THE AUDUBON BULLETIN 53 
Many ducks and a few Coots wintered. When the Illinois river be- 
came ice-coated, they clambered onto the ice and huddled together. So 
weak were some Lesser Scaups that a man picked up several of them. The 
waterfowl migration was very encouraging in the spring—the water be- 
ing black with Coots and ducks. On one such day I observed fifteen 
species of ducks. Among those I observed were the Black Duck, Baldpate, 
Canvas-back, and Shoveller. 
Since the creation of the Starved Rock Dam, several years ago, marsh 
growth has become yearly more abundant over the flooded land. This has 
caused many ducks and other marsh birds to nest here. A King Rail’s nest 
was found on May 27. A wild Mallard’s nest was discovered in a grassy 
vacated grape arbor several hundred feet from the Illinois river, by a 
friend. At that time, late in May, the nest contained eleven eggs. I ob- 
served several young wild Mallards in the river July 21st. I saw several 
recently hatched Blue-winged Teal July 28th on the Fox river. In this 
case the female Teal swam, crying pitifully, a few feet in front of my 
canoe. When pursued, she flew a short distance and alighted on the water. 
This was repeated several times. Meanwhile, the young Teal rapidly 
swam through the reeds. During late June and July I discovered several 
Coot and Gallinule nests, and I saw many Coot families—the young rang- 
ing from recently hatched to nearly full grown. Strangely enough, each 
Coot seemed to have no more than four young. Several young Pied- 
billed Grebes were also noted. Shovellers and Lesser Scaups were ob- 
served throughout the summer, though no indication of their breeding 
here was found. 
By hard field work and the help of friends I located nine raptors’ 
nests. The first—a Great Horned Owl’s—was discovered on February 
24. The nest contained two white spherical eggs, which were later de- 
stroyed by Crows. I found a Red-tailed Hawk’s nest on March 17, two 
on the 18th, one on the 24th, and still another on the 25th. I located a 
Long-eared Owl nesting in a rock cleft of an abandoned sand quarry 
April 21. A Marsh Hawk’s nest was shown to me June 16. A Cooper’s 
Hawk’s nest, with the young half-grown, was disclosed to me by a poultry 
farmer on June 25. 
The shore bird migration was about as usual. Semi-palmated Sand- 
pipers, Least Sandpipers, Semi-palmated Plovers, and Pectoral Sandpipers 
were very common wherever suitable mud flats presented themselves. On 
May 24, I saw a Red-backed Sandpiper in a company of other Sand- 
pipers. In the fall the only notable record was that of a Dowitcher, 
September 6. Many Spotted Sandpipers nested in the sand quarries near 
here. Several of their nests were under observation at the same time. 
Because the waterfowl flight in this section was very light this fall, 
all the hunters are complaining. However, Ruddy Ducks, Lesser Scaups, 
and Golden-eyes were more common this season than in the past several. 
A Christmas census that I made accompanied by Jeff Drury on 
