26 



THE OOLOGIST. 



creamy eggs, where the sunlight peers 

 through upon them. 



That glance is enough to repay the 

 fatigues of a week; for whoever saw 

 another such a nest? It is smuggled 

 into a rather isolated clump of rushes, 

 in three feet of water. The nest-mater- 

 ial, pieces of rush, exclusively, is built 

 up to a height of twelve inches above 

 the water line. The rushes overhead 

 are canopied together, scantily, some 

 being broken over at such a height as 

 to make one marvel at the builder's 

 agility. And there are thirteen eggs 

 lying in three layers in the narrow nest. 

 There is no attempt at down-lining. 



Another day, we souse our way 

 through acres and acres of rushy wil- 

 derness, wondering with an impatient 

 wonder, why it is that male Redheads 

 are so plenty and Redheads' nests so 

 scarce. We have found the spot where 

 the fussy solicitude of the Ibises would 

 seem to center; and, with beating heart, 

 are traversing the area over which a 

 male Ibis is hovering. A nest in sight; 

 it is a Coot nest, only, containing the 

 bodies of young birds, whom the minks 

 have victimized. A long cross-shot 

 brings down the Ibis; a systematic 

 search begins, with wading up and 

 down. But, before the dead bird and 

 his nest have greeted our delighted 

 eyes, we have stumbled upon an em- 

 bryonic Ruddy nest, already admirable 

 in its sketchy suggestion of artistic skill. 



It is a mere saucer of rush sections, 

 about a foot long, barely a foot above 

 the surface of the two-foot depth of wa- 

 ter. Five eggs have been laid; and the 

 dozen or more of standing rushes that 

 have drawn together to conceal the 

 nest well indicate what the earful moth- 

 er would have done by way of protect- 

 ing her home, had the rushes been 

 more plenty. She must have done 

 some tall reaching, too; for the point of 

 bending in the canopying rushes, is at 

 least two feet above the nest level. No 

 Ruddy is in sight of course, — whoever 



was lynx-eyed and cat-footed enough to- 

 surprise a Ruddy duck, at, or even near 

 her nesf 



But we must not dwell, delightedly, 

 upon those Heron Lake experiences. 

 Let us hasten to the far north of North 

 Dakota, three miles from the Interna- 

 tional Boundry Line; and wade into 

 what is known as the Geroux Marsh— a 

 long, snaky slough, whose wholo make- 

 up is thoroughly Heron-Lake-like — 

 with an ornis numerically far less; yet 

 in character much the same. 



One June day outing reveals a sin- 

 gle Redhead nest, quite like the one at 

 which we have just been looking, save 

 that all the environ is beaten down by 

 the^ tread of competition; for there are 

 about twenty-two eggs, so far as can be 

 told, today, in and about the nest, 

 which has become submerged by com- 

 bined stress of weight and flood; and 

 the eggs must have been some thirty 

 days deserted. So far as one may judge,, 

 after the blanching of water and sun 

 have done their work, about sixteen of 

 the eggs were laid by a Redhead; and 

 the rest by a Canvas-back. 



In the same marsh, and at a small 

 slough on the Minnesota side, among 

 the rushes, are found two Ruddy Duck 

 nests, containing seven and eight eggs; 

 the nests being made of rushes, and 

 raised about a foot above the water. 

 At this same little rush-bordered slough 

 is found our first nest of the Ruddy, 

 built on the ground. The site must 

 have been of deliberate choice; and it 

 lay about six feet in-shore from the wa- 

 ter line. 



But near the end of the following^ 

 June, was found, at this same slough, 

 the most interesting nest of our quaint 

 little friend, Erisrtiatura. 



Wading the margin, systematically, 

 that no nest escapes the searcher's scrut- 

 iny, one falls to eyeing, with more than 

 usual curiosity, a highly colored ruddy 

 duck, that is sailing before the wind, 

 with his bristle-tail erect. It gives a 



