CATALOGUE OF CANADIAN BIRDS. 3II 



Abundant in Algonquin Park, Ont., breeding in holes in cedar 

 trees about 12 feet from the ground. {Macoun.) 



A common summer resident of the wooded section of Mani- 

 toba. {Thompson-Seton.) During the spring of 1892 only four 

 specimens of this bird were seen at Indian Head, Assa.; two 

 specimens seen at Medicine Hat, Assa., May, 1894. None seen 

 further west on the prairie. First saw four. May 3rd at Edmonton, 

 Alta.; common the next day. Common summer resident from Ed- 

 monton Lat. 53° 30' to Crow's Nest Pass Lat. 50°. {Spreadborougk.) 

 Common from Athabasca Landing, where it is very abundant and 

 frequently met with up the Athabasca River to the mouth of 

 Lesser Slave River. Common on the Clearwater River, Lat. 56° 

 30', and on Methye Portage. Common between Methye Lake and 

 Isle a la Crosse. (/. M. Macoun.) This is the only woodpecker 

 that visits the Northwest Territories in flocks. It made its first 

 appearance in 1827, on the plains of the Saskatchewan on the 14th 

 May in considerable flocks. In the breeding season it is much 

 more retiring and ranges as far north as Lat. 61°. {Ricftardson.) 

 North to Fort Simpson on the Mackenzie River ; common. 

 {Ross.) 



Breeding Notes. — I notice that this bird is very common in 

 spring along the St. Lawrence. It breeds plentifully in the coun- 

 ties of Leeds, Lanark and Renfrew, in all of which I have found 

 its nests. The locality chosen varies very much ; it is partial to 

 an ash swamp, like the hairy woodpecker, but is also fond of 

 poplar trees, commencing its nest-hole about the begining of May. 

 I have found fresh eggs on May 19th. They vary much in size 

 and shape and a complete set consists of five or six. I have 

 noticed a nest several years in succession in a poplar at the foot 

 of Grenadier Island, St. Lawrence River, and have observed that 

 the nest-hole is usually from 25 to 40 feet from the ground, 

 though on one occasion I found it in a dead stub, standing in 

 water, not more than three feet above the surface. {Rev. C.J. 

 Young.) I found a nest of young birds of this species, June 21st, 

 1887, on St. Bruno mountain, in a hole drilled in a live oak tree, 

 only about six feet high in the trunk of the tree above the ground, 

 and another nest of its young, July i, 1885, at Calumet, Que., 58 

 miles west of Montreal. This nest was in a small hole drilled 

 in the trunk of a live elm tree, and about thirty feet high from the 

 base. ( Wifttle.) 



