THE NIDIOLOGIST. 



NEST AND EGGS OF THE GADWALL. 



Lecoute's Sparrow contaitiing four young 

 birds just hatched and one addled egg. 

 The nests were built in similar situations, 

 in a tuft of grass about six inches above 

 the ground, and the nests were composed 

 entirely of fine grass. The eggs are like 

 small pale specimensof the Western Savan- 

 nah vSparrows' eggs. 



F. Dippie was fortunate enough to dis- 

 cover eggs of Nelson's Sparrovv- at Long 

 Lake on June 12, and he is probably the 

 first Oologist who has ever taken the eggs 

 of this species. Both eggs and bird are 

 now in the National Museum at Washing- 

 ton, but a description of the nest and eggs 

 will be found in Thk Nidiologist, Vol. i, 

 page 89. 



Today I went to Winnipeg to buy provi- 

 sions to take along with us to Lake Mani- 

 toba, and on ray return to Long Lake in the 

 evening and the following day we devoted 

 our time to collecting around Long Lake. 



June 21. — We hired a wagon and team of 



horses and drove to Lake Manitoba, and on 

 reaching the lake about noon we selected a 

 suitable spot and pitched our tent and had 

 dinner. Then our man drove back sixteen 

 miles to Long Lake, promising to return 

 for us in a week's time. 



In the evening I put my canvas canoe to- 

 gether and Dippie and I crossed to an 

 island, where we found a colony of Common 

 and Foster's Terns nesting abundantly. We 

 shot specimens of both birds, so concluded 

 they were both nesting on the same island. 

 I also flushed a Gadwall Uuck off its nest 

 containing twelve fresh eggs. The nest 

 was simply a hollow in the .sand lined with 

 down, and built between the loose rocks. 

 We also noticed .several Pelicans and Cor- 

 morants out in the lake, which I am told 

 sometimes nest on this island. 



So interested were we in this island and 

 the surroundings that we stayed until even- 

 ing, when a squall got up, and we only 

 managed to reach the shore after a hard pull. 



