442 THROUGH THE MACKENZIE BASIN" 



Xockhart many years ago secured both skins and eggs thereof. 

 On the 15th of June, 1897, Professor Macoun came upon 

 a small flock at a grassy pond in Alberta, about thirty miles 

 from Calgary and near the foothills of the Rocky Moun- 

 tains, and from the actions of the birds it seemed certain that 

 they were breeding, but no nests were found. The Museum 

 at Ottawa contains seven skin specimens and one set of eggs 

 taken at Fort George, James Bay, Hudson Bay, in June, 

 1888, by Chief Trader Miles Spencer of the Hudson's Bay 

 Company's service. 



262. BuFF-BEEASTED Sawdpipee — Tryngites subruficollis 



(VieilL). 



This species is common in the Barren Grounds east of 

 the Wilmot Horton River and on the Arctic coast. Between 

 the 26th of June and the 9th of July upwards of twenty sets 

 of eggs were taken, and there were four in every nest, which 

 was but a slight depression in the soil scantily lined with 

 with^ed leaves and dried grasses. When the nest was 

 approached the female parent usually made a low flight to 

 a short distance. On the Mackenzie Mr. Ross reports this 

 bird to be rare. Mr. Murdoch found it common at Point 

 Barrow, where one of the nests found by him contained five 

 eggs, while Mr. Nelson saw but few specimens at the Yukon 

 mouth. On the other hand, Mr. Eannin states that it is 

 tolerably common throughout British Columbia and also a 

 resident. There are no eggs and only one skin, purchased 

 with the Holman collection, said to have been taken at 

 Toronto, Ontario, in the National Museum at the Dominion 

 capital. 



265. HuDsoNiAN Ctielew — Numenius Hudsonicus Latham. 



We never came across this curlew on our several eastern 

 collecting expeditions from Eort Anderson to Eranklin Bay, 

 nor on the Arctic coast itself, but on the other hand it must 

 be fairly abundant in the "Barrens" to the west of the 



