382 THEOUGH THE MACKEl^ZIE BASIN 



heard its pectiliar call at many points south of that place, 

 while I discovered a nest thereof containing two eggs on the 

 banks of the Clearwater, one of the principal tributaries 

 of the Athabasca Eiver, in the end, of June, 1873. The nest 

 was a natural depression in the ground lined with a few 

 withered leaves. Major Bendire found the " egg shell strong, 

 close-grained and generally moderately glossy ; in shape they 

 vary from elliptical ovate to elliptical oval, the former pre- 

 vailing in the majority,' one end being a trifle smaller than 

 the other. Their ground colour is quite variable, and ranges 

 from a creamy white through different shades of cream, olive- 

 buff, and olive-gray, and they are profusely blotched and 

 speckled with different shades of slate, black, drab, smoke, 

 and lilac gray, and tawny olive mixed with lighter shades 

 of pearl-gray, lavender, and plumbeous. In some specimens 

 the markings are fine and uniform in size, almost obscuring 

 the ground colour ; in others they are less numerous but large 

 and prominent. There is an endless variation in their mark- 

 ings. Scarcely any two sets resemble each other closely, and 

 I consider the egg of the night hawk one of the most difficult 

 ones known to me to describe satisfactorily." 



The Ottawa Museum contains two skin specimens taken 

 at Ottawa by Mr. G. E. White, and one set of two eggs taken 

 from roof of house 374 Gilmour Street, Ottawa, June 12th, 

 1895, by Mr. E. H. A. Hunter; another set of two eggs 

 taken on bare rock in the township of Methuen, Peterboro' 

 County, Ontario, by Mr. J. Keele, June 3rd, 1899. 



420a. Westben Night Hawk — Chordeiles virginianus 

 henryii (Cassin). 



On June 17th, 1889, Mr. Charles Ogden, then in charge 

 of Fort George, Eraser Eiver, B.C., found a nest in a small 

 cavity in the ground, lined with a few withered leaves and 

 containing two eggs, the contents of which were fairly fresh. 

 Another nest with eggs was obtained near Fort St. James, 

 Stuart's Lake, about the same time. Both sets and a bird 



