CATALOGUE OF CANADIAN BIRDS. II9 



Breeding Notes. — Have seen several nests, some on the 

 ground and others upon old musk-rat houses. Nests made of 

 grass lined with down. Breeds early ; have seen the young the 

 first week in June, but also found eggs perfectly fresh June gth, 

 1894. (Spreadborough^ A nest with six eggs, incubated about 

 one week, was found near the Red Deer River, Alberta, May nth, 

 1888. Between Athabasca Landing and Fort McMurray, two 

 females with young about a week old were seen June nth. 

 (/. M. Macoun) 



Breeds in Assiniboia and Alberta and is one of the earliest 

 breeders. Its eggs are often taken and put under fowls to hatch. 

 I have seen broods of young Canada geese that were hatched 

 and reared by turkeys at Rush Lake. When the first clutch is 

 taken the bird lays another, sometimes on the same island. On May 

 25th, 1893, I found seven eggs in a nest built on an island in a 

 small lake north of Rush Lake. A Canada Goose had nested on 

 this island for several years. It is a remarkable fact that in 

 Alberta this goose often lays its eggs in the nests of Buzzards. 

 Mr. Neuman sent me a set of five eggs he took from a Buzzard's 

 nest on April 25th, 1896. The nest was built in a dead cotton- 

 wood tree 45 feet from the ground and the bird was flushed off 

 the nest and shot. I have a photograph of the nest. {Rai7ie.) 



This. species is one of the earliest to arrive in the Northwest. 

 It was first seen in 1894 at Medicine Hat on April 7th, by Spread- 

 borough, and was common by the i6th. It seems to have no 

 fixed place to breed as it has been found nesting on old musk-rat 

 houses in marshes, on masses of dead reeds, in Buzzards' nests 

 on low trees along streams, and in two instances it nested in trees 

 at least forty feet from the ground. In one case the nest was in 

 that of a Fish Hawk, in the other in an old nest of the Bald eagle. 

 Also breeding on rocks along Milk River, Alberta. 



MUSEUM SPECIMENS. 



One fine specimen taken at Indian Head, Assa., in May 1894, 

 and another purchased with the Holman collection. 



Four eggs taken at Crane Lake, June 9th, 1894. Two taken on 

 Whale River, Ungava Bay, Labrador, June nth, 1896, by Mr. G. 

 Boucher. 



