^°1908^^] Seton, Bird Records from Great Slave Lake. 69 



Red-throated Loon. Gavia lumme. Abundant everywhere from Fort 

 Resolution to Aylmer Lake. It is the noisest of the Loons and has many 

 notes quite unlike those of its kin. One of its cries is hke the harsh squawk 

 of a ' devil-fiddle,' and when three or four of the birds are doing it in chorus 

 it suggests a band of hyaenas, or a pack of goblin hounds in chase of a goblin 

 buck. 



Parasitic Jaeger. Stercorarius 'parasiticus. Found throughout the 

 region and quite common on the larger lakes of the Barren-grounds. It is 

 usually seen in pairs. It lives much like a hawk or a raven, coming when a 

 caribou is killed, to share in the offal. Once saw one capture a Lapland 

 Longspur on the wing, and have often seen it pursuing ground-squirrels. 

 The flight of the species is comparable with that of the swiftest falcons. 



Herring Gull. Larus argentatus. Abundant from Fort Resolution 

 to Back's River, feeding much as Ravens do, on carrion, fish, etc. AVill 

 pursue wounded game and often follows the hunter to share in the kill. 



Californi.\ Gull. Larus californicus. Abundant on Great Slave Lake. 



Short-billed Gull. Larus brachyrhynchus. Very abmidant on Great 

 Slave Lake. Not seen farther east. 



Common Tern. Sterna hirundo. Common around Delta of Great 

 Slave River and noted in small numbers from there to the eastern end of 

 Great Slave Lake. Evidently breeding. 



Arctic Tern. Sterna paradiscea. Common on Great Slave River and 

 Lake and Clinton-Colden and Alymer Lakes. Last seen, Alymer Lake 

 Aug. 24. Much more abundant than the Common Tern. 



Double-crested Cormorant. Phalacrocorax dilophus. Not seen by 

 me, but I was credibly assured that a large number breed every year at 

 Isle a la Crosse, N. lat. 56°, W. Long. 108°. 



American White Pelican. Pelecanus erythrorhynchos . The north 

 most colony is that on Great Slave River at Mountain Rapids, 150 miles 

 south of Fort Resolution. Here, about 80 pairs breed each- year; on 

 June 22 the young were beginning to hatch. 



Red-breasted Merganser. Merganser serrator. Abundant on Great 

 Slave Lake and northeast to Clinton-Colden; evidently breeding. 



Green-winged Teal. Nettion carolincnsis. Common about the Slave 

 River and Delta. 



Whistler. Clangula clangula americana. Abundant along the Great 

 Slave River, down to the Delta, not seen east of that; observed there 

 Sept. 25. 



Long-tailed Duck. Harelda hyemalis. Generally distributed on the 

 lakes of the Barren-grounds where it breeds. It was veiy abundant on 

 Great Slave Lake in mid-September near Fort Reliance doubtless migrat- 

 ing at the time. 



White- winged Scoter. Oidemia deglandi. Saw four on Artillery- 

 Lake Sept. 8. 



Surf Scoter. Oidemia perspicillata. Saw a pair on Slave River Delta 

 July 16 and found it very abundant on Great Slave Lake in mid-Septem- 

 ber. 



