BIKDS OF XOKTHERX CAXADA 329 



taken bv Mr. J. B. Tyrrell at Sounding Lake, Alberta, in 

 June, IS 8 6. 



230. WiLsox's S:viPE — GaUinago delicata (Ord). 



There can be no doubt that this snipe breeds on the lower 

 Saskatchewan Eiver, as well as at Pelican Narrows and in 

 the region beyond. An example skin was received and 

 thereafter shipped from Cumberland District in the sum- 

 mer of 1S91. "VTe did not — some forty years ago — find it 

 particularly numerous in the Anderson Kiver country, where 

 only a few nests were found. The nests of all the snipes 

 and sandpipers observed there were much alike in situation, 

 composition and number of eggs. The Anderson collections 

 were made after llr. B. R. Ross's resignation from the 

 charge of the iilackenzie Eiver District in 1862. 



This snipe is widely distributed throughout Western 

 Canada and Alaska. Mr. Alacoun mentions that early in 

 IS 90 he found a nest beside a log in a small bog close to 

 the Canadian Pacific water-tank at Revelstoke, B.C. The 

 nest was close to the water, and anyone walking along 

 the line could see the bird, but she hatched out her young 

 and led them off in safety. The Ottawa Museum holds but 

 four specimens and a few eggs ! — one from Rev. C. J. Young, 

 and the others were received from Mr. Raine. 



232. LoK'G-Bii.LED DowiTCHEE — 2Iacrorhainpus scolopaceus 



(Say). 



Early in June, 1891, an individual specimen was secured 

 at Pelican Xarrows, where stragglers of the species prob- 

 ably breed. In the Anderson River region, however, where 

 it is not abundant, several nests, each holding four eggs, 

 were taken between the 21st of June and the first day 

 of July in the earlier sixties of the last century. M. griseus 

 (Gmelin) is also supposed to be a resident there during the 

 annual season of nidification. Both species are entered in 

 Mr. Ross's List as " rare " on the Mackenzie. 



