nights and noting the general direction of 

 their flight, I finally located a pair in a 

 small lake seven miles from Grass Lake. 

 It was a small pond in the woods. There 

 was a boggy point running almost to the 

 center of this pond, and the usual mossy- 

 lined, saucer-shaped nest was placed on 

 the extreme end of this point. This 

 unusual, out-of-the-way place which the 

 birds had selected to rear their young, 

 and the small pond in which the nest was 

 placed, showed me the wonderful instinct 

 of this bird for self preservation and its 

 wisdom in selecting a safe and secluded 

 nesting site. In northern Wisconsin, the 

 favorite locality for nesting is in some 

 heavy clump of bushes on some small 



island near the center of a lake, or on 

 some point running well out into the 

 water. Its nest is placed where the bird 

 can enter on one side and on the approach 

 of danger slip from the nest directly into 

 the water. This she does, striking the 

 water with such care and precision that 

 there is scarcely a ripple and no splash. 

 She then swims off about fifty feet, and 

 when all is quiet returns to the nest. 

 Often on warm, sunny days when it is 

 warm enough to prevent the eggs from 

 chilling, she will join her mate, far from 

 the nest, and both birds by feigning crip- 

 pled birds will lead all intruding parties 

 away from the locality. 



Frank Morley Woodruff. 



NOVEMBER, 



At morn : 



The meadow and the fields a-gem with frost, 



The east a yellow flag with scarlet crossed, 



The sky a crown with fainting stars embossed. 



And air that makes the very heart new born — 



At morn! 



At noon: 



The meadow and the fields a greenish dun, 



The sky a turquoise sea around the sun, 



The breeze ajar with perfumes overrun, 

 And air that seems like springtime come too soon — 



At noon ! 



At night : 



The meadow and the fields adrift in mist, 

 The woods a rattling throng where wild things list, 

 The sky a star-flecked arch by moonbeams kissed, 

 And air that warns of Frost King's icy bite — 



At night! 



— Jac Lowell. 



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