HUNTING WITH A MICROPHONE 



721 



which we might 

 record, so we 

 stayed for three 

 days and kept 

 our microphone 

 and sound mirror 

 ever ready. But 

 it was not to be 

 so simple and we 

 were doomed to 

 disappointment. 



Thereupon we 

 moved on to 

 Lower Red Rock 

 Lake, Montana, 

 a few miles to the 

 westward, where, 

 we were in- 

 formed, a pair of 

 swans had reared 

 young the year 

 before. This lake 

 is about four 

 miles long and 

 three miles wide 

 and is dotted 

 with innumer- 

 able marshy 

 islands. 



At first we 

 could see no 

 signs of swans. 

 But, climbing to 

 the roof of the 

 Montana Gun 

 Club, with our 

 powerful binocu- 

 lars we soon 

 located seven 

 birds, two pairs 

 of which seemed 

 to be nesting. 



A cruise around 

 the lake in a 

 duckboat showed 



HERE IS THE HOME OF ONE OF AMERICA S RAREST 

 TRUMPETER SWAN 



1 Kellogg 

 BIRDS THE 



Dr. Allen discovered it about IS feet from the open water of Lower Red Rock 

 Lake, Montana, on one of the marshy islands which dot its surface. The nest 

 was about six feet across and two feet high. 



that 



both had nests, 

 though one was empty: the other con- 

 tained two infertile eggs and the broken 

 shells of two others from which the cygnets 

 had hatched and been led away by their 

 parents. 



We were now quite hopeful of being able 

 to secure a record of the voice of the trump- 

 eter swan, though we could not get the 

 sound truck within a half mile of the near- 

 est pair. For four days we remained at the 

 Montana Gun Club with the microphone 

 ready, but, except for one trumpet call dur- 

 ing the night, we heard nothing from the 



swans. Our time was almost exhausted and 

 still we had failed to catch the voice. 



TRUMPETERS TRICKED 



When the last morning was at hand we 

 staked our all on one last scheme. We con- 

 cealed the sound truck behind one of the 

 buildings and ran the cable to the edge of 

 the lake, where we set up the sound reflec- 

 tor and the blind with the Akeley camera 

 inside. Then we made a little cylinder of 

 fly-screening and set it among the rushes, 

 fastening a string to the top of it and run- 

 ning it over to the blind. 



