July, 1918 A RETURN TO THE DAKOTA LAKE REGION 133 



when close to the beach began to bathe, putting her bill down in front of her 

 and throwing the water over her back again and again until she was thorough- 

 ly soused, when she waddled up the beach and flapped her wings and preened 

 her feathers. Imagining that she had come in to go to her nest, I moved cau- 

 tiously from tree to tree and then in among the screening silver-leaf bushes for 

 a better view of her. When the game warden drove by on the way to his boat, 

 she flew out, feet outstretched; but on returning, began preening again. The 

 other Scoters, apparently disturbed by the boat, went on clown the lake, and 

 later five sat on the water together. So preoccupied was the one on shore in 

 oiling her feathers that when a young Gull rudely walked right in front of hei 

 bill, she never stirred. When she did stop a moment, it was only to look out 

 over the lake where her friends were resting. Meanwhile five ducks, quacking 

 Tike Mallards, flew over the next point and swerved off over the lake, small 

 sandpipers picked along the edge of the slender sandspit, flickers called, and 

 sparrows sang; but still the Scoter stood and preened. From time to time, get- 

 mg restless, I looked at my watch. Would she never do anything? Finally, 

 after an hour and a half of waiting, my patience was exhausted and I started 

 for the farmhouse. Looking back, in the faint hope that, relieved of ray pres- 

 ence, she would be making her way toward her nest, I saw her sitting down on 

 the shore ! 



Another day I watched three female Scoters. Two of them must have been 

 in old worn plumage as they had irregular white patches between the bill and 

 ear such as museum skins of old Scoters sometimes show. One of the Ducks 

 came up on shore and preened, and after a time a second one came up and 

 joined her, waddling near as if for sociability, while the third swam idly 

 along the shore. Once when I moved in the silver leaf the nearest turned and 

 looked at me. This time I waited about an hour, but no one went anywhere. 

 Evidently brooding time had not come, with these individuals. 



Meanwhile I was waiting for the game warden to take me to the island 

 to see sitting Scoters said to be so tame that they would let themselves be taken 

 off the nest and photographed. But when the warden was not haying, the mo- 

 tor for his boat was out of order, and when that had finally been taken to town 

 for repairs, something else happened and I had to leave without getting to the 

 island. Unwilling to give up finding a nest, the morning of my departure 1 

 again went down to the shore and tramped vainly up and down through the 

 dew-laden silver leaf behind which the Scoters had stood, looking sharply to 

 right and left, remembering that the sitting birds are said to stay on the nest 

 until almost stepped on ; but finally when my time was up, had to leave, sore- 

 ly disappointed. 



To make up for this disappointment, while at Devil's Lake the next week, 

 I had the good fortune to have several families of young of different ages come 

 to the shore below the house. One mother came swimming along with twelve 

 small young. At first she was taking the lead, then she waited while they fed, 

 but tiring of that finally swam ahead out of sight, leaving them to dive by 

 themselves. The young seemed decidedly black, but when they rose and flap- 

 ped their wings showed white not only on the wings but on the breast, and in 

 diving showed white under the tail in going down. At one time only two of 

 the brood were visible, ten being below. When they had fed long enough, one 

 of them took his mother's place and slowly led his brothers up the shore in the 

 direction she had taken. 



