84 



THE NIDIOLOGIST. 



BIRD-NESTING IN NORTHWEST 

 CANADA. 



BY WALTER RAINE. 



To-day I visited the swamp}' prairie west 

 of Rush Lake. Here are a number of 

 sloughs, and it was a fine sight to see the 

 numerous Ducks and Phalaropes swimming 

 about. There were Sora Rails, Baldpates, 

 Redheads, Lesser Scaup Ducks, Ring- 

 necks, Pintails and Shovellers. 



The first nest found was McClown's 

 Longspur, containing four clay-colored 

 eggs, mottled and streaked with pale 

 brown. The nest was built on the ground 

 by the side of a tuft of grass. The nests 

 of these birds are not very well built and 

 soon fall to pieces. They are made of dried 

 grass, sometimes lined with a little horse- 

 hair. Walking round a slough on a dry 

 portion of the prairie, where I expected to 

 flush some Ducks ofi" their nests, I startled 

 a Wilson's Phalarope off its nest and found 

 heavily spotted eggs, and a little further on 

 I flushed another male Phalarope, but not 

 finding the nest I stuck a bit of paper on a 

 blade of grass and went away for twenty 

 minutes, and returning to the spot I almost 

 trod on the bird and the eggs. He fluttered 

 about as if his wings were broken, making 

 a squeaking noise, as if in pain, and in 

 stooping to pick him up, he fluttered in 

 front of my feet and succeeded in drawing 

 me a few yards away from the nest, when 

 he got up and flew away, and, on retracing 

 my steps, I could not find the nest for some 

 time. The nest is a small affair, only about 

 three inches in diameter, and the egg , with 

 their small points together, are not easily 

 seen, as the nests are usually built in grass 

 from six to nine inches high. 



It is rather singular that after the female 

 has laid the eggs she leaves them for the 

 male bird to incubate. Out of the dozens 

 of nests of this bird that I have come across 

 I have invariably found the male bird sitting 

 on the eggs. He is a very close sitter and 

 will almost suffer him.self to be trodden 

 upon before he will leave the nest, then he 



flutters along in front of one's feet, as if 

 wounded, and when he thinks you are de- 

 coyed from the nest, he rises in the air and 

 is joined by the female, who has been feed- 

 ing in some damp spot close by; they then 

 fly around in circles and are sometimes 

 joined by two or three other Phalaropes. 

 These birds are lobe-footed, like the coot, 

 and are good swimmers. They surpass all 

 other waders in ease and variety of move- 

 ment and in grace and elegance of form 

 and beauty of plumage. As a rule in bird 

 life the males are larger than the females, 

 and their plumage more attractive, but in 

 the case of Wilson's Phalarope it is just the 

 reverse — the females are larger than the 

 males and their plumage much brighter. 

 The young birds of the year when fully 

 feathered are entirely different from their 

 parents, so much so as to appear to belong 

 to some other species. Their legs and feet 

 are yellow, instead of black like the adults, 

 and the feathers on the back are blackish, 

 edged with buff", and they have not the rich 

 chestnut color which is so conspicuous in 

 the old birds. 



I blew the eggs of these birds, to prevent 

 their getting broken, and, after carefully 

 packing them, proceeded round the slough* 

 A pair of Willets evidently had a nest close 

 by, but after searching for half an hour I 

 gave it up. These birds are very wary, 

 and never allow themselves to be flushed 

 off their nests like the Phalarope and Bar- 

 tram's Sandpiper. 



The next find of importance was a Shov- 

 eler's nest and ten eggs, the nest consisting 

 of a hollow in the grass, lined abundantly 

 with down. As it was noon, I sat down 

 near the creek and had my lunch, but not 

 before I had made a smudge fire to keep 

 off" the mosquitoes. 



After resting awhile I walked along the 

 banks of the creek, flushing Ducks at every 

 bend of the stream. 



The only eggs found during the after- 

 noon were those of Redwing Starlings, 

 Meadow Larks, and a nest of the Lesser 

 Scaup Duck, containing seven eggs. The 



