July, 1919 157 A i?ETUi?N TO THE DAKOTA LAKE i?EGION By FLORENCE MERRIAM BAILEY (Continued from page 114) VII. THE GEM OF THE SWEETWATERS IN COVE AND SHORE HE conditions that make the Coulee a favorite resort of families of water birds make the small easternmost lake of the Sweetwater chain the chos- en home of hordes of birds. While almost in sight from the traveled Bel- grade Bridge, a mile to the west of it, the lake is so completely cnt off by the' moat-like Coulee and its marshy venous meshwork that the nearest way to it by road from the Bridge is five or six miles around along the northern oval of (he mail carrier's route, which crosses the mdat on the grass-grown, black ?ramed Coulee Bridge and making a broad loop out over grain fields comes no nearer than the far side of a w?de field from the lake on its way back to town. Remote and out of evidence to start with, the little lake has many other advantages. Nearly round, it is only about three quarters of a mile across, so that the wind has less sweep than over the larger lakes, and when it blows 'too hard, sheltering banks protect the birds, for its surface is sunk well below the level of the surrounding grain fields and scattered bordering clumps of trees. On three sides the lake is fringed by sheltering rule marsh and on the fourth by a protecting strip of woods; while additional shelter is afforded by rule isl- ands, long streaks of tule across the middle of the lake, between which the ?vater fowl can gather at a safe distance from passersby along the shore. Lying close to the marsh-bordered Coulee and a long pasture slough on whose edges large flocks of Ducks rest when not fc?ding, the small Sweetwater has also within a mile or so, three open-shored lakes, to which the Ducks that spend their days on the small lake can fly for greater security at night. All these conditions make the east Sweetwater so popular among both Ducks and hunters that a hunting lodge formerly near the north Sweetwater pass, during a recent winter was moved on the ice down the Coulee to this lake. Between this vacant hunting lodge in the woods on the south shore and the farmhouse heading the grain fields on the north end of the lake is a grassy road following the east shore, and as I walked back and forth over it, often just to see what birds were there, frequently on my way around the lake or out to the mail box in the wheat field, I had ample opportunity to become acquainted with its many tenants. Among the most interesting were the Bl?ck-crowned Night Herons, and they were often seen on fence posts leading down into the lake at the ends of pasture lines, as well as standing at the foot of tules, either on the islands or along the marshy border of the lake; preferably half hidden by a thin tule veil. Sometimes one would be seen clambering around among the black rods of a rule island, or rising from a blind with a loud squawk. They were seen aS all hours of day, and found fishing in the afternoons, but as their name indi- cates, their normal fishing habit was probably best illustrated by one seen at 7:40 P.M. flying across the lake and lighting at the edge of a rule island as if ready for night work.
