May, 1920 A RETURN TO THE DAKOTA LAKE REGION 107 
some hunters came and drove them off, when they flew out east to feed. They 
would go miles to feed, she said, adding that ‘‘they like burnt barley fields 
the best, for in them the grain is in plain sight.’’ 
The Canada Geese come earlier than the Snow Geese and this year on the 
twenty-first of September, at Crary, twenty miles from us, three flocks were 
seen, fifteen in a flock. Three days later, as we were out by the windmill 
we heard a faint honking and I was delighted to discover two small flocks 
flying over toward the lake, seven in the first flock, eleven flying in single 
file in the second. 
By this time we were having the clear bracing days of a northern autumn. 
In the Big Slough the grass around the black streak when lt by the sun made 
a vivid yellow streak, and along the lake border the trees were also yellowing. 
The stacks of slough hay were being fenced to keep the cattle from them dur- 
ing the winter, and fields of grain too poor for threshing were being burned. 
The burning was generally done by lghting kerosene-soaked rags tied on a 
long wire, the farmer dragging it along the edge of the field to be cleared, 
taking care not to get burned when the wind caught the flames. While all this 
was going on, eight horse gang plows were turning great squares of stubble 
field to black squares of rich Dakota soil. 
When the Meadowlarks were heard singing with fervor the fifteenth of 
September, I attributed the surprising phenomenon to the fact that it was a 
warm day after protracted cold; but on the twenty-third, when with white frost 
on the ground and fences—cat tracks showing the frost on the gate post—both 
Meadowlark and Song Sparrow sang joyously, I put them down for good 
hardy North Dakota birds. On such stirring days who would not want to 
shout and sing, to rejoice in being abroad in the great out of doors? Glorious 
windy days there were when the afternoon sun sent long flashlight streaks 
across the pale stubble fields and straw stacks, as the wind whistled and 
cloud piles shifted across the blue sky. 
But the autumnal nights were the most resplendent of all. As early as 
the last of August the heavens were growing prophetic with northern lights. 
On several brilliant starry nights I had noticed a wide band of light across 
the northern sky, from which light streaked up toward the zenith. Then 
came the night of the transcendent auroral display widely observed in the 
north. At its height, the north side of the heavens from horizon to domed 
zenith was one vast illumination with upward streaking and pulsations like 
the subdued flashing of electric light. The days following these electrical 
displays, the cool air seemed singularly pure and clear, exquisite small clouds 
standing still low in the blue heavens, so perfect they looked as if a child 
could pluck them from the sky. 
Rich sunsets were followed by glorious starry nights when, with heavy 
wraps we would go out under the sky to study the constellations, the low 
horizon giving a full calendar, from the Dipper low in the northwest to 
Scorpio low in the southwest; while Capella shone brilliant just above the 
northeastern horizon, Cygnus and Lyra overhead, the Square of Pegasus. 
Cepheus, Cassiopeia, and Andromeda in the northeast; Perseus, Trianeula. and 
Aries near the northeastern horizon. In the silence of the night, how one 
marvels at the star-filled firmament! When the hours of night had turned 
to those of morning, Orion slumbered on the horizon. Then came the morn- 
