Jan.; 1918 A RETURN TO TIlE DAKOTA LAKE REGION '35 ,A solitary Black-crowned Night Heron, perhaps the one seen with the,Bit- terns: was Occasionally found', now circling .over a small grassy'slough where frogs lived, now standing near enough a round rock to suggest the resemb- lance its 'humped-over figure. gnve, its black back and white.' face producing an unbird-like effect. When the stone turned facing me, the delicate coloring' of the long yellow legs and creamy body excited my admiration. .' ' A brown Marsh Hawk was 'often seen flying about, 'sometimes -flopping down suddenly after her prey; Flickers were flushed frequently from the .pas- turge floor, and'Killdeer were meUwith now and then in' the pasture? A-pair seen one morning were walking about in the midst of the white:headed yarrov?, making a pretty picture. Four were seen together the last of June, crying-vo- ciferously in a variety of ways that made me realize afresh that their kilLdee is but,a phrase in a varied' repertoire. One of the family, possibly a' parent, dis- covering good feeding ground on the edge of the slough, stood and called and called till another joined it at the feast. ' 4. ? THE B,IG SLOUGH All.these visitors to the. pasture were as actors in the play, disappeari.ng as the. scenes shifted. One of the most tantalizing of our visitors was the loquaci- ous Coot? for small talk such as ep-ep-ep-ep, creck-creck, .creck.eck-eck, and peter-up, peter-up, peter-?p kept coming from the high .marsh grass.of the Big Sloughsthe other side of our fence; and a Coot often came out_and stood under the barbed .wire,.a gray figure across the slough, preening its feathers elabor- 'ately..' Other gray figures. sometimes stood on stones at the head of our slongh preening, giving a flash of white bill now one side and now the other, or fed with head down and tail up showing the white tail coverts. When startled or: in ?mood for a chase they would go rushing noisily after each other with a high splash. of white waters toward the fence line to disappear in the dense cover of the Big Slough beyond. How enticing! And inside the Big Slough was the Black Streak! Who could resist that? .Picking out as dry a place as possible, I crawled under the barbed wii'e fence. and waded out .gingerly through shallow water among the low tussocks of wide-bladed grass. . Seeing a tract of brown-topped grass that ]ooke'd'dry. enough for better footing, I headed for that, but on making my way found it shoulder high and soon was surprised by a preliminary cold trickle over the top of-a rubber boot? A barbed wire fence ran at right angles to Our' pastm-e.fence and the tops of its posts showed' above the grass down the length of the Big Slough, in its course parallelling?and almost reaching the Black ' Streak; and by following it I hoped at once to have secure footing and perhaps be able to reach the Streak. But though I waded laboriously with boots full of. water and often uncertain footing down long lengths of it, at the nearest'..- . point to the Streak a wide band of soft untrustworthy mud that I recognized as part of the boggy ground. an old settler had told me of fanned out from the Streak and blocked .my advance; so, weary from heavy wading, I decided content myself for that day with wandering' about the slough. In.one place a half grown gray Coot flew before me, and adult Coots were much in evidence..As I progressed, ducks rose and circled around, among them a pair of Mallards,' perhaps the pair that had visited the pasture. Female Pin- .t?ils ?vere. apparently the commonest, with heavily marked tail and back, and white wing-edgings, .and one evidently flushed from her young tried ?to decoy me away. Again and again she Tlew up near me With a hoarse quack and some-
