CATALOGUE OF CANADIAN BIRDS. lOI 



from a hole in a dead Douglas fir, fifty feet from the ground, pro- 

 bably the deserted nest of a flying squirrel. The tree stood about 

 four hundred yards from the nearest water. I saw another nesting 

 hole but was unable to reach it. The female brought fourteen 

 young ones from this. (Brooks.) 



LYI. CHARITONETTA Stejneger. 1SS5. 



153. Buffle-head. Spirit Duck. 



Charitonetta albeola (Linn.) Stejn. 1885. 



One taken in 1827 at Godthavn and another at Frederikshaab in 

 1 89 1. (IVingc.) Rare migrant in Newfoundland and Nova Scotia. 

 Chamberlain says it is a common resident in New Brunswick, and 

 supposes it breeds there. Rather common migrant in Quebec and 

 Ontario, and reported by Saunders to breed rarely in the Bruce 

 peninsula. This species, like the golden-eye, prefers the vicinity 

 of lakes and deep 23onds and river valleys where there is timber. It 

 is a summer resident in all the forest country from Manitoba north- 

 westerh^ to the Rocky mountains, northeasterly to Hudson ba}^ 

 and according to Ross descends the Mackenzie river to the Arctic 

 sea. Nelson and Turner report it as a rare bird in Alaska, but 

 more common on the upper Yukon where it was also found by 

 Bishop. Streator, Fannin, Spreadborough and Brooks report it 

 common and breeding in British Columbia, and wintering on the 

 coast, and the latter says it winter's on Lake Okanagan, B.C. 



Breeding Notes. — Rare in Alberta but breeds there. Three 

 downy young were shot June 20th, and five more June 22nd, 1896, 

 at a small lake about eight miles northwest of Red Deer, Alberta. 

 (Dippie.) Breeds throughout northwestern Canada. One of the 

 rarer ducks. I have both eggs and young taken in the downy 

 stage at Long lake, Manitoba. A set of seven eggs in my collection 

 was taken out of a tree at Long lake. It appears that when trees 

 are scarce, as along the Missouri Coteau in Saskatchewan, this bird 

 will lay its eggs in a hole in a bank as the belted kingfisher does. 

 There are no trees in that part of Saskatchewan, which accounts for 

 this little duck laying its twelve eggs at the end of a gopher burrow, 

 in a bank along the side of a small lake one mile north of Rush lake. 



