""^mo'."'] PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. 631 



it was so firmly fixed in the bark of the tree that I was within a few 

 feet of him before it was extricated, and he flew off with it in his beak. 



Common in spring and autumn near Portage la Prairie, appearing in the spring in 

 large flocks about the end of April ; iu the autumn the broods come straggling back 

 and disappear as soon as cold weather sets in; these are in all probability S. carolinen- 

 sis acideata. 



Ou the 13th of December, 1884, and from then to the 20th, iu the Riding Mountains 

 I saw White-bellied Nuthatches every day ; the weather was intensly cold, nearly 40^^ 

 below zero ; these were probably the typical form. 



I did not see a single AVhite-bellied Nuthatch of either variety in 1886 near Winni- 

 peg. (Nash, in MSS.) 



I can not concur that both forms of Sitta caroUnensis are found in Man- 

 itoba; all that I have seen are nearer to aculeatath.au to the typical 

 subspecies. — (E. E. T.) 



256. Sitta canadensis. Red-breasted Nuthatch. 



Very rare summer resident. Red Eiver Settlement (D. Gunn). 

 North to Lake Winnipeg (Ridgway). Winnipeg: Rare; summer resi- 

 dent (Hine). Portage la Prairie: Rare (Nash). Carberry : Once seen 

 in May I (Thompson). In company with Black-cap Tit and Regulus on 

 two occasions ou the 26th of September, 1857, not far west of Lake 

 Winnipeg, on the Lower Saskatchewan, a specimen preserved (Blakis- 

 ton). 



Mochic a nak a sish. This bird is a species of the titmouse genus ; seldom visits 

 the seacoasts, but are very plenty abont 300 miles inland in summer, where it breeds, 

 making an elegant nest in a tree, lays five to ten eggs; feeds on berries and insects 

 from the tree ; at the approach of winter it retreats to a more hospitable climate, 

 which is contrary to the other titmouse, who are most numerous about the settle- 

 ments in a severe cold winter, (Hutchins, MSS., Observations ou Hudson's Bay, 

 1782.) 



The first I saw flew into my house at Fort Rouge, near Winnipeg, about the 15th of 

 August, 1886 ; some few days afterwards I saw one in the woods near the Red River, 

 and on the 1st of September another bird came into my house and amused itself for 

 some time by catching flies about the walls, regardless of the presence of my family. 

 September 23 I saw another in the woods above mentioned, and on the 30th I saw 

 a party ot three near the river; of these I shot one, and so tame were they that the 

 others did not fly or show the least alarm at the report of the gun. Shortly after 

 this I saw another single one, the last of the season. None were ever seen by me 

 near Portage la Prairie, or in fact anywhere but in the woods on the Red River, as 

 before mentioned. (Nash, in MSS.) 



257. Parus atricapillus septentrionalis. Long-tailed Chickadee, 



Resident; abundant in wooded sections. The Manitoba bird is not 

 strictly septentrionalis, but is nearer to that form than to atricapillus. 

 Winnipeg: Resident; tolerably common (Hine). Lake Winnipeg 

 (Kennicott). Winnipeg River: A female, that was about to lay her egg 

 (B.Ross). Ossowa: Common resident (Wagner). Portage la Prairie : 

 Resident, I believe; but although they are abundant during autumn, 



