ie eee A UeDeUeB OO Ne eB UE Hers N 11 
When I commented about discrepancy in size of families, Mr. Jensen 
explained that the parents have a habit of collecting the offspring of their 
neighbors. As a result, some pairs had only one or two goslings while 
others had normal families of five, or double families of eight to ten. One 
enterprising couple had collected enough for three families. The young of 
this particular pair were in such a compact group that we could not count 
them but there were at least 14 and probably as many as 16. 
Although the Avocet was the most abundant nesting shorebird, to me it 
was the most interesting. We stopped where 100 or more were nesting at 
the side of the road, some in low vegetation and others on the open ground. 
If two or three eggs in a slight depression of the sandy soil may be 
regarded as a nest, there was one area with six nests in a 12 foot square. 
The broken wing act of these birds, particularly due to their long legs, 
struck me as a clownish performance. Then the whole affair was made 
more amusing by birds quite a distance from us giving a much bigger show 
than most of those near by. It was also quite apparent that they were 
actually not much disturbed — that their actions were merely a good 
example of inherited behaviorism. 
Other common nesting shorebirds, seldom or never seen in Illinois, were 
the Long-billed Curlew, Western Willet, Black-necked Stilt, and Wilson’s 
Phalarope. When I first saw the Long-billed Curlew 10 years ago, it was 
pointed out to me by a friend who referred to it by its very descriptive 
common name of “old sickle-bill.” At that time I wondered at its ability 
to hold its head so erect when walking and how it was able to stretch it 
forward in flight in the manner of a crane. Seeing the bird once more, 
again I found it difficult to reconcile its easy graceful movements with the 
laws of physics and the burden of its immensely long bill. The length of 
the bill varies in individual birds from four to more than eight inches and 
I found myself looking for the “prize-winning” bill among the fiock I 
was watching. 
Birds with a black and white color pattern often appeal to me more 
than those of bright colors. Consequently I was fascinated with the flash- 
ing black and white wing pattern of the Western Willet and the dainty 
Black-necked Stilt’s striking black upper parts and pure white under parts. 
While we watched a flock of Wilson’s Phalaropes spinning and bobbing 
in the water, Mr. Jensen told me that the number present in the fall had 
been estimated at 100,000. As I tried to visualize such a sight I thought 
of the excitement caused on the Chicago Ornithological Society field trip to 
Waukegan last year when more than 50 people at one time surrounded 
and breathlessly watched one little bird of this species. 
Although the refuge is primarily a sanctuary for waterfowl, a list of 
the birds recorded there includes 65 of the passerines. I did not have the 
time to give these much attention, but it was a continual pleasure to watch 
the handsome Yellow-headed Blackbirds. They were abundant and had a 
tendency to congregate about the spillways. It was therefore possible to 
sit in the car and observe them at a distance as close as ten feet. They also 
