328 THROUGH THE MAGKEISTZIE BASIJST 



and female parent skin also aocompanied the thirteen eggs, 

 which were forwarded and duly receipted at Washington. 

 Mr. Eoss says its northern limit is Eort Simpson, Mackenzie 

 River. 



Reported as common in British Columbia, but only one 

 specimen is recorded by ISTelson as taken in Alaska. 



Professor Macoun, in course of an hour's wading in a 

 marsh at Crane Lake, discovered eighteen nests of this coot, 

 nearly all of which contained eleven eggs. Erom ten to 

 twelve was the usual number. The young hatch out very 

 irregularly, and as fast as they come from the shell they 

 leave the nest and take to the water. The nests were all 

 made of the dead Scirpus and lined with the broad leaves of 

 the Carex. The Dominion Museum collection contains one 

 skin, taken in a Toronto marsh, and two others taken at Kam- 

 loops, B. C, by Mr. W. Spreadborough. Also a set of twelve 

 eggs, and one of six eggs of the coot, and two of the lesser 

 scaup, all taken by Mr. Dippie, in 1896, and presented by 

 him to the Museum. 



225. Ameeicakt Avoci^T—Recurvirostra americana (Linn.). 



This species evidently breeds in the Cumberland District, 

 as example bird-skins were obtained at Moose Lake and the 

 Pas posts, and they were duly forwarded to "Washington. 

 The late Chief Eactor L. Clarke took a nest of eggs at Eort 

 Rae, Great Slave Lake, about 1861. 



Mr. Spreadborough says that " the nest, in nearly every 

 case, was a shallow depression in the sand between three or 

 four stones, a,nd was lined with a few pieces of grass. The 

 chief nesting places are on the borders of alkali ponds, and 

 the nest is always near the water. Breeding generally com- 

 mences the last week in May, and the young leave the nest 

 as soon as hatched." The National Museum at Ottawa 

 contains eight fine specimens, all taken at Indian Head in 

 the spring of 1892 by Mr. W. Spreadborough. Also many 

 eggs from Crane Lake taken by that gentleman, and one set 



