CATALOGUE OF CANADIAN BIRDS. 75 
describes the finding of 30 nests of this bird on Gun island, Lake 
Winnipegosis. All the nests that could be reached were built far 
back at the end of dark passages under boulders on the highest 
part of the island, some nests being from four to six feet back 
{rom the entrance. 
130. Red-breasted Merganser. 
Merganser serrator (LINN.) SCHAFF. 1789. 
This species breeds in Greenland and across the whole of the 
wooded region from Newfoundland and Labrador to the Aleutian 
islands. It does not breed in the prairie region, but prefers the 
clear lakes and streams of the north. Not very common in British 
Columbia, but “breeds in suitable places; breeding at Deer park 
and Pass creek, Columbia river, B.C., June, 1890. (Macoun.) A 
number killed for food at our camp on the Barren Grounds, 50 
miles south of Cape Eskimo. (Pred/e.) Winters on Okanagan 
lake, B.C. (Bvooks.) 
BREEDING Notes.—Nests on rivers and lakes. Breeding at 
Buffalo lake, Alberta, also at Lake Manitoba. 1896. (Dzppze.) 
Breeds at Shoal lake and Lake Manitoba, (Razwe.) Onan island 
in the Yukon delta Dall found six nests of this bird. They were 
all carefully concealed under dead leaves, and were generally 
sheltered by a log of driftwood, in a small hollow, lined with down 
from the parent’s breast. They contained from six to ten rich 
cream-coloured eggs. 
On the Alaskan coast they breed everywhere in suitable places 
from Sitka north to Icy cape, and perhaps to Point Barrow. The 
first eggs are laid early in June, and the-site for the nest, on the 
marshes, is ordinarily the same as that chosen by other species of 
ducks with the usual foresight as to concealment and proximity 
toa pond. (Wed/son.) 
This species used to breed frequently among the Thousand 
islands, River St Lawrence. Only a few pairs now remain to do 
so, the majority going east and north. In June, 1893, I saw a 
flock of upwards of twenty about fourteen miles above Brock- 
ville ; of course, all adults. In the following year, in the last week 
in June, I saw a flock of about the same number at the “The 
Ducks,’ Lake Ontario. 1 have met with the nest twice at the 
