CATALOGUE OF CANADIAN BIRDS. 715 



Slave river; first seen May 29th; not rare on the Clearwater river 

 up to Methye portage. (/. M. Macoun.) British Columbia. 

 {Lord.) Common on the coast and in the interior. {Streator.) 

 Common east and west of Coast range; winters on Vancouver island. 

 {Fannin.) Tolerably common resident from the valley at Chilli- 

 wack to timber line on Coast range. Common around Lake Oka- 

 nagan, B.C., in winter, associating with chickadees. Rather com- 

 mon in winter in the Cariboo district of B.C. {Brooks.) 



Two specimens were taken in Cvimshewa inlet, Queen Charlotte 

 islands, B.C., June i8th and June 22nd respectively. No others 

 were seen during our stay. {Osgood.) I took a male at Skagway, 

 Alaska, May 31st, and another at Log Cabin, June 20th, and heard 

 one on an island at the junction of the Lewes and Pelly rivers, near 

 Fort Selkirk, Yukon district, July 26th. This species has not here- 

 tofore been noted in the Yukon valley. {Bishop.) 



Breeding Notes. — The eggs of this species are laid by May 

 loth, at Scotch Lake, York co., N.B., in a hole excavated in a dead 

 tree, preferably a spruce or fir. The nest is generally about four 

 inches below the entrance, and is composed of bark, fibre, fur and 

 a few feathers. The cavity is about three inches in diameter and 

 is sometimes made with great labour. On one occasion a pair 

 were found digging a cavity, March 26th, and at that date could 

 get half the size of the bird into the hole. Knots were struck 

 about two inches down and late in April they had to give up their 

 site and find a new place. Before leaving they had collected quite 

 a coating of balsam about the entrance, perhaps for the purpose of 

 keeping out large ants or mice. Both male and female work at 

 nest making. The number of eggs is six, each of which is set in a 

 light depression in the nest lining. {W. H. Moore.) In June, 

 1893, I found this bird nesting at Rush lake, Sask. There are no 

 trees at Rush lake, so the bird laid its eggs in a hole in a beam on 

 the stable-roof. {W. Raine.) Last summer I found a nest of the 

 red-breasted nuthatch. It was dug in a rotten stump five feet 

 from the ground, and contained 3'oung birds almost able to fly. 

 Around the entrance to the nest was a ring of pine or balsam gum, 

 and as I saw the young birds picking at it I inferred it was an insect 

 trap. I also found three nests of the chickadee, and each was lined 

 with the hair of Lepus americana. {A. Kay in Trans. Can. 

 Inst., Vol. III., 3rd Series.) I took a nest, May 26, 1903, seven 



