Excerpt from List of North Dakota Birds: Found in the Big Coulee, Turtle Mountains and Devils Lake Region, as Noted During the Years 1890 to 1896 and Verified in the Subsequent Years to Date

The following description of the territory covered by this list was made in 1895 - 96. A description written now would not be recognized as covering the same country. Taking Cando, Towner County, as a center, a radius of 40 miles would circumscribe the territory covered by this list, and the greater portion of the species noted were taken within a radius of 20 miles. It is classed as rolling prairie with no running streams, except in early spring when the Mauvaise river or Big Coulee and its branches become quite a river while the snow is going off, but they soon run down and during the summer are but little more than a succession of water holes of varying size and depth. The prairies are dotted all over by shallow sloughs formed by the drainage. They usually evaporate by the end of May. They are the favorite feeding places of the Sandpipers and Ducks: In the southeastern part of the county are a succession of lakes of some size, known as Chain Lakes, the largest of -which are Lakes Alice and Irwin. Lake Alice is fringed with a growth of trees and bushes on. Two sides, and is the only place in the county where any trees of size can be found.

A few miles north of Cando is a series of alkali ponds. These are shallow and often dry up in summer time. While there is water in them they are favorite resting and feeding grounds for the Sandpiper and Duck. Twelve miles north is Snyder Lake, some four or five miles in length and a half mile in width at its widest part. The south end is quite deep. The water in this lake is very brackish although there is one quite large spring of good water near the north end. The northern part of the lake is shallow and filled with a growth of grasses and rushes common to this kind of a place. Ducks, Grebes and Coots nest in numbers here, as well as other water loving birds.

About the Publisher

Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com

This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.