CATALOGUE OF CANADIAN BIRDS. 469 



the nests contained four eggs and the other five. Both sets were 

 far advanced in incubation and the latter set contained one infertile 

 egg. The female birds were sitting closely when the nests were 

 discovered, and in both cases I nearly touched them before they 

 slipped from the nests. They darted quickly out of sight, making 

 no , solicitous demonstrations whatever. Another nest was found 

 near Cape Blossom on July ist, 1899. This was in every way similar 

 to the other two, and contained four slightly incubated eggs. As 

 the month of May advanced the flocks of redpolls began to break 

 up though the pairs were prone to stay within call of each other, 

 a sociable trait. The first nest was found on June 4th and contained 

 five badly incubated eggs. This indicates that nesting begins soon 

 after the middle of May. Another nest, containing five slightly 

 incubated eggs, was taken on the 5th; the nest was saddled in the 

 forks of a leafless willow above water at the margin of an ice-covered 

 lake. This nest may be described as typical of the ones found in 

 the Kowak valley. It is a very compact and well proportioned 

 structure of fine dry rootlets, grasses and slender plant-stems lined 

 with soft white willow down and a few ptarmigan feathers. The 

 diameter of the nest cavity is 1.70, and the depth 1.25 ; external 

 diameter, 4.00; depth, 2.10. A nest of five fresh eggs, taken on 

 June 6th, was nine feet above the ground in the top of a small spruce 

 at the edge of a dense strip of timber. The eggs of the hoary redpoll 

 are pale Nile blue, with spots, lines, dots and scrawls of vinaceous, 

 lavender, chocolate and so dark a brown as to appear black in some 

 cases. These markings tend to form wreaths about the larger ends 

 of many eggs. The eggs vary in shape from ovate to short-ovate. 

 (Grinnell.) I have six nests with sets of eggs of this species. They 

 were collected at Peel river, Mackenzie delta, by the Rev. I. O- 

 Stringer, who has just returned from that far away northern region 

 after spending eight years among the Eskimos. The nests are 

 beautiful structures of fine twigs and roots felted together with 

 vegetable down, and snugly lined with down and feathers. One 

 nest, taken July 19th, 1898, was built in a willow only two feet from 

 the ground, and contained four eggs. Another nest was built in 

 a small shrub less than sne foot from the ground, and contained 

 five eggs, averaging in size .68 x .52. The Eskimo name for this 

 bird is "Pe6gwak." (W. Raine.) 



