252 NORTH AMERICAN FAUNA. [no. 27. 



Athabaska at Athabaska Landing, Alberta, September 15. During 

 my trip northward from Fort Rae I found it rather common and 

 undoubtedly breeding in the small marshy lakes along lower Grandin 

 River, August 1 to 4. An individual which had succumbed to the 

 weather, probably having been wounded, was picked up on the 

 Mackenzie 10 miles above the mouth of the Blackwater, October 8. 



In the spring of 1904 the species was first brought to my notice 

 late in May, when a fine male, taken near Fort Providence, May 25, 

 was brought to me at Fort Simpson. While descending the Macken- 

 zie I observed a pair in a small lake near Nahanni River, June 4. 

 The nest, a floating bunch of coarse grass, was anchored to a sub- 

 merged log 15 feet from the shore. It appeared to be nearly finished, 

 and was held in place by a limb which projected above the surface of 

 the water, and around which the nest had been constructed. Numbers 

 of the species were evidently breeding in the ponds which studded 

 the valley of the Nahanni, and several were observed on the following 

 day. I saw a pair in a small lake on Manito Island, near Fort Good 

 Hope, June 23, and noted the species on the Mackenzie, 75 miles below 

 Fort Good Hope, June 27, and near the mouth of Peel River, June 30. 

 I observed one on lower Peel River, July 1, and found the species com- 

 mon about the small lakes near Fort McPherson during the first half 

 of July, seeing or hearing it nearly every day. 



The species was first recorded from this region by Richardson, 

 who quotes from Sabine a description of " a mature individual, 

 killed at Great Slave Lake, May, 1822." a Sabine, whose description 6 

 Richardson quotes in part, apparently was not aware of the precise 

 locality of the specimen, but Richardson, probably from personal 

 knowledge, was able to supply this information. Ross gives the species 

 as being found north in the Mackenzie Valley to Peel River, and as 

 having been taken at Fort Simpson/ Baird, Brewer, and Ridgway 

 record its occurrence at Fort Rae, Fort Simpson, Fort Anderson, 

 Peel River, and in the mountains west of the lower Mackenzie, and 

 mention eggs from Fort Simpson and Peel River. d MacFarlane re- 

 cords two nests, containing, respectively, 4 and 5 eggs, found 40 or 

 50 miles south of Fort Anderson. e More recently Frank Russell has 

 recorded it from Fort Rae, where he took a specimen, which I have 

 examined, August 22, 1893/ MacFarlane, in notes recently sent me, 

 states that this grebe was found breeding at Green Lake, Saskatche- 

 wan, in June, 1880, by W. S. Simpson, and at Fond du Lac, Atha- 

 baska Lake, in 1885, by J. Mercredi. 



Fauna Roreali-Americana, IT, p. 411, 1831. 



6 Franklin's Narr. Journey to Polar Sea, Appendix, p. 692, 1823. 



c Nat. Hist. Rev., II (second ser.), p. 290, lst;i>. 



a Water Birds N. A., II, p. 430, 1884. 



e Proc. II. S. Nat. Mus., XIV, p. 415, 1891. 



/ Expl. in Far North, p. 254, 1898. 



