Sept., 1918 A RETURN 1 TO THE DAKOTA LAKE REGION 177 



era shore of the bay, yellowing the [joints extending out into the water, while 

 the dark shadows of the trees in our cove gave depth to the picture. A beauti- 

 ful sight was seen one morning from the crest of the bluff overlooking our cove 

 — a large flock of Franklin Gulls lined up along the shore with the light on 

 them suddenly burst away, gleaming white over the dark water. 



Another morning, fog obscured the lake, obliterating the long spit and 

 almost hiding the woods of the opposite shore. At the foot of our bluff was 

 seen the old mother Golden-eye, and near by a Franklin Gull, standing on one 

 foot on a stone preening its feathers, its dimly suggested reflection contrasting 

 with reflections under a clear sky, when the black head of a gull or the white 

 throat of a grebe would be perfectly mirrored. While the lake was hidden, a 

 large flock of Franklin Gulls straggled by close to the house, and others drifted 

 along the shore. A Kingbird giving chase apparently tweaked the feathers of 

 one and made another suddenly veer with a complaining cry. When the fog 

 first melted back from the opposite shore so that the green of its woods and 

 grass, together with the buffy grass of the spit came out, the sun illuminated 

 four white necks so near together that as the birds swam slowly along they 

 were seen as four dots within the circle of my glass, gradually approaching the 

 outer rim, when a mirror-like flash came from the breast of one of the swimmers. 

 Soon six grebes were seen slowly swimming toward the sun with the light high 

 on their throats, after which the second spit came out of the fog and the sky 

 was blue over all. 



The purring ter'r'r'r of the tern, and the strident kr'ray-kree, kr'ray-kree 

 of the grebe were heard, and eighteen spots were counted on the water in the 

 same belt of weed. Later, when the gray water was all a 'sparkle, a gray gull 

 sailed about over it, but no black dots could be seen except with the help of 

 the glass. Another time when the water was dark, the grebes were white dots, 

 and white terns flew around projected against the dark background. Once 

 when the lake was still and white, the black pin heads were scattered out well 

 apart over the water. When separated in this way the grebes kept calling to 

 each other, for they are eminently social birds of close colonies. During rain 

 they were also heard calling, and after a stormy night, when they were unusu- 

 ally quiet, I inferred that they had been broken of their rest. 



In this Bay of the Grebes, beautiful motion pictures were constantly being 

 thrown on our screen, especially in morning and evening. One night a glori- 

 ous golden sunset made a water color of the lake, a small herd of cows wading 

 along the opposite shore glowing red in the warm light. Suddenly the wind 

 shifted from south to west, and the wide smooth lake ruffled in streaks that 

 grew into long feathery white plumes. One morning at six o'clock the lake 

 was so calm that the wooded shores of our cove and the opposite side of the 

 lake were reflected so clearly that it was hard to tell which was woods and 

 which reflection. About half the grebes were along our shore, the rest in the 

 smooth water along the other side of the lake where they were white spots with 

 short lines behind them. As the nearer ones swam, the line turned to the full 

 wedge of the wake. One near shore was reflected charmingly, every move of 

 its long-billed head and silvery throat being mirrored. 



There was another morning of exquisite reflections and delicate water ef- 

 fects. Four long-billed, long-legged sandpipers were running along shore in 

 duplicate, one very small one trotting off, as if in apology, in the opposite di- 

 rection. A. cormorant flew, closelv mirrored in the lake. The sun flashed from 



