ve. 
The Outing Magazine 
and then a male ruddy ¥ 
duck, likewise curious, 
showed itself among the 
reeds. Then an American 
eared grebe would suddenly 
emerge from the depths among 
the gulls, but I had to snap 
quickly to get it on the plate be- 
fore it plunged out of sight again. 
Approaching night now drove 
me from the great prairie pigeon 
roost, but not without a wealth of 
exposed plates. Next morning I had 
to start upon the long two thousand 
five hundred mile journey homeward. 
During those three days of leisure, and 
many a time since, | have seemed to hear 
the appalling clamor of that host, and to 
see their fluttering thousands outlined 
against the billowy clouds, like flakes of 
snow, rose-tinted by the feeble, slanting 
rays of the setting sun. 
These scenes and_ inci- 
dents in the life of this 
colony are typical of the nest- 
ing habits of the bird, wher- 
ever found, aside from minor 
local details. It should also be 
known as a matter of practical 
interest to the western farmer, 
that it is largely insectivorous. 
It has been ascertained to feed its 
young—in a Minnesota colony, as 
investigated by Dr. T. S. Roberts— 
largely upon the nymph of the dragon- 
fly, and no doubt upon any other in- 
sects or larve locally available. Another 
favorite food, a little later in the sea- 
son, is the dreaded grasshopper. As the 
roving flocks course over the prairie they 
do splendid work in helping to exter- 
minate this pest, and as they never 
disturb the grain-fields deserve all possible 
protection. 
