CATALOGUE OF CANADIAN BIRDS. 87 
it as common inthe interior of Labrador, but none of our explorers 
have ever seen a specimen there. Wintle says not many breed 
around Montreal, but they are plentiful in the autumn and mostly 
young birds. Summer resident around Ottawa, and breeds in 
Dow’s Swamp, close to the city. Breeds in suitable places 
throughout southern Ontario. That it occurs, perhaps in abund- 
ance, in northwestern Ontario is indicated by its occurrence in 
numbers in eastern Manitoba and along the shores of Lake Win- 
nipeg. Thompson shows that it occurs as far west as Carberry, 
over one hundred miles west of Winnipeg, and it has been seen 
on Lake Winnipegoosis, and shot at Cumberland House, in Lat. 
° 
54. 
We have never observed this species on the prairie or in the 
Rocky Mountains, but after crossing the Coast Range and des- 
cending to the Lower Fraser, at Agassiz, we found it breeding. 
Fannin reports it abundant and breeding along the Lower 
Fraser at Sumas, Chilliwack, and Burnaby Lake; and Brooks 
says that an odd bird or two often remains all winter. 
This is another species that has an eastern and a western race 
that are not known to interbreed. 
BreEDING Notes.—For several years a pair used to breed ina 
soft-maple stub, about twenty feet from the ground, on the bank 
of a creek near Bracebridge, Ont. I never saw the nest, so cannot 
describe it, but have seen the old bird carry her young to the 
water in her bill. (Spreadborough.) This species builds in holes 
in trees and places where large branches have broken away. The 
nest is composed of dry grass and feathers. The eggs—six to 
twelve or more—are something between a buff and a pale green 
in colour. When the nest is built on a broken branch it is 
composed of dry sticks, grass and feathers. About the first of May 
is the time when they begin to lay at Ottawa, Ont. (G..R. White.) 
A few years ago this handsome duck was quite common in the 
latter part of summer in many creeks that run into the St. Law- 
rence. In these same localities now (1898) I scarcely see any 
birds. A few pairs breed every year at Escott Pond and else- 
where in the County of Leeds, and I have seen young birds in 
June, though I have never seen the nest. (Rev. C./. Young.) 
Regularly distributed throughout western Ontario. Breeds along 
marshes and rivers. (W. Saunders.) 
