from the Alix and Buffalo Lake Districts. 679 



Erisniatura jamaicensis. Ruddy Duck. 



I came across several pairs of this handsome species at 

 Buffalo Lake in June, but had no success iu discovering a 

 nest. Mr. George Cook showed me eggs he had taken 

 a year or two ago. On Parlby Lake, Alix, I observed 

 a pair which were fairly tame. The curious position of the 

 tail — at right angles to the body — determines the species at 

 a considerable distance. 



Chen hyperboreus hyperboreus. Lesser Snow Goose. 



Mr. James Briudle sent me a pair of these birds — a lucky 

 shot having secured five specimens at once — from Buffalo 

 Lake on September 26. They were excellent eating. On 

 October 8 I received another male from the same locality. 



Almost a thousand, or even more, were noisily migrating 

 south over Alix on October 26 during day and night. 



Branta canadensis canadensis. Canada Goose. 



I have only seen a single bird on a small pond a few miles 

 north of our house on May 19, and a pair at Buffalo Lake 

 on June 3. My host, Mr. Brindle, owned a pair of tame 

 ones which quickly lured the wild visitors to their deaths. 

 These birds are not protected on account of the damage they 

 cause to the crops ; as a result, persecution yearly diminishes 

 their numbers. 



Olor sp. ? Swans. 



Mr. Walter Parlby reported three swans on his lake, about 

 2^ miles west of Alix, for a few days, and I also heard of a 

 flock of seven, on Haunted Lakes, during the last week in 

 April. 



Botanrus lentiginosns. American Bittern. 



A fairly common summer resident. I first observed 

 a pair at Haunted Lakes on May 10, and flushed a bird 

 off a nest with two eggs at Buffalo Lake on June 5, and 

 Mr. Atkinson found another with four eggs on the 6th. 

 The call of this bird is certainly one of the weirdest I have 

 ever heard, and at first I failed to determine what caused 

 it. The bird which Mr. Atkinson flushed, he said, sat on 



