CATALOGUE OF CANADIAN BIRDS. 89 



different tint, being of the usual ashy green, while the four eggs of 

 the Red-head were smaller than those of the other and were of a 

 buff-drab tint and very glossy. There was not the slightest 

 doubt about the eggs being laid by both species. Since then my 

 collectors have frequently found nests containing eggs of the 

 Canvas-back and Red-head in the same nest. On May 20th, 

 1897, Mr. Baines found a nest at Crescent Lake, Manitoba, con- 

 taining nine eggs of the Canvas-back and seven of the Red-head. 

 The nest was built in rushes in shallow water. {Raine.) A very 

 common migrant in western Ontario. Some breed in the large 

 marshes, especially at St. Clair Flats. ( W. Saunders^ 



MUSEUM SPECIMENS. 



Four ; one taken in Toronto marsh, two at Indian Head, Assa., 

 ■and the other at Edmonton, Alberta. Several sets of eggs are in 

 the collection, taken at Indian Head and Crane Lake, Assa. 



147. Canvas-back Duck. 



Aythya vallisiieria (Wils.) Boie. 1826. 



Rare migrant in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick ; more plen- 

 tiful in Quebec, and increasingly so in Ontario. 



Although this species breeds in the same ponds with the Red- 

 head in Manitoba and Assiniboia, it is rare in eastern Manitoba, 

 but becomes more common as one passes to the west ; west of 

 the iioth Meridian it almost supersedes the Red-head. At 

 Edmonton, on the Saskatchewan, in 1897, Spreadborough found 

 this species very common, and the Red-head rare and late in 

 arriving; in 1898, he found it breeding in small lakes between 

 Edmonton and Lake Ste. Anne, Alta. 



Macfarlane and Ross record it on Great Slave Lake, and the 

 former says a few sets of eggs were taken near Fort Anderson in 

 the Barren Grounds. Dall found it breeding at Fort Yukon, in 

 Alaska, in great abundance, though Nelson says he never saw any 

 evidence of it on the west coast. Spreadborough, Brooks and 

 Fannin all mention that it is plentiful in winter around Victoria 

 and at the mouth of the Eraser, and Fannin says it breeds in 

 the interior of British Columbia ; Brooks says it winters on Lake 

 Okanagan. 



As the writer has seen it in immense numbers on Lesser Slave 

 Lake and in the Peace River country, he is satisfied that it breeds 



