CATALOGUE OF CANADIAN BIRDS. 495 



Hat, Sask., April 30th, 1894, two individuals, both males; next 

 day five were seen and by May 4tli they were common and the 

 same at Crane lake on the 7th ; common on the east end of the 

 C)^ress hills in the latter end of June; in 1891 it was found to be 

 common and breeding around Banff, Rocky mountains, in the direc- 

 tion of Devil lake; at Edmonton, Alta., after May ist, 1897, they 

 very soon became common and began to pair; they were common 

 in the foothills from Calgary to Crow Nest pass ; common on all 

 the small prairies throughout the Peace river country between lat. 

 55°-57°; common along the trail on all the dry grass land from 

 Edmonton to Jasper House in 1898; this species was common at 

 Klamloops, Spence Bridge, Enderby and in the Nicola valley, B.C., in 

 June, 1889, and on the plateau between the North Thompson and 

 Bonaparte rivers; a few observed at Chilliwack, B.C., in the spring, 

 and one at the mouth of Tami Hy creek, September 8th, 1901 ; in 

 April and May, 1903, they were quite common at Penticton in 

 southern British Columbia; first seen at Femie, B.C., April 29th, 

 Common by May 4th, found a nest half built in a clump of grass on 

 May 2oth; first seen at Midway, B.C. April i6th, 1905, common by 

 May ist. (Spreadborough.) Very common in the interior; breeds. 

 (Streator.) An abundant summer resident east of Coast range, also 

 on Vancouver island. (Fannin.) Migrant; not common at Chilli- 

 wack. Specimens are very pale and may belong to affinis. {Brooks.) 



Breeding Notes. — Several nests were found at Pembina, con- 

 taining eggs, about the middle of June. One of them also held two 

 Molothrus eggs. The nests were built in open ground, quite deeply 

 sunken so as to be flush with the surface, and more substantial than 

 those of many ground-builders, the walls being an inch or more 

 thick at the brim. The cavity is small and deep in comparison with 

 the whole nest. The usual materials are grasses and weed-stalks, 

 the coarser material outside, the finer fibres within and at the 

 bottom. The eggs, of which I have not found more than four, 

 measure about o. 80 by o. 55 ; they are grajdsh- white, heavily marked 

 all over with spots, dashes and blotches of reddish-brown, and a 

 sprinkling of fine dots of the same or darker brown. The female is 

 a close sitter, not leaving the nest until nearly trodden upon, and 

 then fluttering off as if crippled, to distract attention from the nest 

 to herself. (Coues.) This is a very common prairie species, breed- 

 ing in all parts of southern Saskatchewan and Alberta. A nest 



