Page:Condor21(5).djvu/17

 Sept., 1919 A RITURN TO THt!; DAKOTA LAKI RInGION 191 cross a waterway made it turn back abruptly by her terrified, peremptory tub.up; and by her hysterical outbursts made a Marsh Hawk change his mind several times when starting to light on the tules. This northwestern secluded part of the lake, farthest from even occasional passersby, was that in which Tule Wrens sang, and into which the flocks of Ducks that came over in the early mornings first settled down, and were seen bathing, rushing around in the water, or rising and flying across to the Coulee or the long slough in the pasture where they liked to rest. They also gathered here under the tules and the protecting bank above when a high northwest wind had crested the lake with white caps and driven the water fowl to cover; for whichever way the wind blew across the lake, the Ducks were to be found un- der the bank on the side from which it came, as in this way they escaped the roughness of waves swept by the wind. Large flocks assembled on the long slough in the pasture--three hundred I counted at one time--standing in close rows with bills on their shoulders looking like headless horsemen, or, in view of their brown eclipse plumage assumed after the breeding season, more par- ticularly suggesting rows of mushrooms, brown on top, lighter below. Who and what were they all ? After watching the handsomely and distinctively col- ored males in the early part of the season, it was trying enough to have them mask themselves in this _way, and I greeted the diagnostic spoon bill of the Shoveller, the long neck of the Pintail, and the blue wing patches of the Teal with positive gratitude. Sometimes a great flock would rise and break away, leaving me bewildered if they failed to show the few earmarks I had mastered during the season. Alas for the acquired knowledge of the hunter without his bag ! At the lake end of the slough, one morning, se.eing only a few Ducks in the marsh grass to detain me, I was hurrying by when, with a roar, a well hidden flock rose before my astonished gaze. Even more pasture land had formerly .been given over to the water fowl of the adjoining lake, for, as had been proved by a lengthy law suit, this was meandering land, changing its boundaries with the changing rainfall so that no titles could be given to it by the government. 3 While the larger part of the waterfowl of the lake were naturally found along its sheitering marshy borders, some interesting sights were seen off the wooded southern shore. On my first visit to this shore, looking through the trees, I saw an intimate family picture--two of the handsome red-necked Hol- bcell Grebes swimming protectingly around with their two downy young. So I had found the breeding ground of the Holbcell at last and should have the op- portunity to study it! Three days later, on August 1, I found an adult with two nearly half grown young. While the mother--to settle all matters of sex arbitrarily--bathed and preened, showing her warm ruddy neck and white throat patch, the young showed the white throat--a distinct patch across the water--a pale reddish neck, and the characteristic Grebe breast. While the mother rose and shook the water from her feathers, one of the young indo- lently lay prone on the water and stretched his foot. The next evening be- tween 6:30 and 6:50 I found the old Grebe giving her young what was proba- bly their last meal for the night. As she held her bill down, a pretty effect was given, the loop made by neck and bill being reflected in the water. Six Hol bcells were subsequently seen, resting out in front of the tules bordering the lake.