THE NIDIOLOGIST. 



69 



YOURS TRULY, WALTER RAINE. 



I startled- several Gray Ruffled Grouse 

 and a number of Whip-poor-wills and 

 White-Ruinped Shrikes. 



After examing three more empty nests 

 of Swainson's Buzzard. I left the bluff and 

 again cut across the prairie towards the 

 sandhills, observing small flocks of I^apland 

 lyongspurs and other birds, which were mi- 

 grating northward. 



On the way to the sandhills I came across 

 a settler's cabin, who invited me in to din- 

 ner. I learned he was from Grand Rapids, 

 and he knew something of the birds found 

 breeding around him. He informed me 

 that the Passenger Pigeons nested in toe 

 bluffs close by, and his little daughter had 

 a box of end-blown eggs, among which I 

 noticed Whip-poor-wills and Passenger 

 Pigeons. The settler told me a neighbor 

 of his two miles off had found eggs of the 

 White Crane (Whooping Crane) a few days 

 previously, so I offered him $2 for the eggs, 

 and he promised to get them if I would 

 call again. 



The settler told me strange stories of the 

 sandhills, he said very few people ever vis- 

 ited them, and they were inhabited by 

 Eagles, Great Owls, Bears and Wolves. I 

 replied: "That's just the place for me, so 



I'll be off." On reaching the sandhills I 

 selected one of the highest and climbed to 

 the top, and had a splendid view for miles 

 around. These sandhills stretch from 

 Branden to Virden, a distance of fifty 

 miles. The hollows between the hills are 

 wooded, offering nesting places for Hawks, 

 Owls and numerous small birds, and of 

 game birds the Gray Ruffled Grouse is very 

 common. The hills are also inhabited by 

 a few Deer, Badgers, Wolves, Raccoons, 

 Skunks and Bears, and the noble Elk, or 

 Wapti, is occasionally met with. 



Below me lay Oak Eake, a sheet of water 

 four miles long by two broad, and beyond 

 that stretched away a chain of small lakes, 

 offering suitable nesting places for Gulls, 

 Grebes, Loons and Ducks, and further south 

 was a flat expanse of prairie, stretching 

 away into North Dakota. 



I descended to the bluffs amongst the 

 sandhills, when I found Crows' nests so 

 numerous I could have collected scores of 

 eggs, but I selected half a dozen of well- 

 marked sets, and after blowing them they 

 were securely packed. 



In an isolated tree was a large Buzzard's 

 nest, but as I saw no birds around, I 

 thought it must it must be an old one, but 

 to make sure, I placed my foot on one of 

 the lower branches and swung myself up 

 far enough to get a glance of two heavily - 

 spotted eggs of the Swainson's Hawk. I 

 then broke down some of the prickly 

 branches and reached the eggs. The nest 

 was a great mass of sticks and rubbish, 

 and built in the tree eight feet above the 

 ground. The eggs are bluish white, heav- 

 ily blotched with rich chestnut-brown. 

 Presently the two Buzzards came scream- 

 ing towards me, raising an objection to my 

 stealing their treasures. Eater on I found 

 several more Buzzard's nests, lined with 

 green leaves and ready to receive the eggs. 

 I was evidently about ten days too early, 

 or else I should have secured a fine series 

 of eggs of this species. I wandered about 

 the sandhills until evening, finding nothing 

 but Crows' nests, and thinking it was time 



