17 



NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS 



The Yellow-throated Vireo near Seeley's 

 Bay. — This bird is usually looked on as rather 

 southern in Ontario, and I was a little surprised 

 to hear its well-known and easily distinguished 

 song in the woods near Seeley's Bay while motoring 

 to Ottawa on July 3, 1919. On looking up the 

 records I find that there are many reports of its 

 occurrence in eastern Ontario, but that observed on 

 the above date is the first one that I remember to 

 have seen myself, and perhaps the occurrence is 

 worthy of record. 



W. E. Saunders. 



A New Mammal for Canada. — In the summer 

 of 1890 the writer, with Dr. F. A. Saunders, was 

 collecting mammals at Ottawa, and among others 

 we were after bats. On the evenmg of July 10, 

 we took in "Clarke's woods," immediately north- 

 west of the Observatory gate of the E.xperimenral 

 Farm, a little brown bat, and unfortunately, we 

 managed to lose the skull. Recently, I was send- 

 ing some specimens for identification to Washing- 

 ton, and decided that the little bat was sufficiently 

 different to be identified without the skull, so I in- 

 cluded it. 



The answer comes back that it is the Pipistrelle, 

 Pipistrellus subflavus, and the first to be taken in 

 Canada. It does not differ from the specimens 

 taken in New York state near Lake George, and 

 that general region, the only source of records up 

 to the present. 



This bat may now be looked for in all the ter- 

 ritory between Ottawa and the St. Lawrence, and 

 ought to be found at Montreal. 



The little known bats are near enough alike to 

 be a moderate puzzle to those who do not know 

 them, but most species can be readily picked out 

 by the initiated. We have in Ontario Epiesicus 

 fuscus, Myotis subulatus, M. lucifugus, and prob- 

 ably N])cticejus humeralis, besides the additional 

 species noted above. 



W. E. Saunders. 



Phenacomys intermedius from High River, 

 Alberta. — Among a small number of mammals 

 sent to Washington for identification, one is re- 

 lumed with the above label. I have been hunting 

 for specimens of this genus for years, and it is a 

 sad commentary on one's acuteness to find that an 

 example has been taken and remained unrecog- 

 nized! 



It was with a lot of Microtus living in a shrubby 

 valley, and is really remarkably like some members 



of the other genus taken there and in the nearby 

 regions. When I showed the specimen to a noted 

 mammalogist he said at once that he recognized 

 Phenacomys roughly by the long thick fur, but im- 

 mediately he found that Microtus drummondi from 

 the same locality was indistinguishable. The root 

 characters of the teeth turn out to belong to very 

 old individuals only, and this leaves the younger, 

 though fully grown adults, in the class of "very 

 difficult to identify." 



The tail is short, but so are tails of Microtus 

 found alongside. To illustrate the difficulty the 

 following measurements are of several specimens: 



Length. Tail. 



854 Phenacomys __' 123 27 



882 Microtus minor 118 26 



880 " drummondi 126 35 



884 " minor 127 29 



885 " " 127 29 



W. E. Sau.nders. 



Brewer's Sparrow in Saskatchewan and 

 Alberta. — In a recent issue of the Condor, there 

 is a record of the occurrence of this sparrow in 

 Alberta, and it is given as the first record for the 

 province. When I looked it up in Macoun's 

 Birds of Canada, I was surprised to find that the 

 claim is correct. My impression had been that it 

 was fairly well known and widespread near the 

 .'Xlberta-Saskatchewan line, but in this I was mis- 

 taken. Moreover, I find that I have failed to find 

 it three times when on what might be considered 

 to be favorable ground in those provinces, name- 

 ly, at Gull Lake, Sask. ; High River, Alta., and 

 Dunmore, Alta. On Sept. I, 1896, I took a 

 specimen, my first, at Maple Creek, Alta., and my 

 records do not show any others observed on that 

 day. I did not meet with it again until June 9. 

 1906, when my train was delightfully held up all 

 day at Cummings, in the dry region of Saskatche- 

 wan, owing to a "washout." The other passengers 

 fretted, but to me it was a great chance. In my 

 wanderings through the muddy plains that day. 

 I found two nests of Brewer's sparrow and took 

 two male birds, and heard and saw many others. 

 These are now in my collection and measure 

 138, 64. 56, 18 and 140, 65, 61, 17. 



These birds were inhabiting a sage brush coun- 

 try, and the nests were in sage at about a foot 

 from the ground. They resembled those of the 

 field and chipping sparrows, and the eggs are of 

 the same type. 



W. E. Saunders. 



