CATALOGUE OF CANADIAN BIRDS. 89 
different tint, being of the usual ashy green, while the four eggs of 
the Red-head were smaller than those of the other and were of a 
buff-drab tint and very glossy. There was not the slightest 
doubt about the eggs being laid by both species. Since then my 
collectors have frequently found nests containing eggs of the 
Canvas-back and Red-head in the same nest. On May 2oth, 
1897, Mr. Baines found a nest at Crescent Lake, Manitoba, con- 
taining nine eggs of the Canvas-back and seven of the Red-head. 
The nest was built in rushes in shallow water. (Raie.) <A very 
common migrant in western Ontario. Some breed in the large 
marshes, especially at St. Clair Flats. (W. Saunders.) 
MUSEUM SPECIMENS. 
Four; one taken in Toronto marsh, two at Indian Head, Assa., 
and the other at Edmonton, Alberta. Several sets of eggs are in 
the collection, taken at Indian Head and Crane Lake, Assa. 
147. Canvas-back Duck. 
Aythya vallisneria (Wits.) Bo1E. 1826. 
Rare migrant in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick; more plen- 
tiful in Quebec, and increasingly so in Ontario, 
Although this species breeds in the same ponds with the Red- 
head in Manitoba and Assiniboia, itis rare in eastern Manitoba, 
but becomes more common as one passes to the west; west of 
the 110th Meridian it almost supersedes the Red-head. At 
Edmonton, on the Saskatchewan, in 1897, Spreadborough found 
this species very common, and the Red-head rare and late in 
arriving; in 1898, he found it breeding in small lakes between 
Edmonton and Lake Ste. Anne, Alta. 
Macfarlane and Ross record it on Great Slave Lake, and the 
former says a few sets of eggs were taken near Fort Anderson in 
the Barren Grounds. Dall found it breeding at Fort Yukon, in 
Alaska, in great abundance, though Nelson says he never saw any 
evidence of it on the west coast. Spreadborough, Brooks and 
Fannin all mention that it is plentiful in winter around Victoria 
and at the mouth of the Fraser, and Fannin says it breeds in 
the interior of British Columbia ; Brooks says it winters on Lake 
Okanagan. 
As the writer has seen it in immense numbers on Lesser Slave 
Lake and in the Peace River country, he is satisfied that it breeds 
