670 Mr. C. B. Ilorsbrugh : Ornithological Notes 



XXXIV. — Ornithologicul Notes from the Alix and Buffalo 

 Lake Districts, Province of Alberta, Canada, 1914. By 

 Charles B. Horsbrugh. 



The following notes concerning the birds of tliis particular 

 part of the province of Alberta relate to those whose identity 

 I am certain of. The list might have contained a few others, 

 but I hesitated to include uncertainties, which another season 

 will unfold. This district, wherein I have resided since April, 

 is well wooded and is fairly hilly, with numerous small and 

 large sloughs. To paraphrase a well-known song, it can be 

 stated that " every little homestead has a snipe-marsh of its 

 own,'' and bird-life, except in tlie winter, is abundant. 



Buffalo Lake, which lies about seven miles north-east of 

 Alix, is a huge expanse of water, roughly about twenty-one 

 miles long by eight miles broad, with a coast-line, so report 

 says, of about two hundred miles. Bird-life there is also 

 abundant and interesting, but the advance of civilization 

 lias caused many of the larger birds, such as pelicans, cor- 

 morants, gulls, etc., which frequented the lake in olden days, 

 to depart elsewhere. Of late years the ducks are following 

 the examjile of the pelicans and cranes, owing to ruthless 

 slaughter and slack or inefficient preservation, though good 

 sport is obtained still by the local sportsmen. This last 

 season was an excellent one for Buffed Grouse and Prairie 

 chicken, but I believe a poor one for geese. 



The village of Alix is situated on rolling well-wooded 

 country, about halfway between the well-known towns of 

 Edmonton and Calgary. It is an important railway centre, 

 and the Canadian Pacific, Grand Trunk, and Canadian 

 jNorthern railways cross each other at this point. For the 

 last seven years the average rainfall has been 17'52 inches, 



I have follovred the nomenclature and classification of the 

 A. 0. U. Check-list. 



.ffichmophorus occidentalis. Western Grebe. 

 At Haunted Lakes, on May 17, two pairs of Western 

 Grebes were swimming about side by side, repeatedly lowering 



