442 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA. 
(Nutting.) This species, the rusty grackle and the bronze 
grackle arrive together, in flocks, in spring and afterwards 
separate and breed in colonies. (Coubeaux.) Very abundant in 
the timber along creeks in Saskatchewan. (A. C. Bent.) Very 
abundant at Indian Head, Medicine Hat and Crane lake, wherever 
there was brush. This is the characteristic blackbird of Saskat- 
chewan and Alberta, at least as far north as Edmonton, and 
abounds everywhere from the International Boundary northward 
to the Saskatchewan; common on the Grande Prairie, Peace 
River district, Aug. 15th, 1903; a few were seen in the spring of 
1891 at Banff, Rocky mountains, but they do not breed there ; 
seen at Revelstoke on the Columbia river, B.C., April 4th, 1890, 
and later, on May 3rd, a few more were seen; they do not breed 
there; saw two at Bayne lake, near Fernie, B.C., May 2nd, 1904; 
common at Midway, B.C., April 6th, 1905, and found a number of 
nests at Sidley, May 14th ; they were built in bushes in a swamp 
and made of fine grass and horse hair; they were also found on the 
ground at the base of a clump of dwarf birches; in flocks 10 miles 
south of Kamloops, B.C.; also common at Agassiz in May, 1889; 
common at Chilliwack, B.C., in the spring; only observed three at 
Huntingdon in the fall of 1901; only one specimen seen on Van- 
couver island, April 16th, 1893, none seen afterwards that year; 
three seen at Clayoquot, Vancouver island, Oct. 17th, 1907. (Spread- 
borough.) A few individuals of this species remain at Lake 
Okanagan, B.C., all winter. (Brooks.) Both east and west of 
the Coast range; common in spring and fall at the mouth of the 
Fraser, B.C.; breeds in the neighbourhood of Clinton. (Fannin.) 
Breeding in suitable localities, both east and west of the’ Coast 
range to Vernon, B.C., in the south and Lac la Hache in the north. 
(Rhoads.) North to Fort Simpson on the Mackenzie river. Not 
rare. (Ross.) Common in some parts of British Columbia. (Lord.) 
Generally distributed in British Columbia, but not common. 
(Streator.) 
BREEDING NoTEes.—On June 8th, 1882, C. T. found a grackle’s 
nest on the newly harrowed ground in a field not more than 20 
yards from a clump of willows. The eggs, five in number, were 
in a slight hollow in the ground, without a single straw or any 
pretense of lining. My brother sprang the bird and then called 
