Viewing page 53 of 83

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

[[preprinted]] 100 [[/preprinted]]
[[no entries]]

[[end page]]
[[start page]]

[[preprinted]] 101 [[/preprinted]]

latter they were covered up and were still warm. The nests were merely round collections of decayed vegetable matter raised slightly above the water. The eggs were continually damp and were greatly stained

In the afternoon we returned and set some steel-traps wound with wool-twine about two of the nests in mud Lake. While Mr. Stout was working at one of them, the owner a King Rail appeared and hovered around in a state of alarm. Later we had a King Rail at each nest. These were the only ones seen during our stay although judging from the notes there must have been numbers present. 

At Rice Lake I picked up another Least Bittern. I found a nest and a few feet farther on saw the female in a clump of seeds in a posture similar to the other one[[strikethrough]]s[[/strikethrough]]. She resented being picked up by striking at me and squawking. When I let her go she flew a few feet and then strode off over the water grasping the reed-stems in her long claws. 

On our way home I saw some young Blackbilled Cuckoos in a hedge-row and shot a male.
 
At Rice Lake Stout shot a male Yellow-headed Blackbird that had lost a good many feathers from its head and the upper mandible was shorter than the other. We saw only this one here.