358



Mr. Herbert K. Job,



use, though, were these to us, for they were all rotten and smelt

strong enough to draw the blue-bottle flies. Two weeks later I found

the foolish duck still sitting upon them.


After lunch the nettles across the creek looked more inviting,

and in fact various other ducks’ nests awaited us there. However, we

left them for another day and pushed the exploration. A colony of

Western grebes were nesting in the canes growing from the water at

the mouth of the creek. Parents were swimming about with young

on their backs. I photograped a little fellow that fell off and was

caught. Then we made a long detour to the head of the bay, dragged

the boat over a rocky ridge, and were in another big lead of water.

Female canvasbacks seemed quite numerous here, hanging around as

though their young had hatched out. We searched for nests among

the tracts of rushes, where they are accustomed to build, hut the

depth of water made progress slow, and we found nothing.


On beyond here we came across two colonies of the Franklin’s

gull, with nests built on the floating dead rushes. One colony was

small, but in the other there may have been a thousand birds, which

gave us pretty exhibitions of screaming and hovering.


We returned to camp about 5 p.m., and I immediately started

out for a tramp on the prairie, as there were yet four or five hours of

daylight in the northern latitude. Though I happened upon no

more ducks’ nests, I found a bobolink’s, as usual with a contribution

from the cowbird parasite that abounds on the prairies, and lays one

or more eggs in the nests of nearly every small bird. It is surprising

that any escape paying toll, and it usually means the destruction of

the brood. I also found a crow’s nest with young, and, better yet, a

nest of the short-eared owl, in which the female had just laid her

first egg. The male flushed first and hovered over me, screaming

angrily. Then I hunted up his nest near by amid a clump of low

bushes. Later they had six eggs.


This description of the first day's hunt will give a good idea of

the work of the first few weeks of the expedition. Sunset was at

8.45 p.m. We hunted all day, and had supper any time from 7 to

10 p.m., according to circumstances. Then came the writing of notes

and journal, and, rather late, the changing of photographic plates, as



