CATALOGUE OF CANADIAN BIRDS. 319 
in the wooded parts of Manitoba. (Zompson-Seton.) This beauti- 
fully marked bird visits the Northwest Territories only in summer, 
advancing as far north as Great Slave Lake, but resorting in the 
greatest numbers to the plains of the Saskatchewan. Instead of 
hiding itself in the depths of the forest it frequents the open 
downs, and employs itself in turning over the ant-hills in search 
of larvee on which it preys. (Réchardson.) North to Peel River, 
mouth of the Mackenzie ; common. (Ross.) This bird is by no 
means scarce in the valley of the Anderson but we made no 
attempt to collect its eggs as they are not scarce. (Macfarlane.) 
This handsome woodpecker breeds from one side of the Territory 
(Alaska) to the other wherever wooded country occurs, according 
to the Esquimaux it extends even to Behring Strait. (Ve/son.) 
This species does not occur in the Yukon districts to my knowl- 
edge. A specimen was obtained from Fort Yukon, where it is 
not abundant. (Zwrner.) In the Yukon valley this is by far the 
most common woodpecker. We found it quite frequently from 
Log Cabin to Circle City. At Caribou Crossing, June 27th, 1899, 
Osgood secured a female and found her nest containing eight 
young and three eggs in a cavity three feet from the ground in a 
partly dead poplar. At Six-mile River another nest was found, 
and at Lake Laberge another, all in the Yukon district. ( Bishop.) 
This is not a rare bird at Indian Head, Medicine Hat, and 
Cypress Hills ; it was found breeding in 1895 in company with 
the hybrid flicker in holes in Acer Negundo on May 30th and two 
fresh eggs taken from the nest; early in Juneit was found at Wood 
Mountain, and towards the end of June on Sucker Creek in the 
Cypress Hills, Assa.; common and breeding at Banff and shot as 
far west as Revelstoke, B.C., May 14, 1890. First seen at Edmon- 
ton, Alta., on April 30th, 1897 ; it soon became common and com- 
menced to breed. Common in the foothills southwest of Calgary. 
(Spreadborough.) Common from Athabasca Landing up the 
Athabasca to Lesser Slave River and down to Fort McMurray, 
Lat. 56° 40’. Common up the Clearwater River and on Methye 
‘Portage. (J. M. Macoun.) 
BreEepinc Notes.—In this region (Carberry) the flicker seems 
to prey principally on ants, taking them sometimes from the 
rotten stumps that are honeycombed with their galleries, but 
more often, I believe, from the mound-like ant-hills which are to 
be seen on the prairie in such numbers. His method of attack 
seems to be by first pecking a hole in the centre of the hill, and 
