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390 Stansell, Birds of Central Alberta. [£"* 



BIRDS OF CENTRAL ALBERTA. 



BY SIDNEY S. S. STANSELL. 



I am located thirty miles northwest of the city of Edmonton, the 

 capitol of Alberta, which is situated in about 114° west longitude 

 and 53|° north latitude. It is in the center of a rich farming district 

 where all kinds of small grains and small fruits are raised in abun- 

 dance. 



The country is peculiar in having large and small 'pot holes,' 

 large and small lakes, large and small spruce and tamarack swamps. 

 Portions are very heavily wooded, mostly with birch, black and 

 white poplars, and with an almost inpenetratable deciduous under- 

 growth. The larger trees afford a splendid nesting site for the 

 arboreal hawks and owls ; the birches are the delight of the vireos 

 and grosbeaks, for never was there a more magnificent home for 

 them. The thick deciduous undergrowth forms an ideal retreat 

 for some of the warblers and ground nesting birds. Lakes of all 

 sizes, from a quarter of an acre up to several thousand acres in 

 extent, are found in large numbers; small sloughs and marshy hay 

 meadows are everywhere in evidence, furnishing admirable places 

 for ducks, snipe, etc. 



My list of birds was begun in the summer of 1906, and although 

 I was not able to do much that year, during the summer of 1907- 

 08 and 1909 I kept a careful list, noting the date of first arrival, 

 when the species became common, and when it passed on further 

 north, in case it did not breed here. 



This is a most interesting locality for one who has time for field 

 work. I have been greatly surprised on several occasions by 

 seeing birds that I did not think were here, nor did any of my 

 ornithological books give them as residents here, nor even as 

 accidental visitants. Of all my surprises the two greatest were 

 when I saw the Mourning Dove and the American Woodcock — 

 two species which breed here, but how abundantly I cannot at 

 present venture to say. 



My list would have been a great deal larger if I had been able to 

 visit the districts lving to the west and south, but as time would not 



