BIEDS OF NORTHERN CANADA 313 



River, Athabasca and Mackenzie River. Mr. Ross states 

 that he obtained some of its eggs in the last-mentioned 

 district. 



Mr. Raine states that a " set of seven eggs in his collec- 

 tion was taken out of a tree at Long Lake, Manitoba. When 

 trees are scarce, this accounts for this little duck laying its 

 twelve eggs at the end of a gopher's burrow in a bank along 

 the side of a snjall lake one mile north of Rush Lake. An- 

 other clutch of ten eggs was taken out of a hole in a tree at 

 Oak Lake, Manitoba, Maj 25th, 1890. The eggs are more 

 rounded than those of any other duck. The eggs of the 

 buffle-head are larger than those of the teal and of a darker 

 and warmer tint." The Ottawa Museum contains eight 

 specimens, but no eggs, of this species ! 



154. Old Sqttaw — Harelda hyemalis (Linn.). 



This duck seems to be a more distinctively Arctic and 

 sea-coast breeding bird than the pintail (Dafila acuta), or 

 indeed any other of the family. In proceeding to and 

 returning from its favourite breeding grounds it is frequently 

 met with in very large numbers, while it is particularly 

 abundant along the northern, shores of continental Canadian 

 America, We often observed thousands of the " old squaw " 

 apparently feeding and otherwise disporting themselves in 

 the sea-water of Franklin Bay. In course of our five years' 

 residence at Fort Anderson considerably over one hundred 

 nests were taken, and the number of eggs found in them 

 varied between fiive and seven. In its construction the nest 

 generally very much resembles that of the pintail. From 

 personal observation, also, I have come to the conclusion 

 that the usual quantity of down necessary for a duck's nest 

 is seldom met with before a full set of eggs has been de- 

 posited, and that the process of lining it with down, which 

 is plucked off from the female, goes on simultaneously with 

 their laying. 



In the aforesaid paper on " Arctic Birds and Eggs," pub- 



