gO GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA. 
fresh. The nest is lined with grass-stems and feathers. When the 
young are hatched the parent leads them to the adjacent pool, and 
they keep in the most secluded parts of the marsh until able to take 
wing. (Nelson.) 
Breeding in some numbers at Edmonton, Alberta, although no 
nests were taken; two nests of this species were taken at Twelve- 
mile lake, near Wood mountain, Sask., on June 5th, 1895; the nest 
in one case was made of the dried stems of Eleocharis palustris and 
lined with down. It contained ten eggs almost fresh. Another was 
taken amongst some sage-brush a little distance from the water. 
This nest held seven fresh eggs. A few nests of this species were 
taken on an island in Cypress lake, south of the Cypress hills, June 
29th, 1895; the nests were in clumps of rye-grass (Elymus conden- 
satus), and one female was shot as she rose from the nest. (Spread- 
borough.) Quite abundant in the “‘Barrens.’’ The nest was usually 
a small cavity or depression in the ground, lined with down, withered 
leaves, and a few feathers. It lays from six to eight eggs. It 
deserts the nest immediately the eggs are hatched and young and 
old take to the water. (Macjarlane.) 
Pi AX Bom: 4828: 
144. Wood Duck. | 
Aix sponsa (LINN.) BONAP. 1838. 
Rare. A few breed in Nova Scotia. (Downs.) A rare summer 
resident. Breeds in New Brunswick. (Chamberlain.) Stearns re- 
ports it as common in the interior of Labrador, but none of our 
explorers have ever seen a specimen there. Wintle says not many 
breed around Montreal, but they are plentiful in the autumn and 
mostly young birds. Summer resident around Ottawa, and breeds 
in Dow swamp, close tothecity. Breeds in suitable places through- 
out southern Ontario, but much rarer now than formerly. A com- 
mon summer resident in Parry Sound and Muskoka districts. That 
it occurs, perhaps in abundance, in northwestern Ontario is indi- 
cated by its occurrence in numbers in eastern Manitoba and along 
the shores of Lake Winnipeg. Seton shows that it occurs as far 
west as Carberry, over one hundred miles west of Winnipeg, and it 
has been seen on Lake Winnipegosis, and shot at Cumberland House, 
in lat. 54°. Murray records it from Moose Factory, James bay, and 
from Trout lake. 
