«8 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA. 



breeding, except that Mcllwraith says that Dr. Macallum observed 

 one leading its young within half a mile of Dunnville, at the mouth 

 of the Grand river, Lake Erie, and Saunders and Morden say it may 

 breed on the St. Clair flats. 



It is one of the commonest ducks in the prairie region, from 

 Manitoba to the mountains and from lat. 49° to the Barren Grounds, 

 where it becomes rare, as Macfarlane says only a couple of specimens 

 were collected at Fort Anderson in six years. Spreadborough saw 

 it in nearly all the sloughs between Lesser Slave lake and Peace River 

 Landing, Atha. Between lat. 51° and lat. 54° it is especially abundant, 

 and it is found in the autumn in immense numbers in every pond and 

 lakelet. It has been taken at Moose Factory and Trout lake. A 

 few pairs were breeding on Vermilion lakes, at Banff, in May, 1 89 1 ; 

 and at Lake Ste. Anne, Alberta, June, 1898. It is a rare species in 

 Alaska, though Nelson reports it breeding as far north as Kotzebue 

 sound. Fannin says it is an abundant summer resident on the 

 mainland of British Columbia, east of the Coast range, and Brooks 

 says it is a common resident in the lower Fraser valley about Sumas 

 lake, and a scarce breeder in the neighbourhood of 150-mile House. 

 Cariboo; Spreadborough saw it at Elko and Penticton, B.C. 



Breeding Notes. — Common near Reaburn, Manitoba, and also 

 at Buffalo lake. Alberta, where both eggs and birds were taken. 

 {Dippie.) 



This species breeds with other water-fowl on all the marshes 

 from Kotzebue sound to the mouth of the Kuskoquim. The eggs 

 are deposited the last of May and first of June in a dry spot near 

 some pond or stream, and the nest is usually lined with grass and 

 feathers, the latter from the parent's breast. (Nelson.) 



This species was found breeding plentifully near small streams 

 descending from the Cypress hills and by small marshy lakes at 

 Crane lake, Saskatchewan, June 9th, 1894. While beating rose- 

 thickets for nests the writer flushed a female off a nest containing 

 ten eggs, too much incubated to be taken ; shortly after, I flushed 

 another, nesting in the same manner, but there were only eight 

 eggs in the set, quite fresh. Both nests were under rose-bushes 

 on dry ground and lined with grass and down. On the nth June, 

 .in some patches of rose-bushes, I found two more nests, one having 

 eleven and the other nine eggs. 



