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swimming around in the open water. An inspection of the 

 rushes with the glasses revealed several dark objects, which 

 Prest said Avere nests. We doffed our clothes and jumped into 

 the icy water, but after wading around for fifteen minutes, 

 we came to the conclusion that the Grebes had, as yet, laid 

 no eggs. On our way to the point we saw great flocks of Black 

 Ducks and Mergansers everywhere, and also one Green- winged 

 Teal. 



We arrived there about noon, and immediately proceeded 

 to pitch our camp among some stunted spruce trees in a sheltered 

 hollow. This hollow was at the foot of a great sand dune, 

 locally known as ''Big Hill." While Wilcox busied himself 

 in fitting up the camp, I started out with Prest to explore a 

 large marsh covered with dead cat-tails and flags. This marsh 

 was a mile long and half a mile wide, and was flanked on both 

 sides with low ridges of spruce trees. Here was the typical 

 haunt of the American Bittern; and after painfully traversing 

 most of the marsh, I was rewarded by seeing one of these great 

 birds rise from the flags a couple of hundred yards ahead. 

 Loaded down as I was with collecting bag, tripod, and camera, 

 I made haste slowly through the mucky underfooting to the 

 point where the bird had risen. After a short search I found the 

 nest, which was composed of a mass of broken-down rushes, 

 and contained five olive-brown eggs. On resuming our search 

 through the marsh, we were rewarded by finding four other 

 nests of the Bittern, which, in suitable localities, is one of the 

 most abundant birds of the Magdalens. One of the nests had 

 young, but all the others contained eggs. Along the edges of 

 the sloughs numerous Wilson's Snipe were observed, but no 

 nests were found. 



In the higher and drier parts of the swamps many Mourning 

 Warblers were found. These beautiful birds appeared to be 

 just mating, as they were generally seen in parties of three. 



On the following day, the 18th, which was cold and somewhat 

 breezy, we started for the ponds and marshes to the eastward 

 of our camp. Numerous Common Terns were seen and several 

 breeding places found, but very few eggs. About a dozen 

 single eggs were collected, however, for our breakfast the next 



