428 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA. 



Breeding Notes. — In one of the sloughs, where I spent most 

 of the day wading about, sometimes up to my waist, and in some 

 spots considerably deeper, a large number of nests were found, 

 mostly containing nestlings, but with a few eggs. This was the last 

 week of June. The nests were built much Hke those of the long- 

 billed marsh wren, as far as the situation goes, being fixed to a 

 tuft of reeds or bunch of tall rank marsh-grass, some stems of which 

 pass through the substance. They were placed at varying elevations 

 but always far enough above the water to be out of danger of in- 

 undation. The nest is a light, dry, rustling structure, swaying 

 with the motion of the reed to which it is affixed, built of the same 

 materials as those which support it, which are woven and plaited 

 together; no mud is used, nor is there any special lining; the brim 

 is thick and somewhat folded over, like the seam of a garment; 

 but I never saw a nest, among the many examined, which was 

 arched over, as stated by some authors. The diameter outside 

 is five or six inches, and the depth nearly as much. From three 

 to six eggs or young birds were found in different nests ; the former 

 measure about an inch and an eighth in length by three-fourths 

 of an inch in breadth. The ground-colour is grayish-green; this 

 is thickly spotted with different shades of reddish-brown, some- 

 times so profusely that the ground colour is obscured, especially 

 at the larger end. (Coues.) At Crane lake, Sask., there was a 

 large colony of these birds which were nesting in a marsh where 

 the water was almost three feet deep. I found that this depth of 

 water round the edge of a reedy pond kept out foxes and coyotes, 

 and here ducks of various kinds, black terns and coots nested in 

 great numbers. All the nests taken by me were sHght structures 

 and always fastened to leaves or stems of cat-tail, (Typha latifolia). 

 Eggs or young in nest were from three to five, never six. (Macoun.) 



ecu. AGELAIUS. Vieillot. i8i6. 



498. Redwinged Blackbird. 



Agelaius phoeniceus phacniceits. (Linn.) Ridgw. 1901. 



A very rare summer resident in Nova Scotia. (Downs.) Small 

 numbers occasionally seen iti November and December in Nova 

 Scotia. (H. F. Tufts.) One pair at Cove Head mill, Prince Edward 

 island, 5th July, 1888. (Macoun.) One taken on Sable island, N.S., 



