49 1 Mr. C. B. Horsbrugli on the Birds of Alix, [Ibis, 



a very fragile one. Mrs. Cassels, a very keen observer of 

 birds, informs me that her earliest date for Red Deer was 

 18 May, and for Sylvan Lake 6 June, when she noticed one 

 building. 



Progne subis subis. Purple Martin. Between Mirror 

 and Buffalo Lake, I saw a pair of these birds on 30 May, 



1915. They do not appear to be common. In 1916, I saw 

 one near the town on 1 May. A few pairs built in the 

 rotten stumps left standing after a bush-fire, along the banks 

 of the lake and a little inland at Sylvan Lake. At this place 

 I examined a nesting-site and took out a single egg on 

 23 June. One or two small fresh leaves were utilized as a 

 lining. 



Petrochelidon lunifrons lunifrons. Cliff-Swallow. 23 July, 



1916, was the last date on which I saw this species. Two 

 birds were flying around the neighbourhood of my house. 

 Not plentiful. 



Iridoprogne bicolor. Tree-Swallow. Fairly numerous. 

 I found them nesting under the same conditions as the 

 Purple Martins, and both species, where .possible, were 

 using the same stump. At Dried Meat Lake they were be- 

 ginning to build on 20 May, 1916. About a dozen were 

 first observed, near my house, on 9 May, and by Cook at 

 Buffalo Lake on the 8th. 



Riparia riparia. Bank Swallow. A small colony nested 

 in the river-bank near my house. At Buffalo Lake they 

 arrived on 22 May, 1916 (Cook). 



Bombycilla garrula. Bohemian Waxwing. During the 

 summer this species was common throughout the Alix 

 district. My first notes record five, seen near my house 

 on 22 June, 1915. I observed a flock of about twenty birds 

 in the woods north of the town on 5 April, 1916. They Avere 

 busily hawking flies and were rather shy; their manner of 

 hunting insects reminded me greatly of the European Bee- 

 eater {Merops apiaster) I saw in such large numbers in 



