169 



THE OOLOGIST. 



apparently feeding on' the iiisect life 

 the water contained. There mast have 

 been four hundred small birds swim- 

 ming 100 feet from the shore. I saw 

 several Hudsonian Godwits on the edge 

 of the stream, several Killdeers and a 

 few Tell-tales, Lesser. 



It was close to this lake I took my set 

 of three eggs of the Ferruginon Rough- 

 Leg as we approached it. I saw a huge 

 nest placed in a willow tree and as soon 

 as we unhitched the horses I started for 

 the nest, three-fourths of a mile distant. 

 When I was within 200 feet of the nest 

 the female bird lifted her head and 

 watched me approach. She did not 

 leave the nest until 1 touched the ti'ee. 

 Nest was very large and was made of 

 large sticks, lined with grass, sods, bark, 

 and fur and contained three fresh eggs, 

 was placed 12 feet up in a willow tree 

 close to a slough. I saw a number of 

 nests in the vicinity and examined all 

 of them; some were crows' nests, othei's 

 Swainson's Hawks; apparently none 

 contained eggs, excepting a crow's nest 

 which had three well incubated eggs. 



It is astonishing what a lot of empty 

 Hawks' nests I found on the prairies. I 

 walked mile after mile to examine 

 empty hawks' nests, as they are very 

 large affairs and are generally built on 

 a small tree growing on high ground. 

 One can see the nests a mile or two dis- 

 tant. 



Bartramiau Sandpipers were plenti- 

 ful, but I did not waste much time 

 searching for their nests. A few miles 

 north-west of this lake I found a nest of 

 the Swainson's Hawk, which contained 

 three beautiful fresh eggs. I flushed 

 the female off the nest. I saw quite a 

 lot of these birds in the vicinity of their 

 nests, but the season was a little early 

 for full clutches of their eggs. I took 

 but three sets, one of three and the 

 others two eggs each; all the nests were 

 builts in willow trees close to sloughs. 



About 4 p. m. we arrived at the foot 

 of the Touchwood Hills and soon came 



to a small wooded patch and to the 

 lake. Judge of my disappointment 

 when I found the lake almost dried up. 

 We soon struck our tent and had every- 

 thing comfortable, as we found a fine 

 well and had lots of dry wood. 



What was formerly the island was 

 now part of the main land and the Peli- 

 cans, Cormorants and Avocets had left 

 the locality. 



I found a number of nests of the 

 White-bellied Swallow and saw a few 

 Godwits, Marbled and Hudsonian. 



Least Sandpipers were also quite com- 

 mon and about one dozen Avocets were 

 flying around, making their yelping 

 noise. 



About a mile north I found another 

 lake of quite a fair size and surrounded 

 by small woods. Saw a lot of Shovel- 

 lers, Baldpates, Pintails, Buffleheads and 

 Hooded Mergansers swimming on the 

 water and flying around the shore. I 

 made a very careful search for nests and 

 noticed a pair of Buffleheads keeping 

 around the south-east corner of the 

 lake. I made a careful search for their 

 nest and was about to give up in dis- 

 pair when my friend pointed to a small 

 hole 8 feet up in a black poplar, or as he 

 called it, a Balm of Gilead tree. I 

 thought it might be a nest of the Spar- 

 I'ow Hawk and soon climbed up to it. I 

 had to enlai'ge the hole to get my hand 

 inside. About 16 inches down I could 

 feel four eggs. I pulled one out and 

 was delighted to find I had an egg of 

 the Bufflehead. I soon pulled out the 

 other three and put my hand in again to 

 get the down and was surprised and 

 very much pleased to find another layer 

 of five more eggs. The tree was not 

 over 12 inches in diameter and the duck 

 had to place her eggs in layers so as to 

 get them all inside the tree. I soon had 

 the nine eggs on the ground and after 

 pulling out all the down I descended 

 and tried a drill on one of the eggs and 

 found the set was fresh. They measur- 

 ed 1.94 x 1.43, 1.98 x 1.43, 2.03 X 1.47. 



