CATALOGUE OF CANADIAN BIRDS. 3I9 



in the wooded parts of Manitoba. {Thompson-Seton.) This beauti- 

 fully marked bird visits the Northwest Territories only in summer, 

 advancing as far north as Great Slave Lake, but resorting in the 

 greatest numbers to the plains of the Saskatchewan. Instead of 

 hiding itself in the depths of the forest it frequents the open 

 downs, and employs itself in turning over the ant-hills in search 

 of larvae on which it preys. {Richardson.) North to Peel River, 

 mouth of the Mackenzie ; common. {Ross.) This bird is by no 

 means scarce in the valley of the Anderson but we made no 

 attempt to collect its eggs as they are not scarce. {Macfarlane.) 

 This handsome woodpecker breeds from one side of the Territory 

 (Alaska) to the other wherever wooded country occurs, according 

 to the Esquimaux it extends even to Behring Strait. {Nelson.) 

 This species does not occur in the Yukon districts to my knowl- 

 edge. A specimen was obtained from Fort Yukon, where it is 

 not abundant. {Turner.) In the Yukon valley this is by far the 

 most common woodpecker. We found it quite frequently from 

 Log Cabin to Circle City. At Caribou Crossing, June 27th, 1899, 

 Osgood secured a female and found her nest containing eight 

 young and three eggs in a cavity three feet from the ground in a 

 partly dead poplar. At Six-mile River another nest was found, 

 and at Lake Laberge another, all in the Yukon district. {Bishop.) 



This is not a rare bird at Indian Head, Medicine Hat, and 

 Cypress Hills ; it was found breeding in 1895 '" company with 

 the hybrid flicker in holes in Acer Negundo on May 30th and two 

 fresh eggs taken from the nest; early in June it was found at Wood 

 Mountain, and towards the end of June on Sucker Creek in the 

 Cypress Hills, Assa. ; common and Breeding at Banff and shot as 

 far west as Revelstoke, B.C., May 14, 1890. First seen at Edmon- 

 ton, Alta., on April 30th, 1897 ; it soon became corrimon and com- 

 menced to breed. Common in the foothills southwest of Calgary. 

 {Spreadborough.) Common from Athabasca Landing up the 

 Athabasca to Lesser Slave River and down to Fort McMurray, 

 Lat. 56° 40'. Common up the Clearwater River and on Methye 

 Portage. {J. M.Macoun.) 



Breeding Notes. — In this region (Carberry) the flicker seems 

 to prey principally on ants, taking them sometimes from the 

 rotten stumps that are honeycombed with their galleries, but 

 more often, I believe, from the mound-like ant-hills which are to 

 be seen on the prairie in such numbers. His method of attack 

 seems to be by first pecking a hole in the centre of the hill, and 



