164 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA. 
In the west, it is found throughout the whole prairie region, 
especially in all marshes in the wooded country. This species is 
found in British Columbia, from the International Boundary to 
Alaska, and on Vancouver island, where it breeds, and according 
to Brooks it is a common summer resident in the Cariboo district, 
and a few winter on Lake Okanagan, B.C. Both Turner and Nelson 
report it of wide distribution in Alaska, and Macfarlane found it 
breeding on the Anderson river. 
BREEDING NoTEs.—A few pairs still breed in the county of 
Leeds, Ont. Early in June, 1892, a nest with four eggs was ob- 
tained at ‘“‘Black Pond” near Brockville; on the 9th June, 1896, 
I saw one of these birds perched on a stump in a wet meadow ; 
no doubt the female was nesting in the vicinity. The place where I 
have noticed this species breeding most commonly was on the Mag- 
dalen islands. There it may still be said to be plentiful. I obtained 
three eggs, incubated, early in June, 1897. It breeds principally in 
boggy places not far from the sea, and in the breeding season is 
quite noisy and soon makes its presence known. The nest on the 
Magdalen islands is not, as a rule, placed in the wettest part of the 
bog but near the edge of the growth of spruce, where a stunted tree 
struggles to live here and there in the shaking bog. Alongside 
one of these, or even under a branch, a nest may be found, in which 
respect as far as the selection of a breeding-site goes, it differs some- 
what from its very near relative, the European snipe. (Rev. C. /. 
Young.) Laminformed by Mr. John Burke, a farmer near Rondeau, 
Lake Erie, and an accurate observer, that he has of late years found 
several nests of this species near the marsh. (W.Saunders.) Found 
a nest with four eggs near Listowel, Ont., May 17th, 1905. A clump 
of willows grew about six feet from a pool and midway between the 
willows and the water was the nest. It was simply a slight de- 
pression made by the bird in the moss and dry grass, lined with fine 
dry grass. (W.L. Kells.) These birds dig their nests in the ground 
in marshy places and line them with grass and ferns. I have found 
two nests near Ottawa, Ont., one on the 22nd May, 1900, the other, 
12th May, 1905. (Garneau.) 
The favourite haunts of this bird are the open grassy sloughs or 
bogs which intersect Manitoba. The position of the only nest of 
this species that I found was on a slightly elevated tussock or sod 
in the middle of a wide muskeg. The nest consisted of a slight 
