CANVAS-BACK 123 



DISTRIBUTION 



Breeding Range 



The Canvas-back, perhaps our best-known American duck, has a distribution very similar to that of 



its relative, the Red-head, though more extended both to the north and to the south. There is one 



record of a specimen having been taken on May 18, 1917, on St. George Island in the p r i D n 0VS 



Pribilov group (G. D. Hanna, 1920) and Dall and Bannister (1869) state that they 



Alaska 

 found the Canvas-back breeding in some numbers at Fort Yukon (?). Specimens have 



been taken at Juneau and Sitka, and in the interior the species has been reported as nesting in some 

 numbers near Fort Anderson, 68° 30' north latitude (R. MacFarlane, 1908) ! It is of irregular occur- 

 rence in the basin of the MacKenzie (ibid.) but has been taken at Fort Simpson, Fort Northern 

 Rae, Fort Providence and Fort Resolution on Great Slave Lake (U.S. Biological Canada 

 Survey; R. MacFarlane, 1908). Everywhere in the region south of Great Slave Lake it is common 

 (Preble, 1908). It is probably a nesting bird in suitable localities throughout British Columbia, 

 south to Lumby and Grand Forks; in the Cariboo region it is a common breeder (A. British 

 Brooks, 1903, 1920). Northern Alberta is, perhaps, the center of abundance in the Columbia 

 breeding season. On the Lesser Slave Lake and Peace River it is abundant (Preble, ... . 

 1908; J. and J. M. Macoun, 1909) and the same is true of the delta of the Athabasca 

 and the western end of Lake Athabasca (R. MacFarlane, 1908; Seton, 1911; Harper, MS.) though 

 specimens have been seen on Otherside River at the east end of the lake too (Harper, MS.). In cen- 

 tral Alberta it appears to be less numerous (Stansell, 1909) though it nests in tolerable numbers about 

 Edmonton (Preble, 1908; Spreadborough,^de J. and J. M. Macoun, 1909; Soper, 1918; A. Wolfe, in 

 litt.), and at Buffalo Lake (C. B. Horsbrugh, 1915). In eastern Alberta, W. S. Brooks and Cobb (1911) 

 found it a rather common breeder. Our information as to its status in Saskatchewan is Saskatch- 

 very meager. Raine (1892) and Bent (1907) found it a common nester at Crane Lake, in ewan 

 the southwest, and Ferry (1910) states that it breeds abundantly at Prince Albert and Quill Lake in 

 the central part. R. MacFarlane (1908) reports nests taken at Moose Lake in the Cumberland region. 

 In Manitoba the breeding range seems to include only the western part and even there „ ... 

 the species does not appear ever to have been abundant (E. E. Thompson, 1891). At 

 present its numbers are undoubtedly reduced, but a few are still occasionally seen in spring at Shoal 

 Lake (Taverner, 1919). Preble (1902) saw the species in summer at the mouth of the Saskatchewan. 

 In the United States the breeding range is very limited and is restricted to the western parts. I 

 find no definite evidence of its nesting in Washington or in California, though W. L. United 

 Dawson and Bowles (1909) state that it nests rarely on the east side of the Cascades States 

 and A. H. Clark (1910) found it common in May near Port Townsend, Puget Sound, Pacific 

 though these birds doubtless were migrants. According to Bendire (1877) it is a com- &ta1:es 

 mon breeding bird about Bear Creek in the Blue Mountains, Oregon, and Woodcock (1902) reports 

 it nesting near Haines in the same State. A. A. Saunders (1921) gives breeding records for Malta, 

 Yellowstone and Stillwater, Montana, but there is as yet no record of its nesting in Montana 

 either Idaho or Wyoming. It has been known to breed at Pyramid Lake, Nevada ^ . 

 (Cooke, 1906) and is not uncommon in Humboldt County in May and June (W. C. 

 Hanna, 1904). It has also been recorded as nesting in Utah (U.S. Biological Survey), 

 and is known to nest sparingly about Barr Lake, Colorado (Felger, 1909; L. J. Hersey 

 and Rockwell, 1909). Wetmore (1920) saw specimens at Lake Burford, New Mexico, tj|- ew . 

 in the breeding season and thinks that they undoubtedly nest there, while Nordhoff 

 (1922), who is of the opinion that some numbers nest in the mountain lakes, states that he saw them 

 nesting in Colfax County, New Mexico! McCauley (1877) met with specimens in the Red River 

 canyon, western Texas, on May 24, and Villada (1891-92) asserts that the species is f exas 

 resident in the Valle de Mexico, but a few non-breeding ducks may often be found in 

 summer in very distant wintering grounds. 



