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 THE CONDOP A Bi-Monlhl," Magazine of Western Ornithology Volume XXI ]anuary-February, 1919 Number 1 [Issued January 28, 1919] A RETURN TO THE DAKOTA LAKE REGION By FLORENCE MERRIAM BAILEY (Continued from volume XX, page 178) V. FROM THE BRIDGE OVER THE COULEE HE FARMER at whose house I stayed on North Sweetwater offered to take me down the road to the Belgrade Bridge over the Coulee, three miles south, one morning, on his way to town, saying that he almost al- ways saw Ducks in driving across the Bridge, and that they were quite tame, being used to seeing people. The Coulee was said to meander down across the prairie all the way from Canada, but although that would be only fifty or sixty miles, the map did no fully bear out the statement. At the southern end of its sluggish course it served as a connecting link between the eastern and western lakes of the Sweet- water chain, a few rods west of the Bridge opening into the middle one of the three western lakes, while to the east of the Bridge, by means of interlacing waterways, it completed the chain. The Bridge, protected by only a narrow hand rail offered an unobstructed view of the narrow Coulee with its bordering cane and marsh grass, that, on the west, wound out past a long point into the lake; on the east, meandering out of sight between high reedy banks. To the north, from horizon to horizon, the view was of prairie grain fields. At the south end of the Bridge, a thicket of illows frequented by Goldfinches made a good screen from which to watch the more wary birds on the water below and to listen to the neighboring songsters. A large cottonwood looking down on the thicket attracted a Balti. more Oriole which might not otherwise have been found there; and when the wind rustled the leaves of the cottonwoods and willows, bringing the fragrance of the wild prairie rose, Song Sparrow, Maryland Yellow-throat, and Yellow Warbler sang blithely, while from the marsh grass beyond came the tinkling clatter, clatter, clatter of a Marsh Wren. Meanwhile, Red-winged Blackbirds and other passersby occasionally lit on the Bridge rail for a look about.