CATALOGUE OF CANADIAN BIRDS. 85 



This species was found breeding plentifully near small streams 

 descending from the Cypress Hills and by small marshy lakes at 

 Crane Lake, Assiniboia, June 9th, 1894. While beating rose- 

 thickets for nests the writer flushed a female off a nest containing 

 ten eggs, too much incubated to be taken ; shortly after I flushed 

 another nesting in the same manner, but there were only eight 

 eggs in the set, quite fresh. Both nests were under rose- 

 bushes on dry ground and lined with grass and down. On the 

 I ith June, in some patches of rose-bushes, I found two more nests, 

 one having eleven and the other nine eggs. 



MUSEUM SPECI^1ENS. 



Eight specimens taken at Toronto, Ont., Indian Head, Assa., 

 Edmonton, Alberta, and Kamloops, British Columbia. 



Several sets of eggs taken at Indian Head, Assa., in 1892, and 

 at Crane Lake in June 1894. 



LI I. DAFILA Stephens. 1824. 

 143. -Pintail. Springtail. 



Dafila acuta (Linn.) Bonap. 1838. 



Very rare in Newfoundland; more common in Nova Scotia, and 

 Chamberlain reports a few breeding in New Brunswick. It has 

 been taken in Davis Strait and in Hudson Bay at York Factory. 

 Spreadborough saw a number on a small island in James Bay, 

 June i6th, 1896. It is not a rare migrant in Quebec and Ontario, 

 and according to Saunders a few breed on St. Clair Flats. 



This species breeds in numbers throughout the Northwest Ter- 

 ritories, and extends its breeding range from Lat. 49° to the Arctic 

 coast. Richardson and Macfarlane both speak of its abundance 

 in the Barren Grounds. Nelson and Turner say that this is the 

 commonest duck in Alaska, and Murdoch reports it breeding 

 quite close to Point Barrow on the Arctic Sea. This species is a 

 resident in British Columbia and breeds on the mainland. Fannin 

 says they congregate in great flocks in some localities on the 

 coast in winter, but more especially on the Lower Eraser. 



Breeding Notes. — Breeding commonly in Manitoba and As- 

 siniboia. It seldom lays more than nine eggs and nests in similar 

 situations to the Shoveller. Its eggs can be distinguished from 

 those of the Shoveller by their, larger size. Two clutches of nine 

 eggs each are in my collection taken at Rush Lake, Assiniboia, 



