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Volume XVII 
May -June, 1915 
Number 3 
A SUMMER AT FLATHEAD LAKE, MONTANA 
By ARETAS A. SAUNDERS 
WITH FOUR THOTOS BY THE AUTHOR 
T HE SUMMER bird life of Flathead Lake, Montana, is already well known 
through the writings of Mr. P. M. Silloway in bulletins of the University 
of Montana and in The Condor. The area, however, is a large one. Many 
parts of it have not yet been visited by an ornithologist, and conditions are 
changing as the country becomes more thickly settled, so that it is still possible 
to add more birds to the list or to get new facts about the species previously 
known. 
I had the good fortune to spend the summer of 1914 at the Biological Sta- 
tion of the University of Montana, in the position formerly occupied by Mr. 
Silloway. The location of the station has been changed from its former posi- 
tion at the north end of Flathead Lake to a spot more centrally located on the 
east shore, at Yellow Bay. The country has been settled very rapidly. Many 
areas on the lake shore have been cleared and planted to orchards. The town 
of Big Fork has sprung up at the mouth of Swan River, the former site of the 
station, and the town of Poison at the southern end of the lake, near its outlet. 
It is feared that with changing conditions many of the larger and more pic- 
turesque species of birds are becoming scarce. At the same time many of the 
small song birds are increasing in numbers. 
Bird life is very abundant at Yellow Bay, but the number of species that 
one may find within easy walking distance of the station is considerably less 
than at the old location at Big Fork. This is because there is less variety to 
the character of the surrounding country. The station is better equipped with 
boats than formerly, so that trips may be made in a short time to distant parts 
of the lake shore, and places not commonly visited in former years are now 
easy of access. 
