428 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA. 
BREEDING Notes.—In one of the sloughs, where I spent most 
of the day wading about, sometimes up to my waist, and in some 
spots considerably deeper, a large number of nests were found, 
mostly containing nestlings, but with a few eggs. This was the last 
week of June. The nests were built much like those of the long- 
billed marsh wren, as far as the situation goes, being fixed to a 
tuft of reeds or bunch of tall rank marsh-grass, some stems of which 
pass through the substance. They were placed at varying elevations 
but always far enough above the water to be out of danger of in- 
undation. The nest is a light, dry, rustling structure, swaying 
with the motion of the reed to which it is affixed, built of the same 
materials as those which support it, which are woven and plaited 
together; no mud is used, nor is there any special lining; the brim 
is thick and somewhat folded over, like the seam of a garment; 
but I never saw a nest, among the many examined, which was 
arched over, as stated by some authors. The diameter outside 
is five or six inches, and the depth nearly as much. From three 
to six eggs or young birds were found in different nests; the former 
measure about an inch and an eighth in length by three-fourths 
of an inch in breadth. The ground-colour is grayish-green; this 
is thickly spotted with different shades of reddish-brown, some- 
times so profusely that the ground colour is obscured, especially 
at the larger end. (Cowes.) At Crane lake, Sask., there was a 
large colony of these.birds which were nesting in a marsh where 
the water was almost three feet deep. I found that this depth of 
water round the edge of a reedy pond kept out foxes and coyotes, 
and here ducks of various kinds, black terns and coots nested in 
great numbers. All the nests taken by me were slight structures 
and always fastened to leaves or stems of cat-tail, (Typha latifolia). 
Eggs or young in nest were from three to five, never six. (Macoun.) 
CCH. AGELAIUS. Viert.or. 1816. 
498. Redwinged Blackbird. 
Agelaius pheniceus pheniceus. (LINN.) RIDGW. Igol. 
A very rare summer resident in Nova Scotia. (Downs.) Small 
numbers occasionally seen it November and December in Nova 
Scotia. (H. F. Tufts.) One pair at Cove Head mill, Prince Edward 
island, 5th July, 1888. (Macoun.) One taken on Sable island, N.S., 
