'da. 



is asliy yellow .drab-blotched and clouded, chi.-lly at th- la 

 ends, with differ, -nt ihadea of l.r>\vu uii.l purple grey. One 

 set of two eggs collected at Crest y 20th, 1890, 



meaeur. .: :u> and! was found on a 



sandy knoll in a mar-h. an-1 was a large structure of l-n.k.-n- 



n reeds and aquatic plants, tin- bird was flushed of! 

 net>t t two eggs in my collection from Crescent 



Lake only nu-n.su re 3 and o.'iiKJ. :{(. They were col - 



ked on Muy Itith, ls!K). 



reen Portage-la-Rnurie and lirandon we paw many 

 villages at distances of t-n and twenty miles apart. A 

 passing through a bushy district of scrub oak, with frequent 

 ponda and amal] .streams, alive with bin 1.x. the railway rises 

 Austin along a sandy slope to a plateau near the centre 

 of which i.s situated CarKeiTy, ;i tine district for the <>rnithi>l<>- 



Fi-'.in S.-wi-ll the railway descends a^ain to the vail- 

 the A.ssiuilx/iie, and linindon is reached, \.-\t t<> Winnipeg, 

 I'.randon is the largest town in the North- West, with a popu- 

 lation of 5000. The town is beautifully situated on high 

 ground and overlooks the valley of the Assiniloine river. In 

 the Orii''flili><iit <ni'l Unlmjist for July, 18S."), jmlilished by 

 1' K Webster, are notes on the l.irds found around Brandon 

 ly the late T. B. Wood. Mr. Wood was an enthusiastic nat- 

 uralist, and unfortunately fell a victim in the cause of his 

 urite pursuit. One day, late in October, 1883, having 

 shot a mre duck in a slough, he waded into the water up to 

 his waist to get the bird, and thereby contracted a severe cold 

 which resulted in his death. Mr. Wood was an Englishman. 

 from Manchester, and only tw.nty-si\ years of age when he 

 died. His notes w.-re s.-nt to his friend, T. H. Nelson, in Kni;- 

 land. who communicated them to the Zoologist. It v 

 through rending his notes that I was prompted to visit the 

 North-West; his field not.- on the birds of this district are 

 highly int.-resting. 



Leaving Brandon, we have fairly reached the tirst of tin- 

 great prairie steppes that rise one after the other at long in- 

 to the Koeky mountains, and now we are on the real 



