BIRDS OF NORTI-IEEN CANADA ;333 



eggs, which we afterwards learnt were the first and only 

 authenticated examples at that time known to American 

 naturalists. The nest was composed of withered grasses 

 and leaves placed in a small cavity or depression in the 

 ground. The contents of the eggs were quite fresh, and 

 they measured 1.44 inches by 0.95 to 0.99 in breadth, and. 

 their ground colour was a brownish olive marked with faint 

 spots and blotches of bistre. These markings were very 

 generally diffused, but were a little more numerous aboxit 

 the larger ends. They were of an oblong pyriform shape. 

 The parent bird was snared on the nest. It is a very rare 

 bird in the Anderson Kiver country, and we failed to find 

 another nest thereof." Entered as rare in Mr. Ross's Mac- 

 kenzie Eiver List. 



There are four specimens in the Ottawa Museum, — one 

 taken in Toronto by Mr. S. Herring, two at Indian Head 

 in May, 1892, and the fourth at Thirty-mile Spring, near 

 Wood Mountain, June 3rd, 1895, by Mr. W. Spreadborough, 

 but eggs are entirely absent ! 



249. Marbled GoDwiT — Limosafedoa (Linn.). 



Under numbers 41 and 43 of the Smithsonian List of 

 Specimens received from Cumberland District, season 1890, 

 appear two example skins of this godwit, collected, one at 

 Moose Lake and the other at Pelican Narrows, early in the 

 month of June; but we were not so fortunate as to secure 

 any of its eggs. We never met this bird on the Anderson, 

 nor does it appear in Mr. Eoss's referred-to List. 



Professor Macoun says: "We have never succeeded in 

 finding the eggs of this species, but it breeds abundantly in 

 the prairie region between latitudes 51° and 52° north." 

 The Ottawa Museum contains one specimen, purchased with 

 the Holman Collection, and five taken by Mr. Spreadborough 

 at Indian Head, 1892, and Medicine Hat m 1894. Ko 

 eggs! 



