08 THE BIOLOGICAL REVIEW. 



first left the nest, that it was a Nashville Warbler (Helmintho- 

 phila ruficapilla), but trying my best I could not get a good- 

 look at her ; so I left the place and in a few hours returned, but 

 with the same result ; the bird was so very shy and cunning,, 

 and there was so much cover about, that positive identification 

 was impossible. And so I left her until it was quite dark, and,, 

 taking a small landing net in my hand, I crept cautiously and 

 softly on my hands and knees until within a short distance of 

 the nest, when I threw the net over it and caught, as I fully 

 expected, a 9 Nashville Warbler. 



This is the first time that I have known this bird to stay and 

 nest with us. They are not uncommon in the spring season, 

 early in May, but usually they do not stay but a few days,, 

 disappearing towards their general nesting grounds to the-- 

 north of us. 



BREEDING NOTES OF BIRDS AT PRINCE 



ALBERT, N. W. T. 



Scoleocophagus cyanocephahis (Brewer's Blackbird). — This is 

 by far the commonest of all the Grackles found here, and is- 

 usually seen along the roads in company with the Cowbird 

 (Molothrus ater), with whom they much associate, being in fact 

 almost identical in habits, feeding on the same kind of ground 

 and showing a marked preference for the society of cattle or 

 land on which stock has been feeding. 



Though so common a summer resident, I only found one nest 

 of this species, but that may be for want of more diligent search- 

 ing. While collecting on the prairie one day in the latter part 

 of June of 1892, I flushed a female off her nest on the ground,, 

 and as I was desirous of identifying the bird, I shot her as she- 

 was hovering overhead. 



The nest was placed in a very open and exposed position,, 

 about twenty yards from a small pond and bluff of poplars. It 

 was composed entirely of dead grass, and embedded quite to its- 

 rim in the ground and had no protection or covering of grass or 

 plants of any kind. 



