420 THEOUGH THE MACKEE^ZIE BASUST 



1889. It contained four eggs. The female parent was well 

 seen and is fully believed to have been a bird of this species. 

 A male example was also shot near Stuart's Lake the same 

 season. On 10th July, 1890, a nest holding three eggs was 

 discovered on a spruce tree near Cumberland House, and 

 one of its owners was shot in the immediate vicinity. There 

 is reason for the opinion that the cedar, as well as the Bohe- 

 mian waxwing, both breed at Pelican Narrows and elsewhere 

 in the Cumberland District. Common in British Columbia. 

 Mr. J. M. Macoun observed numbers of them in the English 

 River District, while the Peace River would appear to be the 

 limit of their northen range. The Ottawa Museum holds 

 thirteen specimens and but one set of four eggs taken in that 

 city! 



621. ISToETHEEN Sheike — Lanius horealis Viell. 



This species is not represented in my Athabasca, New 

 Caledonia and Cumberland collections now under review, 

 and yet it is a summer resident in these great sections of 

 Western Canada. But at Port Anderson, on 11th June, 

 1863, however, an interesting example of a nest containing 

 six eggs was taken from a spruce tree, at a height of seven 

 feet from the ground. " It is in many respects in striking 

 contrast with the nests of its kindred species of the Southern 

 States of the Union, far exceeding them in its relative size, 

 in elaborate finish, and warmth. It is altogether a remark- 

 able example of what is known as felted nests, whose various 

 materials are most elaborately matted together into a homo- 

 geneous and symmetrical whole. It is seven inches in diam- 

 eter and three and one half in height. The cavity is 

 proportionately large and deep, having a diameter of four 

 and one-half inches and a depth of two. Except the base, 

 which is composed of a few twigs and stalks of coarse plants, 

 the nest is made entirely of soft and warm materials most 

 elaborately interworked together. These materials are 

 feathers from various birds, fine down of the eider and 



