The Cinnamon Teal 



Taken at Los Banos 



CINNAMON TEALS JUST HATCHED 



Photo by the Author 



Two helpers of mine had been dragging a grassy stretch along the 

 shore of Goose Lake in Modoc County, while I plodded after to mark 

 the flushing birds. But the region was not prolific. Disgusted at last 

 with the profitless quest, I gave my consent to a cessation of activities. 

 The work stopped. One of the assistants coiled the rope carefully and 

 plumped it down in the grass. This was too much for the Teal's nerves, 

 and she flushed from her nest not above three feet from where the men 

 were standing. The nest was in a coarse uniform grass, well lined with 

 down, and about forty feet from the shore of the lake. 



Not wishing to collect the eggs at once, and fearing that something 

 might befall them in our absence, I laid half a dozen long sticks, culled 

 from the beach, across the nest, and saw to it that they formed an effec- 

 tive barrier. Judge of my surprise, then, when upon returning two hours 

 later the Teal flushed from her eggs at one side of the sticks. I mar- 

 veled that she should have been strong enough to remove the sticks so 



1776 



