CATALOGUE OF CANADIAN BIRDS. 87 



it as common in the interior of Labrador, but none of our explorers 

 have ever seen a specimen there. Wintle says not many breed 

 around Montreal, but they ar'e plentiful in the autumn and mostly 

 young birds. Summer resident around Ottawa, and breeds in 

 Dow's Swamp, close to the city. Breeds in suitable places 

 throughout southern Ontario. That it occurs, perhaps in abund- 

 ance, in northwestern Ontario is indicated by its occurrence in 

 numbers in eastern Manitoba and along the shores of Lake Win- 

 nipeg. Thompson shows that it occurs as far west as Carberry, 

 pver one hundred miles west of Winnipeg, and it has been seen 

 on Lake Winnipegoosis, and shot at Cumberland House, in Lat. 

 54°. 



We have never observed this species on the prairie or in the 

 Rocky Mountains, but after crossing the Coast Range and des- 

 cending to the Lower Fraser, at Agassiz, we found it breeding. 

 Fannin reports it abundant and breeding along the Lower 

 Fraser at Sumas, Chilliwack, and Burnaby Lake ; and Brooks 

 saj's that an odd bird or two often remains all winter. 



This is another species that has an eastern and a western race 

 that are not known to interbreed. 



Breeding Notes. — For several years a pair used to breed in a 

 soft-maple stub, about twenty feet from the ground, on the bank 

 of a creek near Bracebridge, Ont. I never saw the nest, so cannot 

 describe it, but have seen the old bird carry her young to the 

 water in her bill. {Spreadborough.) This species builds in holes 

 in trees and places where large branches have broken away. The 

 nest is composed of dry grass and feathers. The eggs — six to 

 twelve or more — are something between a buff and a pale green 

 in colour. When the nest is built on a broken branch it is 

 composed of dry sticks, grass and feathers. About the first of May 

 is the time when they begin to lay at Ottawa, Ont. {G. R. White.) 

 A few years ago this handsome duck was quite common in the 

 latter part of summer in many creeks that run into the St. Law- 

 rence. In these same localities now (1898) I scarcely see any 

 birds. A few pairs breed every year at Escott Pond and else- 

 where in the County of Leeds, and I have seen young birds in 

 June, though I have never seen the nest. (Jiev. C.J. Young.) 

 Regularly distributed throughout western Ontario. Breeds along 

 marshes and rivers. ( W. Saunders?) 



