THE NIDIOLOGIST. 



Bird-Nesting in Northvoest Canada. 



By Walter Raine. 



[The installment in No. lo, Vol. I, was marked " concluded," an 

 error.] 



(continuation.) 



RUSH I^ake;, Junk 15. — I arrived 

 here from Banff this morning, and 

 after breakfast visited the flat prairie 

 south of the railway, where I found Wil- 

 son's Phalarope, Pintail, Gad wall and Ring- 

 necked Ducks. The Ducks' nests were all 

 in similar situations, built amongst the long 

 grass, on margin of slough. 



On my way back to the farm I observed 

 a large skunk at the Gopher colony, and he 

 was so busy hunting for Gophers, poking 

 his head in and out of their -burrows, that 

 he did not notice me until I approached 

 quite close. He was the finest specimen I 

 ever saw, with a large bushy tail, longer 

 than his own body, and I was sorry I had 

 left my gun behind. After dinner Spalding 

 drove me to Avocet Lake, and on a sandbar 

 we found a small colony of Ring-billed 

 Gulls had nests containing two or three 

 eggs each, and we also found several nests 

 of the Avocet. 



On our way around the lake to the 

 islands at the North end we flushed a Red- 

 headed Duck off its nest and seven eggs. 

 As the water had dried up considerably I 

 was able to wade out to the islands, and 

 found a colony of Horned Grebes had taken 

 up their abode since my last visit. The 

 shore of the island was fringed with Grebes' 

 nests. They were composed of mud 

 mixed with weeds, and were built in shal- 

 low water. The eggs were not covered 

 with weeds, as is usually the case with this 

 family, but in the open water I counted 

 over fifty Horned Grebes, and there must 

 have been at least thirty nests on the 

 island. The nests mostly contained four 

 eggs each, and in some cases incubation 

 had commenced. 



Avocets, Common and Forster's Terns' 

 nests were very numerous, but I did not 

 take many sets, as I had collected a fin e 



series on my previous visit to this island. 

 I came across three nests of the Lesser 

 Scaup Duck, containing fresh eggs. The 

 nests were hollows in the sand, lined with 

 down and feathers. The eggs of this Duck 

 are easily recognized by their dark brown- 

 ish drab color, averaging in size 2.20 x 1.50. 

 I was surprised to find a pair of Long-billed 

 Dowitcher or Brown Snipe on the island, 

 and I felt sure they were nesting; so I set 

 to work and searched diligently, but with- 

 out success; so I concluded they had not 

 yet laid their eggs. It is safe to presume 

 these birds were nesting here at so late a 

 date as June 15. 



Thompson, in his " Birds of Manitoba,'' 

 says, " the Brown Snipe is a summer resi- 

 dent," and Dr. Cones in his work says, 

 "it possibly breeds." I consider the 

 Brown Snipe, like Wilson's Snipe, a rare 

 summer resident in Manitoba and Assino- 

 boine. Under the heading of rare summer 

 residents may be included Greater Yellow- 

 legs, Lesser Yellowlegs, Solitary Sand- 

 piper, Least Sandpiper, Semipalmated Plo- 

 ver, Semipalmated Sandpiper, Little Brown 

 Crane, American Goshawk, Pigeon Hawk, 

 Hawk Owl, Great Northern Shrike, Rich- 

 ardson's Owl, and several other birds, a few 

 pair of which remain and nest much fur- 

 ther south of their regular breeding quar- 

 ters. 



Gathering up my specimens I waded 

 back to the shore and found Spalding had 

 secured several good birds with my small 

 gun; we then walked back to the horse 

 and buckboard and drove home to Rush 

 Lake. 



On reaching the farm I found a letter 

 from Palmer informing me they had been 

 troubled with a band of Indians. At Stair 

 upwards of one hundred Antelope had been 

 secured in a pasture. This herd of Ante- 

 lope were traveling northward in spring, 

 and on reaching the outskirts of the farm, 

 one of the leaders leaped over the fence and 

 as usual, like a flock of sheep, the rest of 

 the herd followed, and the cowboys then 



