90 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA. 



fresh. The nest is Hned with grass-stems and feathers. When the 

 young are hatched the parent leads them to the adjacent pool, and 

 they keep in the most secluded parts of the marsh until able to take 

 wing. (N els 071.) 



Breeding in some numbers at Edmonton, Alberta, although no 

 nests were taken; two nests of this species were taken at Twelve- 

 mile lake, near Wood mountain, Sask., on June 5th, 1895; the nest 

 in one case was made of the dried stems of Eleockaris palustris and 

 lined with down. It contained ten eggs almost fresh. Another was 

 taken amongst some sage-brush a little distance from the water. 

 This nest held seven fresh eggs. A few nests of this species were 

 taken on an island in Cypress lake, south of the Cypress hills, June 

 29th, 1895; the nests were in clumps of rye-grass {Elymus conden- 

 satus), and one female was shot as she rose from the nest. (Spread- 

 borough.) Quite abundant in the "Barrens." The nest was usually 

 a small cavity or depression in the ground, lined with down, withered 

 leaves, and a few feathers. It lays from six to eight eggs. It 

 deserts the nest immediately the eggs are hatched and young and 

 old take to the water. (Macfarlane.) 



LIII. AIX BoiE. 1828. 

 144. Wood Duck. 



Aix sponsa (Linn.) Bonap. 1838. 



Rare. A few breed in Nova Scotia. (Downs.) A rare summer 

 resident. Breeds in New Brunswick. (Chamberlain.) Steams re- 

 ports it as common in the interior of Labrador, but none of our 

 explorers have ever seen a specimen there. Wintle says not many 

 breed around Montreal, but they are plentiful in the autumn and 

 mostly young birds. Summer resident around Ottawa, and breeds 

 in Dow swamp, close to the city. Breeds in suitable places through- 

 out southern Ontario, but much rarer now than formerly. A com- 

 mon summer resident in Parry Sound and Muskoka districts. That 

 it occurs, perhaps in abundance, in northwestern Ontario is indi- 

 cated by its occurrence in numbers in eastern Manitoba and along 

 the shores of Lake Winnipeg. Seton shows that it occurs as far 

 west as Carberry, over one hundred miles west of Winnipeg, and it 

 has been seen on Lake Winnipegosis, and shot at Cumberland House, 

 in lat. 54°. Murray records it from Moose Factory, James bay, and 

 from Trout lake. 



