Birds of Clay County, South Dakota 321 



ling the little bird returned to the nest so promptly that the 

 first few times the camera could not be adjusted and ready 

 for him until he was seated again. We were unable to get 

 the pictures we wished until we arranged it so that one of us 

 got the camera ready while the other evicted the bird. 



I made many trips to the nest after this, watching for the 

 time that the eggs should hatch. I was planning to leave the 

 vicinity for the summer soon, and hoped for studies and 

 pictures of the feeding of the young before I went. The 

 period of incubation proved so long that I began to fear that 

 something had happened to prevent the eggs from hatching. 

 On June 13 the nest still contained eggs. On this date the 

 nest was visited by several members of the New Haven Bird 

 Club, and all of them experienced the novel sensation of al- 

 lowing the sitting- bird to peck their fingers. It was on this 

 occasion that I obtained a photograph of this act, one of the 

 ladies allowing* her hand to be photographed as the bird 

 pecked at her fingers. 



Early on the next morning, June 14, I found that the eggs 

 had finally hatched. It was too late for me to get the studies 

 of the feeding I had desired, but just in time for a note on 

 the period of incubation. Assuming- that the last egg was laid 

 on May 30, which was most probable, the period of incuba- 

 tion was fifteen days. This is a decidedly long period for so 

 small a bird, and longer than that of any other bird of its 

 size with which I am acc[uainted. 



A LIST OF THE BIRDS OF CLAY COUNTY, SOUTH- 

 EASTERN SOUTFI DAKOTA. 



BY S. S. VISHER, PH.D. v 



The location of Clay County on the Missouri River and 

 crossed by the Vermilion River makes it a favorable area 

 for the study of birds, there probably being a greater variety 

 in this than in adjacent counties, while because the university 

 is located here, more bird students have made extended ob- 



