CATALOGUE OF CANADIAN BIRDS. 93 



1891. (IVin^e.) Breeds in large numbers on Nottingham Island 

 in Hudson Strait ; and at Churchill and York Factory, Hudson 

 Bay. {Dr. R.Bell.) A rare summer migrant in Nova Scotia. Once 

 captured a brood of young ones on Grand Lake. (Downs.) In 

 New Brunswick, Quebec and Ontario, this is only a migrant, and 

 I strongly suspect that some of the breeding stations mentioned 

 above are those of the Greater Scaup, which is certainly a more 

 eastern bird than this species. It is one of the commonest ducks 

 in the prairie region and northward to the very edge of the Bar- 

 ren Grounds. It breeds in all the ponds and by the little lakes 

 from Lat. 49° to the Arctic Circle and beyond. Nelson says this 

 is a very rare straggler in Alaska. Fannin and Brooks report it 

 tolerably common in British Columbia. The latter says it winters 

 on Lake Okanagan, B.C. 



Breeding Notes. — This species was first seen at Deep Lake, 

 Indian Head, Assa., on April i6th, 1892, at which time eight indi- 

 viduals were observed ; they very shortly after came in great 

 numbers, and a pair shot had their stomachs full of water-insects, 

 which are very abundant in the lake. On June 23rd found a nest 

 containing nine eggs. The nest was in the middle of a " slough " 

 in a mass of last year's rushes {Scirpus lacustris), lined with down 

 from the bird's own breast. {Spreadborough.') Three sets of eggs 

 taken at Burnt Lake, Alberta, June 14th and 15th, 1896; breeds 

 also in Manitoba, but nowhere common. {Dippie.) 



More numerous than the preceding species, breeding through- 

 out northwestern Canada. In Assiniboia it usually nests on the 

 small islands in the lakes. On June 15th, 1893, I found three 

 nests on a small island where a colony of Avocets was nesting. 

 The nests were built on the grass in hollows, lined with down. 

 The eggs, like the preceding species, are dark drab, but of course 

 much smaller in size. (Raine.) 



Over a dozen nests of this species were secured. They were 

 usually found in the midst of a swamp, a mere hole or depression 

 in the centre of a tuft of turf or tussock of grass, lined with more 

 or less down, feathers and hay. Nine was the general number of 

 eggs in a nest, though a few contained not more than six or seven. 

 {MacfarlaTU.) 



On the 29th June, 1895, ^^'^ species was found breeding in com- 

 pany with the Pintail and Gadwell on an island in Cypress Lake, 



