CATALOGUE OF CANADIAN BIRDS. I75 



Fraser river, B.C., in the fall, but rare in the spring, on account of 

 the inundation of their feeding-grounds and took specimens at 

 Quesnel during the 1901 migration. Spreadborough shot three out 

 of a flock of ten on the 23rd August, 1893, on Stubbs island, west 

 coast of Vancouver island. Mr. E. Anderson took it on Lake Okan- 

 agan, B.C., in October, 1897. 



Breeding Notes. — On the 24th of June, 1864, a nest containing 

 four eggs was found in the Barren Grounds in a swampy tract 

 between two small lakes. It was composed of a few decayed leaves, 

 placed in a small cavity in the ground shaded with grass. It is 

 very uncommon in the north, though nests were discovered. (Mac- 

 iarlanc.) This species arrives at Point Barrow about May 30th. 

 After the tundra becomes clear of snow it retreats from the beach 

 and is especially to be looked for on dry grassy portions of the 

 tundra. It is never very common and is always solitary or in pairs. 

 The nest was always well hidden in the grass and never placed in 

 marshy ground or on the bare black portions of the tundra ; it con- 

 sists merely of a slight depression in the ground, thinly lined with 

 dried grass. All the eggs we found were obtained from the last 

 week in June to the first of July, a trifle later than the other waders. 

 {Murdoch.) There is no doubt that the breeding-ground of this 

 species extends from the west side of Hudson bay along the Arctic 

 coast to Point Barrow. Spreadborough saw three on a small island 

 in James bay, Hudson bay, on June i6th, 1896, and believes they 

 were breeding. 



242. Least Sandpiper. 



Actodrouias miniitilla (Vieill.) Coues, 1861. 

 One shot in the spring of 1S67 on Noursoak peninsula, Green- 

 land. (.4/t/. Man.) One taken at Disco Fjord, 1878. {Winge.) 

 A common summer migrant in the Hudson bay region and along 

 the whole Atlantic coast, including the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and 

 doubtless breeds in small numbers in eastern and northern Labrador 

 as well as on Anticosti and the Magdalen islands. It is a common 

 migrant in Quebec and Ontario, and extends as a migrant across 

 the continent to the Pacific coast, where it w^as seen in large flocks 

 on vStubbs island, west of Vancouver island, 1893. Spreadborough 

 saw a few in 1903 on some of the lake shores in the Peace River 

 district, Atha. It is also found in the interior of Alaska, and may 



