CATALOGUE OF CANADIAN BIRDS. 207 
Fort Franklin on the 20th May, contained several pretty large 
“eggs nearly ready for exclusion. (Richardson.) North of Fort 
Simpson on the Mackenzie ; common. (Ross.) This species is a 
regular and common migrant and summer resident at St. Michael 
and is found as far north as Kotzebue Sound where skins were 
procured in 1880. (/Ve/son.) This is the commonest bird of prey 
in Alaska. It is to be found on all of the mainland and Aleutian 
islands. (Zurner.) Sumas and Chilliwack prairies. (Lord.) Found 
only on the coast ; a male was taken at mid-day at New West- 
minster. (S¢veator.) Abundant, both on the island and on the 
mainland ; remains on the coast throughout the winter. ( Fannin.) 
Abundant resident in the Lower Fraser valley, B.C.; rather com- 
mon in the Okanagan district in winter; occurs in the Cariboo 
district in winter. (Svooks.) Vancouver and Lulu islands and 
about the lakes of the interior. (Ahoads.) The short-eared owl 
was noted everywhere during the summer from the vicinity of 
Cape Blossom up to the Kowak, at Kotzebue Sound, Alaska. 
(Grinnell.) A series of nine specimens from Point Barrow, 
Alaska, collected in June, 1898, are considered a new race by 
MeeWitmer Stone in Proc., Acad,.)Nat. Sci:, Phila., Vol. 41, 
ps 475. 
BREEDING Notres.—Not uncommon in the fall in eastern 
Ontario. Onespecimen shot near Lansdowne, Ont.,in 1891. Breeds 
every year on the Magdalen Islands, Gulf of St. Lawrence. This 
bird forms a slight nest on the ground amongst Carex, sedge, etc., 
sometimes among low bushy shrubs, and lays from five to nine 
eggs in the month of June. I have a set of nine eggs taken June 
14th, 1898, in the northernmost part of the islands, and have no 
doubt a few pairs breed there every year. A nest containing 
seven eggs was found in Cataraqui marsh near Kingston, Ont., on 
May 23rd, 1902, by Mr. Ed. Beaupré, Kingston. It was in a wet 
but grassy place. (Rev. C. /. Young.) 
Twelve nests of this species were found in various situations in 
the ‘ barrens” as well as in wooded tracts, but all were on the 
ground, and mere depressions apparently scraped for the pur- 
pose, and lined with dried grasses and withered leaves; a few 
feathers were noticed in about half of them, and they seemed to 
have been plucked from her breast by the parent bird. She occa- 
sionally sits very close on her nest. The number of eggs in a 
nest varied between three and five, and but one contained as 
.4 
