CATAJ.OGUE OF CANADIAN BIRDS. 44 1 



Gradually pushing east it has always been rare at Toronto, but 

 Mr. J. Hughes-Samuel found a pair nesting at Toronto island in 

 the spring of 1900. (/. H. Fleming.) A few pairs nest in Saskat- 

 chewan, but most of the birds go further north to nest. It is often 

 confounded with Brewer's blackbird as the nests and eggs resemble 

 each other, iyv. Raine.) Arrived at Edmonton, Alta., May 20th > 

 on June loth found a nest with four young and one egg. The nes^ 

 was placed upon a spruce tree which had fallen a number of year^ 

 before and was bleached white by the weather and was hanging 

 horizontally over a small pond that was in the heavy timber near 

 the river. The tree was about a foot from the water, where the 

 nest was. I also found an old nest upon a heap of old spruce bnish 

 in the same pond. The nest was made of dry grass. There were 

 no weeds or grass in the pond. June 13th, I saw young able to fly, 

 these were in a dried-up slough in the heavy timber. (Spread- 

 borough.) On the Magdalen islands this bird builds a nest very 

 similar to that of the robin, all low down in the spruce near the end 

 of thick boughs. {H. K. Job.) I found a nest in bushes over- 

 hanging a small lake near Innisfail, Alta., in June, 1903 The one 

 egg was taken and the female shot. I have never found this species 

 nesting an3rwhere except in shrubs over water and I have never 

 found Brewer's blackbird nesting in such a situation. {W. E. 

 Saunders.) 



510. Brewer Blackbird. 



. Euphagus cyanocephalus (Wagl.) Cassin. 1867. 



I have a specimen of this species said to have been taken at 

 Toronto, Ont. (/. H. Fleming.) This is the characteristic black- 

 bird of the whole region along the International Boundary from 

 Pembina to the Rocky mountains. {Coues.) An abundant sum- 

 mer resident in most districts; this species gathers in large flocks 

 and commits great depredations in wheat and oat fields in the 

 autumn. (E. T. Seton.) Common in the Red river valley be- 

 tween Winnipeg and West Selkirk, June 14th, 1901. {Preble.) 

 Altogether the most abundant and regularly distributed blackbird in 

 the west in the more open and scrub country. Noted everywhere 

 in Manitoba and west to Edmonton, Alta. {Atkinson.) Apparently 

 rather common at the Grand rapids of the Saskatchewan. 



