164 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA. 



In the west, it is found throughout the whole prairie region, 

 especially in all marshes in the wooded country. This species is 

 found in British Columbia, from the International Boundary to 

 Alaska, and on Vancouver island, where it breeds, and according 

 to Brooks it is a common summer resident in the Cariboo district, 

 and a few winter on Lake Okanagan, B.C. Both Turner and Nelson 

 report it of wide distribution in Alaska, and Macfarlane found it 

 breeding on the Anderson river. 



Breeding Notes. — A few pairs still breed in the county of 

 Leeds, Ont. Early in June, 1892, a nest with four eggs was ob- 

 tained at "Black Pond" near Brockville; on the 9th June, 1896, 

 I saw one of these birds perched. on a stump in a wet meadow ; 

 no doubt the female was nesting in the vicinity. The place where I 

 have noticed this species breeding most commonly was on the Mag- 

 dalen islands. There it may still be said to be plentiful. I obtained 

 three eggs, incubated, early in June, 1897. It breeds principally in 

 boggy places not far from the sea, and in the breeding season is 

 quite noisy and soon makes its presence known. The nest on the 

 Magdalen islands is not, as a rule, placed in the wettest part of the 

 bog but near the edge of the growth of spruce, where a stunted tree 

 struggles to live here and there in the shaking bog. Alongside 

 one of these, or even under a branch, a nest may be found, in which 

 respect as far as the selection of a breeding-site goes, it differs some- 

 what from its very near relative, the European snipe. (Rev. C. J. 

 Young.) I am informed by Mr.. John Burke, a farmer near Rondeau, 

 Lake Erie, and an accurate observer, that he has of late years found 

 several nests of this species near the marsh. (W. Saunders.) Found 

 a nest with four eggs near Listowel, Ont., May 17th, 1905. A clump 

 of willows grew about six feet from a pool and midway between the 

 willows and the water was the nest. It was simply a sUght de- 

 pression made by the bird in the moss and dry grass, lined with fine 

 dry grass. (W. L. Kells.) These birds dig their nests in the ground 

 in marshy places and line them with grass and ferns. I have found 

 two nests near Ottawa, Ont., one on the 22nd May, 1900, the other, 

 12th May, 1905. (Garneau.) 



The favourite haunts of this bird are the open grassy sloughs or 

 bogs which intersect Manitoba. The position of the only nest of 

 this species that I found was on a slightly elevated tussock or sod 

 in the middle of a wide muskeg. The nest consisted of a slight 



