444 THEOUGH THE MACKENZIE BASIN 



Hudson Bay. This curlew feeds on grubs, fresh water 

 insects and the fruit of Empetrum nigrum, according to 

 Kichardson, who, on 13th June, 1822, found one hatching 

 on three eggs on the shore of Point Lake, north of Great 

 Slave Lake — the " winter quarters " of the celebrated Sir 

 John Eranklin and his party, on his first deplorably unfor- 

 tunate overland expedition to the Arctic coast of continental 

 North America. There are but two bird specimens (and no 

 eggs), said to have been taken on Toronto Island, Ontario, in 

 1864, and later purchased with the Holman collection, in 

 the Dominion Museum at Ottawa. 



364. Amekican Ospbey — Pandion haliaetus caroUnensis 

 (Gmelin). 



If this species does not extend quite to Fort Anderson 

 I feel satisfied that I have seen more than one individual 

 bird, though not sufficiently near to be shot, between that 

 post and Fort Good Hope, on the Mackenzie River. Mr. 

 B. ,.R. Boss obtained skins and eggs thereof at Great Slave 

 Lake. In Alaska it is well known to attain a very high 

 latitude, its eggs having been secured at Fort Yukon by Mr. 

 James Lockhart, as well as by Messrs. Strachan Jones and 

 James Sibbiston at other points in Alaska, in about latitude 

 67° north. A couple of those taken by Mr. Lockhart on 27th 

 June were nearly fresh. The osprey generally builds its 

 nest on tall trees, but sometimes also on high rocky cliffs. It 

 is usually quite a big structure and there is but one brood 

 raised in a season. " They subsist almost entirely on fish 

 not commonly used for the table. Incubation is said to last 

 about twenty-one days, but Major Bendire was inclined to 

 think that it was nearer twenty-eight. The usual number 

 of eggs to a set is three, occasionally only two, and seldom 

 four. They are among the handsomest laid by the raptores 

 and subject to an endless variation in colour, markings and 

 size. They are deposited at intervals of one or two days 

 and the shell is strong and minutely granulated. They vary 



