6 THE O. & O: SEMI-ANNUAL. 
scarcely be called floating nests; for the plan of the birds in build- 
ing seemed to be to select a thick bunch of flag and then to deposit 
debris and moss on this, till by its weight it would sink to the bottom. 
The building would then be continued until a structure was raised a 
foot or more above the water. This would be slightly hollowed to 
contain the eggs. Not a single coot was found on a nest, nor in the 
immediate vicinity of one, which fact seemed to confirm the assertion 
of Bingley and other naturalists, ‘‘that the coots only incubate during 
the night time,’ leaving their eggs to the warmth of the sun during the 
day. While wandering about in the flag several Least Bitterns flew up, 
and making an awkward flight of a few rods, would again pitch down 
out of sight. Marking the site where one disappeared, I went to the 
boat, got my gun and returned. Flushing the bird, it dropped as the 
gun cracked, and I had another desirable skin to add to my collec- 
tion. Thinking there must be some nests somewhere about, Herri- 
ford and I turned our attention to searching for them and were soon 
rewarded by finding a nest apiece, built in the flag a foot or so above 
the water. One nest contained three and the other four bluish-white 
eggs. We also found several nests of the Long-billed Marsh Wren ; 
but unluckily none contained eggs. 
Being thoroughly tired, hot and hungry, and for the time being our 
greed for eggs satiated, we embarked for camp and dinner. 
After dinner we started to explore the shore of the lake, which 
was thickly fringed with a dense growth of water willow, standing in 
and out of the water, a perfect paradise for the Prothonotary Warbler 
and Tree Sparrow, and they were here in immense numbers, almost 
every hole containing a nest of one or the other; but unfortunately . 
we found we were a little too late, for almost every nest contained 
young birds. We succeeded in collecting only two or three sets, each 
well advanced in incubation. 
Seeing a Downy Woodpecker come out of a hole about twenty feet 
up in a very dead willow snag, I put on my climbers and went up as 
far as the tree would bear my weight. With a sharp hatchet I now 
cut through the trunk, and was carefully lowering it to Herriford, on 
the ground. A limb that I was holding it by suddenly gave way and 
it fell, striking him on the head and shoulder, felling him to the earth 
as completely as though he had been rapped by a policeman’s billy. 
The Downy’s eggs of course were broken, as was also a set of six 
Tree Swallow’s that were in a hole a little higher up. 
