these animals are all 

 plentiful on the prairies or in the bluffs. 



Then the prairie itself is highly interesting, this great sea of 

 green that rolls its grassy billows from here to the Rocky 

 Mountains. Nowhere in the world is there such a breadth of 



