316 TKROUGH THE MACKENZIE BASIl^ 



and while the females annually observed by us greatly pre- 

 dominated in numbers, the males were exceedingly wary 

 and kept well beyond gunfire. The Ottawa Museum con- 

 tains but one skin, procured at York Factory, Hudson Bay, 

 by Dr. Bell, and seven eggs taken in Hudson Strait and in 

 Labrador, in 1885 and in 1897 ! 



163. Ameeicais^ Scotee — Oidemia americana (Swains, and 



Eich.). 



Two males and one female of this species were procured 

 by the late Mr. James Flett, the manager of Fort Kesolu- 

 tion, Great Slave Lake, two of them from Fond du Lac, and 

 the other was shot at the post in the spring of 1885, and the 

 skins of both sets were duly forwarded to Dr. R. Bell. On 

 the 28th May, 1891, Mr. Joseph Hourston, the clerk .in 

 charge of Lac du Brochet post, at the north end of E«indeer 

 Lake, Cumberland District, also shot a bird, and while this 

 scoter is not particularly abundant in that region at any 

 period of the season, it probably breeds in the country tO' 

 the northward of that large body of fresh water. We have 

 much reason, however, to assume that it bred annually in 

 the Anderson River District, where it had been occasionally 

 seen by the natives. On June 17th Mr. Dall found a nest 

 at the mouth of the Yukon, in a bunch of willows on a small 

 island, with two white and rather large eggs. Was well lined 

 with grass, leaves, moss, and feathers. Ottawa Museum 

 has two skins, but no eggs, of this duck ! 



165. White-wiitged Scotee — Oidemia deglandi (Bonap.). 



A couple of skins of the velvet duck, received from Mr. 

 Hourston, of Lac du Brochet, Reindeer Lake, were forwarded 

 to Dr. Bell in 1886. This species, in all probability, breeds 

 in the northern section of Cumberland, as well as in the 

 Districts of Athabasca, New Caledonia, and British Colum- 

 bia. It also breeds in large numbers throughout the Arctic 

 region, as several nests were found in the " Barrens," some 



