The Oologist. 



VOL XII. NO. 12 ALBION, N. Y., DECEMBER, 1895. 



Whole No. 122 



An Outing in Assiniboia, 1895. 



The evening of May 29th, an old 

 school mate of mine from Kingston, 

 Ont , called at my brother's house to 

 see me and was quite surprised to hear 

 that I had come so far west to study the 

 game birds in their nesting haunts and 

 collect a few sets of their eggs. As he 

 had lived in Assa, about fifteen years 

 and his life had been spent mostly trap- 

 ping and hunting, I knew he could give 

 me many valuable pointers regarding 

 nesting locations of the various birds. 

 He told me of a lake about 30 miles 

 north-west, at the foot of the Touch- 

 wood Hills and said he had frequently 

 seen the Hooded Merganser and the 

 Bufflehead nesting in the vicinity of the 

 lake, also that there was a large colony 

 of American Avocets, a few Pelicans 

 and Crow Ducks, (Double-crested Cor- 

 morants) nesting on an island in the 

 <.'enter of the lake. As I especially de- 

 sired to get a set or two of the Buffle- 

 head and Merganser I made up my 

 mind to drive over in the morning and 

 so informed my brother. 



About 8 o'clock next morning we 

 bitched the team to a wagon and start- 

 ed for the lake. On thu way over I 

 found four ntr'nis of the Ferruginous 

 lloughleg; three of the nests contained 

 live young birds each and the other nest 

 with three fresh eggs. I found two 

 nests of the Long-eared Owl built in 

 willow trees about 10 feet from the 

 ground; both nests contained young 

 birds and the parents tiew close to my 

 head, making a noise like a cat while I 

 was examining the young. I saw quite 

 .a number of crows' nests; some con- 

 tained fresh eggs and others young 

 birds. I did not collect any of their 



eggs, as quite a number of the birds 

 nested close to my brother's house. 

 Chestnutcollared Longspurs andBaird's 

 Sparrows were quite common most of 

 the wi\y over and I flushed quite a few 

 birds out of the grass, but did not suc- 

 ceed in getting any fresh eggs. I also 

 saw the Western Chipping Sparrow; 

 Clay-colored Sparrows were quite plen- 

 tiful, and I found a couple of nests of 

 McCown's Longspur; one nest contained 

 four young birds and the other three 

 fresh eggs— a beautiful set; both the 

 nests were very tlimsy affairs: a few 

 pieces of hay placed in a hollow in the 

 ground in the short grass; the eggs have 

 a ground color of greenish olive blotch- 

 ed, with very dark brown and purple, 

 and the shell is rough, quite different 

 from any other eggs I know off. The 

 bird has a beautiful soaring note and 

 seems to sing through the heat of the 

 day iind always on the wing, and the 

 swetifst music appeared to be made as 

 the male ascended in the direction of 

 his little mate, sitting on the treasured 

 shells placed in the grassy home they 

 had both helped to construct in their 

 labor of love, far from the habitations 

 of man. 



I flushed several Prairie Sharp-tailed 

 Grouse out of the grass and searched 

 diligently for their eggs but got none. 

 Most of the birds were males, no doubt. 

 About noon we came to a small lake of 

 sweet water and made our coffee and 

 prepared dinner for ou) selves and the 

 team. 



This lake was swarming with Lesser 

 Scaup, Mallards, Shovellers, Wigeons 

 and other game birds. I was very 

 much surprised to see Phalaropes, Sand- 

 pipers and other plovers swimming in 

 the middle of the lake in deep water, 



