CATALOGUE OF CANADIAN BIRDS. 755 



a spruce tree, 15 feet from the ground. The nest is made of goose 

 grass and is six inches in diameter and three inches deep. The 

 eggs are a paler blue than a robin's, and are spotted with brown. 

 (W. Raine.) For a full account of the nesting habits of this species, 

 see Pacific Coast Fauna of the Cooper Ornithological Club for Nov- 

 ember 14th, 1900. 



CCLXXVI. CYANOSYLVIA Brehm. 1828. 



764. Red-spotted Bluethroat. 



Cyanosylvia suecia (Linn.) Brehm. 1828. 



On the 5th June, 1851, Dr. Adams found a flock of seven of these 

 handsome birds feeding about some willows in the vicinity of St. 

 Michael. They were very shy and he succeeded in obtaining a 

 single specimen. (Nelson.) I met with this species in the vicinity 

 of Cape Blossom, Kotzebue sound, Alaska, on July 3rd, 1899. The 

 locality was the side of a ravine between two hills of the first range^ 

 about a mile back from the mission. This hillside was of a gentle 

 slope, and was clothed with thick patches of dwarf willows, one to 

 two feet in height. That this species was breeding at Cape Blossom^ 

 I have no doubt, but time did not permit as the Penelope arrived 

 and I had to leave; I procured two specimens however. (Grinnell.) 



CCLXXVII. SAXICOLA Bechstein. 1803. 



765. Wheatear. 



Saxicola cenanthe cenanthe (Linn.) Bechst. 1803. 



During the Western Union Telegraph Expedition, Mr. Dall saw 

 several large flocks of these birds near Nulato, on May 23rd and 

 24th, 1868, and learned from the natives of their abundance upon 

 the stony hill-tops back from the river. At St. Michael, Norton 

 sound, I found them to occur in spring and fall rather irregularly 

 They were not very rare, and the natives informed me that they 

 were common upon the bare mountain tops in the interior, fre- 

 quenting the summer range of the reindeer. The wheatear was also 

 found at Port Clarence, in Behring strait, at the head of Kotzebue 

 sound, at Cape Lisburne, by Dr. Bean. (Nelson.) This bird is very 

 erratic in its occurrence in northern Alaska. Early in the spring 

 485^ 



