THE OOLOGIST 



149 



FAVORITE LAKE FOR BIRDS 

 SAVED TO MINNESOTA 



Swan Lake, a valuable and unusual 

 body of water about 10,500 acres in 

 area, located in Nicollet County, Minn., 

 has been saved to the state through 

 the efforts of the State Game and Fish 

 Commissioners, the Biological Survey 

 of the United States Department of 

 Agriculture and landowners and local 

 conservationists of the region. A 

 movement to lower the level of the 

 lake four feet, eventually draining it 

 entirely, was successfully opposed and 

 (iefeated at two hearings after an ex- 

 amination of the wild fowl and food 

 plant value of the lake had been made 

 by three representatives of the Biologi- 

 cal Survey. 



In deciding this case the District 

 Court in Minnesota laid emphasis on 

 the great importance to the public 

 welfare of ^uch bodies of water as 

 Swan Lake. Its favorable location, its 

 relatively shallow fresh water, and its 

 abundant growth of vegetation suit- 

 able for cover, nesting sites, and food 

 have made it an attractive resort for 

 many kinds of waterfowl. Its mar- 

 gins and wooded islands are a valuable 

 asset in the conservation not only of 

 game birds but also of insectivorous 

 birds useful to farmers. Among the 

 water birds that breed on the lake are 

 several species of ducks, including 

 Mallards, Blue-winged Teal, Redheads, 

 Lesser Scaup and Ruddy Ducks; Sora 

 Rails, Florida Gallinules, American 

 Coots, four species of Grebes, Black 

 Terns, and Black-crowned Night 

 Herons are also common. 



At least fifty kinds of plants valu- 

 able as food for water birds grow in 

 this lake, including practically all the 

 best duck food plants of the United 

 States. There is also an abundance of 

 freshwater snails of several species 

 liked by water birds. Lowering the 

 level of this lake materially would 



eventually cause the disappearance of 

 its present kind of vegetation and 

 gradually destroy its value as a water- 

 fowl resort. 



NESTING OF THE MOURNING 

 WARBLER 



A short account of the nesting of 

 the Mourning Warbler, (Oporornis 

 Philadelphia) may perhaps be of inter- 

 est to some of your readers who are 

 not able to meet with this species dur- 

 ing the breeding season. 



While not by any means common 

 in these parts it is of fairly frequent 

 occurrence and though I usually see 

 one or two pairs during the breeding 

 season, this is the first time I have 

 i)een fortunate enough to discover the 

 nest. This however is not surprising 

 when you take into consideration the 

 nature of the country which consists 

 of vast stretches of second growth 

 bush in various stages and tangles of 

 scrub, so that the finding of a nest is 

 almost like finding the proverbial 

 needle in a haystack, even though you 

 may locate the area in which a par- 

 ticular pair of birds is nesting. 



In this case it was purely a matter 

 of luck, as I have been searching in 

 the vicinity of the nest on several 

 days and had not once caught sight 

 of a Mourning Warbler or had any in- 

 dication that they were around there. 



It was on the morning of July 1st 

 while walking along the edge of some 

 second growth bush, that I caught 

 sight of a Wilson Warbler and decided 

 to spend a while watching it and for 

 this purpose pushed my way into 

 some bushes to hide. It was in doing 

 this that I found a nest with four eggs 

 which the bird had evidently just left 

 as they were quite warm. 



I immediately hid myself in an en- 

 deavor to discover the owner but 



