408 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA. 



range reaching to the 68th parallel, or as far north as the woods 

 extend. It reaches the Saskatchewan about the end of April, 

 and is at Great Bear Lake, Lat. 65°, by the 3rd of May, 

 generally in pairs. {Richardson.) North on the Mackenzie River 

 to Fort Good Hope; common. {Ross.) This bird is fairly 

 abundant in the neighbourhood of Fort Anderson, and they were 

 frequently observed as far as the eastern limits of the forest, as 

 well as near the "crossing" of the Horton River in about Lat. 69°. 

 The twenty-five nests discovered were built in trees from five to 

 eight feet from the ground. {Macfarlane.) This species is a 

 regular summer resident in northern Alaska wherever trees and 

 bushes are found, reaching the vicinity of the sea-coast; in 

 northern Alaska it reaches Lat. 70°. {Nelson.) , This bird is one 

 of the earliest land birds to arrive at St. Michael. It is not 

 .common there and does not breed in the vicinity to my knowl- 

 edge. {Turrter.) Saw two specimens at Log Cabin, in the White 

 Pass, on June 15th, 1899. Osgood took a specimen near Fort 

 Yukon, Alaska, and a small flock was seen near St. Michael. 

 {Bishop.) Two males were shot at Tyonek, Cook's Inlet, Alaska, 

 in September, 1899. {Osgood.) 



Breeding Notes.— Met with at London as a rare migrant in 

 spring and more common in the fall, but in North Bruce it breeds 

 sparingly on the inland lakes where I found a nest on June 9th, 

 1887. The nest was placed in a maple shrub, two feet over the 

 water and was made of tamarac and other twigs lined with green 

 grass, with mud between it and the exterior twigs. It contained 

 three eggs whose spots are more rufous and ground colour more 

 greenish than those of Brewer's blackbird. {W. E. Saunders.) 

 Gradually pushing east it has always been rare at Toronto, but 

 Mr. J. Hughes-Samuel found a pair nesting at Toronto Island in 

 the spring of 1900. (/. H. Fleming.) A few pairs nest in northern 

 Assiniboia but most of the birds go further north to nest. It is 

 often confounded with Brewer's blackbird as the nests and eggs 

 resemble each other. {W.Raine.) Arrived at Edmonton, Alta., 

 May 20th, 1897; on June lOth found a nest with four young and 

 one egg. The nest was placed upon a spruce tree which had 

 fallen a number of years before and was bleached white by the 

 weather and was hanging horizontally over a small pond, that was 

 in the heavy timber near the river. The tree was about a foot 

 from the water, where the nest was. I also found an old nest 

 upon a heap of old spruce brush in the same pond. The nest was 



