308 Letters, Extracts from Correspondence, Notices, ^c. 



me with the assurance that he had met with a vast field, and 

 that his efforts had been crowned with much success, especially 

 in the collection of eggs, many rare and some hitherto unknown 

 ones having been obtained by him ; so that the cause of science 

 in that department will be greatly benefited by his labours. 

 Among many others, I noticed the eggs and parent birds of the 

 American Wigeon [Mareca americana), Black Duck {(Edemia 

 americana), Canvas-back Duck {^thyia vallisneria) , Spirit Duck 

 {Bucephala albeola), Small Black-head {Fulix affinis), Waxwing 

 {Ampelis garrulus), Kentucky Warbler [Oporornis formosus), 

 Trumpeter Swan [Cygnus buccinator), Duck Hawk [Falco ana- 

 turn), and two species of Junco, With the exception of the Wax- 

 wing, however, there were few that have not been obtained in 

 other parts of the district by the persevering zeal of Mr. Ross, 

 the gentleman in charge; and this bird, I have since learned, 

 nested numerously in the vicinity of my out-station at Beer 

 Lake." 



The foregoing account has been since confirmed by a letter 

 we have received from Prof. Baird. Besides the species enume- 

 rated above, he mentions that this unwearied collector has pro- 

 cured eggs of Pelionetta perspicillata, Melanetta velvetina, Cygnus 

 buccinator, &c. He adds, that " Mr. Kennicott expected to 

 spend the present spring in the Barren-grounds east of the 

 mouth of the Mackenzie, where he hoped to do well among the 

 Waders. We have hitherto found it very difficult to get these 

 birds, the only ones being Actrodromas minutilla, Ereunetes pusil- 

 lus, Totanus flavipes, Gallinago wilsoni, Lobipes hyperboreus, and 

 the small Plovers, not forgetting the ubiquitous and provoking 

 Tringo'ides macularius." Professor Baird also tells us that "the 

 Greenland Expedition [' Ibis,^ loc. cit.'] did nothing of importance 

 in the line of eggs, Larus glaucus, Mergulus alle, and Falco 

 candicans being the principal. Neither Calidris nor Xema sabini ; 

 the latter I hope to get from Lake Winnipeg, where it breeds. 

 We had a fine bird thence, killed June 1859." 



