Sept., 1918 A RETURN TO THE DAKOTA LAKE REGION 177 ern shore of the bay, yellowing the points extending i)ut into the water, while t;m.dark shadows of the trees in our cove gave depth to the picture. A beauti- ful sight was seen one morning. from the erest of the bluff overlooking our cove --a large flock of Franklin Gulls 15ned up along the shore with the light on thmn suddenly burst away, gleaming white over the dark water. Another morning, fog obscured the lake, obliterating the long spit and ahnost hiding the woods of the opposite shore. At the foot of our bluff was
seen the old mother Golden-eye, and near by a Franklin Gull, standing on one
foot on a stone preening its feathers, its dimly suggested reflection contrasting with reflections under a clear sky, when the black head of a gull or the white throat of a grebe would be perfectly mirrored. While the lake was hidden, a large flock of Franklin Gulls straggled by close to the house, and others drifted along the shore. A Kingbird giving chase apparently tweaked the feathers of one and made another suddenly veer with a complaining cry. When the fog first melted back from the opposite shore so that the green of its woods and grass, together with the buffy grass of the spit came out, the sun illuminated four white necks so near together that as the birds swam slowly aloug they were seen as four dots within the circle of my glass, gradually approaching the outer rim, when a mirror-like flash came from the breast of one of the swimmers. Soon six grebes were seen slowly swimming toward the sun with the light high on their throats, after which the second spit came out of the fog and the sky was blue over all. The purring ter'r'r'r of the tern, and the strident kr'ray-kree, kr'ray-kree of the grebe were heard, and eighteen spots were counted on the water in the same belt of weed. Later, when the gray water was all a'sparkle, a gray gull sailed about over it, but no black dots could be seen except with the help of the glass. Another time when the water was dark, the grebes were white dots, and white terns flew around projected against the dark background. Once when the lake was still and white, the black pin heads were scattered out well apart over the water. When separated in this way the grebes kept calling to each other? for they are eminently social birds of close colonies. During rain they were also heard calling, and after a stormy night, when they were unusu- Mly quiet, I inferred that they had been broken of their res.t. In this Bay of the .Grebes, beautiful motion pictures were constantly being thrown on our screen, especially in morning and evening. One night a glori- ous golden sunset made a water color of the lake, a small herd of cows wading along the opposite shore glowing red in the warm light. Suddenly the wind shifted from south to west, and the wide smooth lake ruffled in streaks that grew into long feathery white plumes. One morning at six o'clock the lake was so calm that the wooded shores of our cove and the opposite side of the lake were reflected so clearly tbat it was hard to tell which was woods and which reflection. About half the grebes were along our shore, the rest in the smooth water along the other side of the lake where they were white spots with short lines behind them. As the nearer ones swam, the line turned to the full wedge of the wake. One near shore was reflected charmingly, every move of its long-billed head 'and silvery throat being nfirrored. There was another morning of exquisite reflections and delicate water ef- fects. Four long-billed, long-legged sandpipers were running along shore in duplicate, one very small one trotting off, as if in apology, in the opposite di- rection. A cormorant flew, closely mirrored in the lake. The sun !as. hed from
