CATALOGUE OF CANADIAN BIRDS. 339 
1880, which was built in a thorn bush in Mount Royal Park. It 
contained younglings covered with white down. Observed from 
May 4th to August 22nd. (Wrnéle.) Nest found on Duck Island 
near Ottawa, Ont., Ist July, 1897, in a low bush, was composed of 
fibrous roots and dried vegetable substances, lined with fine grass; 
eggs four, creamy white, spotted and blotched with reddish and dark 
brown spots. (G.R.White.) On July 21st, 1882, down by the 
slough in a low bush, found a king-bird’s nest. It was just com- 
pleted and contained no eggs yet. The king and his wife made 
more fuss over my intrusion than most birds would have done had 
the nest been full of young ones. Further on I found another 
nest of this species. It was placed on the top of a stub, about 
eight feet high. The bird flew off. The nest was made of roots 
and fine fibres and contained four eggs. One of them measured 
1% by 5%; it was creamy white, with a few clear spots of brown 
and lavender, inclined to form a wreath about the large end ; the 
others were similar; all were quite fresh. (Zhompson-Seton.) The 
king-bird breeds in the low scrubby oak trees which cover the sand- 
hill in western Manitoba, building, like the shrike, a nest consisting 
largely of the stalks of a species of Guaphalium. After the young 
are able to fly they often live around the settler’s houses on the 
open prairie, but about the end of August they all leave. (Christy.) 
Extremely numerous at Pembina, where many nests were taken after 
the middle of June, and traced westward as far as the survey 
progressed that year. One of the nests (No. 3062) was placed ona 
rail fence,in the crotch formed by a post. In the Missouri region, 
it was equally abundant from Fort Buford to near the headwaters 
of the Milk River. Many nests containing two to four eggs were 
taken the latter part of June and earlyin July. One of these was 
particularly interesting, showing that the summer warbler is not 
the only species that gets rid of the obnoxious eggs of the cow- 
bird by building a second story to the nest and thus leaving the 
alien eggs to addle in the basement below. A nest taken near 
Frenchman’s River containing two eggs seemed to be a curiously 
built affair, and on examining it closely I found the wrong egg 
embedded in its substance below the others (No. 4185.) The 
king-bird is not so much attached to woodland as has been sup- 
posed. I saw great numbers whilst travelling by rail on the 
prairies of Minnesota and Dakota, where it seemed to be as much 
at home as anywhere. All things considered, it may be rated as 
one of the most abundant and generally diffused species of the 
