WATERFOWL IN NEBRASKA. 17 



LAKES OF BROWN COUNTY. 



The lakes of Brown County number about 25, and lie in the south- 

 western portion. They are scattered over an irregular area about 

 10 miles east and west and about 14 miles north and south. Moon 

 Lake, the largest of the group, is about 3^ miles long and somewhat 

 more than half a mile wide at its widest point, but most of the others 

 are much smaller, though Enders Lake, including its "overflow," 

 is some 2 miles in length, and Long Lake even more. Moon Lake, 

 one of the northernmost, is separated from the more southern lakes 

 by several miles, but all the others lie much closer together, usually 

 not over a mile apart, and in many cases much less. While few 

 have outlets, none except Alkali Lake are very strongly alkaline. 

 Most of them are permanent, though a few of the smaller ones dry 

 up during the summer. Moon Lake, Willow Lake, Alkali Lake, 

 Crystal Lake, and Long Lake have little or no marsh about their 

 borders, but Filbrick Lake, Marsh Lake, and the " overflow " of 

 Enders Lake are almost entirely surrounded by heavy growths of 

 water vegetation. Most of the others have at least a small area of 

 marsh. Enders, Marsh, Clear, West Chain, Diamond, and Eat Lakes 

 seem to be the best for ducks, while the Twin Lakes, Crystal, Alkali, 

 Long, and Post (or Clapper) Lakes harbor comparatively few. 

 Post Lake and Long Lake are apparently too near human habitations 

 to be successful breeding grounds for waterfowl, and Willow Lake 

 is too much frequented by fishermen. Crystal Lake furnishes no good 

 breeding or feeding ground, but why the Twin Lakes are not in- 

 habited by more water birds is not apparent. 



Water birds are fairly well represented in this region during the 

 summer, though much less so than in eastern Cherry County. Per- 

 haps this is partially accounted for by the more thickly settled con- 

 dition of the country and by the great amount of hunting in years 

 past. The most abundant species of breeding water birds in this 

 area, in their order, are the black tern, American coot, blue-winged 

 teal, American eared grebe, shoveller, mallard, gadwall, iblack- 

 crowned night heron, and pintail. Others that are fairly well dis- 

 tributed throughout this region, but less numerous, are the killdeer 

 and the upland plover. 



As in eastern Cherry County, the exceptional rainfall of the pre- 

 vious few months had, in the autumn of 1915, raised the level of 

 many of the larger lakes, and in some cases converted a more or less 

 temporary pond or marsh into a permanent lake. Water birds in this 

 section were at that time fairly numerous, though ducks were by no 

 means so abundant as in eastern Cherry County, and from all ac- 

 counts were little, if any, more so than usual. At the time of our 

 120368°— 20— Bull. 794 2 



