CATALOGUE OF CANADIAN BIRDS. 283 
Lake Okanagan in the winter of 1897-98. (Brooks.) One shot at 
the head of Lake Okanagan, B.C. (Rhoads.) At Circle, Alaska, 
I shot a young female merlin, which is intermediate between colum- 
barius and richardsoniw. (Brshop.) 
BREEDING Notres.—Breeds in Alberta and western Saskatchewan. 
The first authentic set on record is in my collection. It was taken 
by Mr. Roy Ivor, south of Moose Jaw, Sask., on May 20th, 1893. 
The nest, containing four eggs, was made of sticks and weeds and 
built in a poplar tree-top. The next set recorded was found by 
J. E. Houseman, at Calgary, Alberta, May 12th 1894. Mr. House- 
man kindly sent me these eggs to make drawings of some time after 
he collected them. It is a handsome clutch and is now in the collec- 
tion of Mr. Crandell. Mr. Dippie has also taken eggs, young birds 
and parents near Calgary. A handsome set in my cabinet was taken 
at Fort Saskatchewan, May 17th, 1899, showing this bird usually 
has eggs by the middle of May. In 1906 we found several pairs in 
the Belly River bottoms at Lethbridge, Alta., nesting in old nests 
of the magpie. The female sits very close and does not fly out of 
the nest until one begins to climb the tree. The male bird is always 
on the look-out, perched on some tree-top not far from the nest. 
(W. Raine.) Mr. W. J. Brown, in The Ottawa Naturalist, Vol. xx, 
p-. 111, gives a very full account of the nesting of this bird near 
Lethbridge, Alta. He found the first nest, May 7th, 1904. It was 
an old magpie’s nest situated in a poplar about seven feet from the 
ground. The nest contained a set of five eggs, which were simply 
laid on the crumpled mud. During the next three weeks Mr. Brown 
located three magpie’s nests containing full sets of merlin’s eggs. 
Early in June Mr. Brown found another set of five eggs in a deserted 
nest of the rough-legged hawk. 
358.1. Merlin. 
Falco merillus (GERINI.) OBERHOLSER. 1899. 
A specimen caught at sea, lat. 57° 41’ N., long. 35° 23’ W., in 
May, 1867, by Mr. E. Whymper, and by him presented to the 
Norfolk and Norwich museum, seems to have reached the most 
western limit of the species known. (Arctic Manual.) A specimen 
of this species was shot at Cape Farewell, Greenland on 3rd May, 
1875, which is now in the collection of the public museum at Mil- 
waukee, Wisconsin. (Bendre, Vol. I., 304.) 
