540 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA. 



their nests under the eaves and gables of barns and houses. 

 ( Thompso?i-Seio7i.) 



First observed at Indian Head, Assa., on May 24th, 1892; they 

 soon became common and bred in large numbers in suitable 

 places ; this species reached Medicine Hat, Assa., May 22nd, 

 1894, and immediately began to build new and repair old nests; 

 later they were found breeding under the eaves of all the water 

 tanks along the Canadian Pacific Railway between Medicine 

 Hat and Moose Jaw; at Crane Lake they were particularly abun- 

 dant, building their nests in hundreds under the eaves of the farm 

 buildings; no matter how often the nests were knocked down 

 they were replaced by others; this species was seen in 1895 from 

 Old Wives' Lakes throughout the whole prairie region across 

 Assinaboia by Wood Mountain, Frenchman's River and the 

 Cypress Hills; in Alberta it was abundant along Milk River, 

 where it bred in large communities, as well as along Spur Creek, 

 Sage Creek and Many Berries Creek; a common species in the 

 Bow valley nearly up to Banff in the Rocky Mountains; very 

 abundant along the Peace River, Atha., in 1903; first seen at 

 Edmonton, Alta., May 13th, 1897; common by the 2lst, and 

 building their nests by hundreds in the town ; saw a few nesting 

 in the cut banks of the rivers between Edmonton and the Atha- 

 basca River in June, 1898. {Spreadborough.) A large number of 

 old nests were noticed between Athabasca Landing and Lesser 

 Slave River, Atha., but no birds were seen; we were very likely 

 too early in the season. (/. M. Macoun.) First observed on 

 May 30th, 1500, theri in great numbers, buildi^ig their nests in 

 the town of Prince Albert, Sask. ( Coubeaux^ 



In the year 1820 this species was discovered by Major Long 

 near the Rocky Mountains, and in the same year Sir John 

 Franklin's party, on the journey from Cumberland House to Fort 

 Enterprise, and on the banks of Point Lake in Lat. 65°, where 

 its earliest arrival was noted, in the following year, to be June 

 I2th. Its clustered nests are of .frequent occurrence on the 

 " barren grounds," and they are not uncommon throughout the 

 the whole course of the Great Slave and Mackenzie rivers. 

 {Richardson.) North to Rat River on the Mackenzie ; common. 

 (Ross.) In 1856 about one hundred and fifty nests of this species 

 were built, for the first time, at F"ort Good Hope, on the Mac- 

 kenzie River, and in 1866 one was seen examining the eaves of 



