In North-West Canada. 73 



they suddenly turn tail into the hole, or when engaged in 

 their various antics. The eggs of the burrowing owl are 

 glossy white and nearly round ; the usual number is six or 

 seven, although as many as ten are frequently found in one 

 nest : the average size is 1.24x1.03. There were several other 

 burrows in the immediate neighborhood, but we were quite 

 satisfied with one clutch, and we were only too glad to move 

 away from those little pests, the mosquitoes, who were gather- 

 ing around us in myriads. Below us between a ridge of hills 

 was a small slough, so we went in this direction, and were 

 saluted ?>y a pair of willets, and after some searching came 

 across the nest of four eggs. The eggs of this bird are 

 brownish olive marked with bold spots of various shades of 

 umber brown and shell markings of purplish grey : they are 

 large for the size of the bird, and average 2.12x1.50. 



Our next find w.as a nest of McCown's longspur, containing 

 four eggs, slightly incubated. This is a pretty set, and heavily 

 marked : the white ground colour is almost concealed by pur- 

 plish grey, and on the top of this clouding are heavy spots of 

 dark brown. A marsh hawk was seen harrying over the 

 prairie, no doubt on the look out for gophers ; it was an adult 

 male in blue plumage. From a hill-top we could see a small 

 lake, nearly two miles away, so we turned in this direction, 

 and on arriving there we found the surface dotted all over with 

 wild fowl. There were numbers of Canada geese, shovellers, 

 mallards, godwits, American widgeons, scaups, and other ducks. 

 The water was alkaline, much to our disgust, but we were so 

 parched with thirst, from the effect of the broiling sun, that 

 we were compelled to take a few sips of the water. It acts 

 like medicine, and is as good as a dose of Epsom salts, but if 

 too much is taken it gripes fearfully, and John informed me 

 he once made himself ill through drinking alkaline water. The 

 alkaline can be seen all over these prairies, coming up through 

 the earth like white flour, and little vegetation grows upon 

 these alkaline tracts. The birds, however, don't seem to be af- 

 fected by it, and avosets and pelicans seem to prefer the alka- 

 line lakes to those of fresh water. There were a number of 



