CATALOGUE OF CANADIAN BIRDS. 45 



coast, this bird was common. Its song was heard for a few da> 

 after our arrival, June gth, but ceased altogether after the i6tl 

 The first juveniles, full-grown, were seen on July 30th. In i89( 

 apparently a much earlier season, many nearly-fledged youn 

 were noted on July ist. From August ist to 12th, i898,juvenil( 

 were plentiful in the vicinity of the mission. They were in sma 

 companies or scattered singly in the edge of the tall grass borde 

 ing the beaches. The tendency at this season seemed for thei 

 to be gathering into flocks, and on the nth, the last day of 01 

 stay on the sound, I saw a flock of about 25. I last saw th 

 Alaskan longspur in 1898 on the i6th of August ; it was on 01 

 way up the Kowak, and at a point about 100 miles from th 

 mouth. A small jcompany flew across the river in front of 01 

 steamer in a southerly direction. In the spring of '99, on th 

 Kowak, the first longspurs were noted on the 20th of May. I 

 this region they inhabit the bare level stretches of tundra, extenc 

 ing at intervals from the river back to the foot-hills. On Jun 

 1st I secured a nest and five fresh eggs. The nest was embedde 

 in the moss under an overhanging clump of dead grass, and cot 

 sisted of fine dry grasses, with a lining of dark feathers of ptarm 

 gan and short-eared owls. The diameter of the nest cavity 2"5( 

 with a depth of roo. The eggs are nearly oblong-ovate in shap 

 and measure "87 x '60, "86 x -61, '84 x '60, '86 x "60, '85 x '61. The 

 ground-colour, as disclosed for a limited space at the small ends c 

 two eggs, is very pale blue. Otherwise the eggs are so completel 

 covered with pigment as to be almost uniform Isabella colou 

 Overlying this are scattered scrawls and dots of bistre. I foun 

 another nest on Chamisso Island on the 9th July. This wa 

 similarly located and contained four eggs in which incubatio 

 was nearly completed. {Grinfiell.) 



MUSEUM SPECIMENS. 



One set of five eggs with nest taken on St. Paul Island, Behrin 

 Sea, June 20th, 1897 by Mr. J. M. Macoun. Nest made of drie 

 fibres of small rootlets and grass, with an inner lining of gras 

 mixed with a little hair. 



537. Smith's Longspur. 



Calcarius pictus (Swains.) Stejn. 1882. 

 Rather'common in the meadows at Fort Churchill, Hudson Baj 

 July 23rd to 30th, 1900. They were quite tame, but hard to se 



