•20 



THE OOLOGIST. 



tree liable, I thought, to break off before 

 I reached the nest. 



I saw a pair of Great Northern 

 Shrikes {Lanius borealis) in a clunap of 

 trees. I identified, the birds carefully 

 as I wished to ascertain whether this 

 bird bred in this locality. They ap- 

 peared to be suspicous of my move- 

 ments and kept very close to me. I 

 soon found a very large nest and one of 

 the Shrikes was very uneasy^ and Hew 

 to the tree close to the nest. Nest was 

 about six feet from the ground and was 

 built in a willow bush, one of a clump 

 of same. I soon inspected the inside of 

 the nest and found it contained 7 tine 

 eggs. They were fresh and measured 

 as follows: 1.06X.75, 1.05X.75, 1.03x.75, 

 1.03X.75, 1.02X.75, l.Olx.76 and l.OOx.75. 

 ■Color, dull white, spotted with purple 

 and olive brown. The nest is a beauti- 

 ful structure, measures 7 inches across 

 the top and is 4 inches deep, composed 

 of sage, sticks, weeds and lined with 

 feathers from Hawks and other birds, 

 and some kind of brownish hair or fur. 

 The nest and eggs are now safely en- 

 sconced in my cabinet and very much 

 treasured. 



Before my departure to Assiniboia I 

 took, in April, a set of White-rumped 

 Shrike [Lanius ludovicianus excubilor- 

 ides). The nest I found in a wild ap- 

 ple tree close to a spring-lake in Cal- 

 houn Co., Mich. Eggs six, incubated 

 slightly, measured .93x.74, .92x.74, .93x 

 .74, .96X.74, .93X.74 and .95x.76. Note 

 in both sets of eggs the width of all the 

 eggs is invariably the same, the length 

 varying slightly. I have taken a good 

 many sets of the White-rumped and 

 Loggerhead Shrikes in Michigan and 

 Indiana and also found the former bird 

 breeding near C. P. R. station Qu Ap- 

 pelle, Assiniboia. I have many times 

 times read of the Northern breeding 

 north and desired so much to take a set 

 of their eggs. I searched carefully for 

 the bird in Manitoba but found it not. 

 Near Long Lake I found two nests of 

 the White-rumped containing young. 



The present find was my first and-on- 

 ly set of Northern Shrikes and as the 

 set is large and the nest fine I consider 

 myself a lucky man indeed. Walking 

 around the lake I had hard work forc- 

 ing a passage through a heavy growth 

 of willows. A Mallard flew from the 

 centre of this clump and I soon found a 

 hollow where she was preparing her nest 

 for a clutch of eggs. 



We now walked in the direction of 

 the tent and arrived in -camp at 9 

 o'clock and as the morning was cold 

 and a storm appeared to be brewing 

 w^e took down the tent and after load- 

 ing everything in the wagon started in 

 the direction of my brotner's house 

 taking a different route homerfrom the 

 one we taaveled coming. 



Shortly after we started it commenc- 

 ed to rain and as the wind was very 

 strong and cold and I had on a thin 

 shirt and a shooting jacket I almost 

 perished before we finished our trip. 

 I walked quite a little and examined a 

 nest of the Long-eared Owl [Asio wil- 

 sonianus) built in a poplar tree, nest 

 contained young birds. I also exam^ 

 ined three nests of the gFerruginous 

 Rough-leg {Archibuteo ferru-gineus). 

 Two nests contained tiva young 

 birds and the other, three 3'oung. 

 All were large structures and built in 

 poplar trees. 



As I was thoroughly soaked before 

 we had traveled many miles and the 

 rain turned to sleet my enthusiasm 

 soon froze up and I was more anxious 

 to reach warm quarters and shelter 

 than to gather eggs. My companions 

 also wished to hurry home even^more 

 than I so we probably missed some 

 good sets on account of the weather. 



We got to the house about 4:30 in the 

 afternoon and I immediately changed 

 my clothes and after a good warming 

 and supper I started for the marsh and 

 river close to the house. I walked 

 about a mile through the marsh and 

 flushed a Canvas-back (Aythya vallis- 

 neria) off her floating nest and eleven 



