334 THEOUGH THE MACKENZIE BASm 



251. HuDSONiAN GoDWiT — lAniosa hcemastica (Linn.). 



In the above-mentioned Cumberland Collection of 1890, 

 a male godwit figures under No. 53, which was shot by Mr. 

 Edward Haight, at that time in charge of the Company's 

 post at Pas Mountain, Cumberland. Not very common in 

 Arctic America, where several nests were found near the Fort 

 and on the lower Anderson Eiver. They were all mere de- 

 pressions or small holes scooped out in the soil, lined with 

 decayed leaves, and in almost every instance the set num- 

 ber of eggs was four. A description of these somewhat rare 

 specimens may not prove out of place in this work: 



" Three of the eggs received from the Anderson are now 

 in the Smithsonian Collection. In two of these the ground 

 is of a deep raw umber colour or an olivaceous drab. There 

 are no well defined spots, but the apex of the larger 

 end is deeply stained with a dark burnt umber colour. A 

 few very indistinct spots of a paler shade of this tint are 

 visible over the general surface of the eggs. The other egg 

 has a ground colour of a paler umber drab, and the mark- 

 ings are quite distinct. These are small, irregular blotches, 

 longitudinal in their direction, and of a deep burnt umber 

 tint. The apex of the larger end is covered by a broad patch 

 in which all the markings are of a very dark umber, almost 

 black, and run into each other." The Canadian Museum at 

 Ottawa holds one specimen, taken on Toronto Island in 

 1865, purchased with the Holman Collection, and two taken 

 by Mr. W. Spreadborough at Indian Head in May, 1892, 

 but no eggs ! 



254. Geeatee Yellow-legs — Totanus melanoleucus 

 (Gmelin). 



At Fort St. James, Stuart's Lake, on the 31st of May, 

 1889, an Indian brought in the female parent and six eggs, 

 which he stoutly asserted having found in the nest, a mere 

 depression in the ground, situated on th« margin of a small 

 lakelet and lined with a few withered grasses and leaves. 

 The bird was shot in its immediate vicinity. Unfortunately 



