368 THROUGH THE MACKEl^ZIE BASIN 



specimen many years ago. The number of eggs laid by 

 this species seems to vary from three to seven — the latter 

 mimber is rare, however, five and four being the number most 

 commonly found." Personally he examined some forty nests, 

 and in no case did he find over five eggs to a set. They are 

 deposited at intervals of a day. Their shape varies greatly, 

 the majority ranging from a rounded ovate to an oval, and a 

 few may be called elliptical ovate. A very peculiarly shaped 

 set in the U. S. l^ational Museum collection he would call 

 blunt cuneiform. The ground colour of these eggs ranges 

 from a pure clear white in a few instances to pale bufE or 

 cream colour in the majority, and to a light cinnamon rufous 

 in a few others. They are spotted, blotched, marbled, and 

 sprinkled with different shades of walnut brown, chestnut, 

 cinnamon rufous, and ochraceous in various patterns; fre- 

 quently these markings are confluent, predominating in some 

 specimens on either end; in others they are heaviest in the 

 centre, forming a wreath. Mixed among the various tints 

 a few eggs show handsome lavender coloured shell markings. 

 Scarcely any two sets are exactly alike. In some the mark- 

 ings are regular and minute, in others they are coarse and 

 bold, and occasionally a specimen is entirely unmarked, being 

 pure white throughout. He found two such eggs among 

 first sets. There are but two skins, and no eggs, in the 

 Ottawa collection! 



371. RicHAEDSoisr's Owl — Cryptoglaux tengmalmi richard- 

 soni (Bonap.). 



In the month of May, 1885, an example of this owl was 

 shot at Eond du Lac, Athabasca, which was later on for- 

 warded to Dr. Bell. An owl very like this one was repeat- 

 edly observed by us in the forest region situated between 

 Eort Good Hope and Eort Anderson. Up to 1892, " the 

 only genuine eggs of Richardson's owl in the U. S. iN^ational 

 Mueeum collection are three collected by Chief Trader B. R. 

 Ross at Fort Simpson, Mackenzie River, in latitude 62° 



