BIKDS OF NOETHEEN" CANADA 309 



nest. I have never seen this statement recorded in any orni- 

 thological work. This was first brought to my notice on 

 June 18th, 1891, when I found a nest at Long Lake con- 

 taining eight eggs of the canvas-back and four of the red- 

 head. The eggs of the former were larger than those of the 

 latter and of a different tint, being of the usual ashy-green, 

 while the four eggs of the red-head were smaller than those 

 of the other, and were of a buff-drab tint and very glossy. 

 There was not the slightest doubt about the eggs being laid 

 by both species. Since then my collectors have frequently 

 found nests containing eggs of the canvas-back and red-head 

 in the same nest." On May 20th, 1897, Mr. Baines found 

 a nest at Crescent Lake, Manitoba, containing nine eggs of 

 the canvas-back and seven of the red-head. The nest was 

 built in rushes in shallow water. Museum specimens four, 

 and several sets of eggs, are in the Ottawa collection. 



147. Canvas-back — Ayihya vallisneria ("Wilson). 



This remarkably fine food duck is numerous in almost 

 every section of the country referred to in this paper. Even 

 at Fort Anderson, latitude 68° 30' north, some forty years 

 ago, we obtained a few sets of its eggs, where it was found 

 to be tolerably abundant during the annual season of nidifi- 

 cation. At Moose Lake, Cumberland, Mrs. W. C. King 

 found two nests (and secured a parent of each), one of them 

 in the end of May, holding three eggs, and the other early 

 in June, 1890, containing six eggs. A male example Was 

 shot near Cumiberland House the same season. Abundant 

 in the Fort Chipewyan marshes. Mr. Eoss collected a num- 

 ber of its eggs in Mackenzie Eiver, as did also Chief Trader 

 Lockhart. 



Professor Macoun states that he has " seen it in immense 

 numbers on Lesser Slave Lake and in the Peace Eiver coun- 

 try. He is satisfied that it breeds from Indian Head north- 

 westerly to Fort Yukon, in Alaska. The country north-west 

 of Edmonton suits it well, as there are many marshes full 



