380 THEOUGH THE MACKENZIE BASIN 



other nest, holding four eggs, was taken in the same locality 

 and from a similar position. Mr. Dalgleish eventually 

 hecame possessor of all of these specimens. At Eort St. 

 James, on 1st June, 1889, a nest with seven perfectly fresh 

 eggs was discovered in a tree-hole at a height of seven feet. 

 Parent was shot. In his receipt thereof Major Bendire 

 remarked that " she was a very peculiarly marked bird." 

 Erom Cumberland House, season 1890, a set of four eggs, 

 and in 1891 as many as twenty-eight eggs, most of which 

 were gathered by Mr. Henry McKay, of Pelican Narrows, 

 were sent to Washington — a couple of skins accompanied 

 them. Major Bendire's remarks under this heading are 

 worthy of reproduction herein : " The breeding range of the 

 flicker is more extensive than that of any other member of 

 this family found on the North American continent, ranging 

 from about latitude 2'8° in Florida to Eort Anderson, British 

 North America, in latitude 68° 30' north, and probably still 

 farther north. Here Mr. E. MacEarlane reports it as by no 

 means scarce in the valley of the Anderson Eiver; but as 

 its eggs were not in demand, very few indeed were gath- 

 ered for transmission to Washington. It probably breeds 

 throughout Alaska. Both Messrs. J. Lockhart and Eobert 

 Kennicott forwarded skins and eggs from Eort Yukon, which 

 are now in the U. S. National Museum collection, and it has 

 been taken within a few miles of the coast in Behring 

 Strait." " One of the most western breeding records known 

 to me is that furnished by Mr. MacEarlane, from Eort St. 

 James, B.C., who found the fliicker not uncommon there. 

 Both skins and eggs (as above noted) were taken in the sum- 

 mer of 1889, having been forwarded by him to the United 

 States National Museum. The flicker is also one of the 

 most social of our woodpeckers, and is apparently always 

 on good terms with its neighbours. Birds which migrate 

 usually return to their summer homes early in April, and 

 occasionally even in March, and one will not have to go far 

 then without hearing some of its many and rather melodious 



