190S.] 



BIRDS. 



355 



Russell took a number of specimens in the late summer and the 

 autumn of 1893 at Fort Rae, where he reported it the commonest 

 representative of the order. After the arrival of the ptarmigan from 

 the north about the 1st of October, the goshawks preyed principally 

 upon them.« Macoun states that Spreadborough found the species 

 not uncommon and evidently breeding at Edmonton, Alberta, in 

 June, 1897;^ and records, on the authority of Raine, a set of three 

 eggs taken by Doctor George in northern [now central] Alberta, May 



10, 1894.'- 



Eggs, collected with the female parent at the Hudson's Bay Com- 

 pany post on Pelican Lake, eastern Saskatchewan, in April, 1891, by 

 Daniel Thomas, were received by the National Museum through 

 ^lacFarlane. J. Alden Loring reported the species common in the 

 foothills of the Rockies west of Edmonton, Alberta, in the early 

 autumn of 1895. 



Buteo borealis calurus Cass. Western Red-tailed Hawk. 



This powerful hawk occurs throughout the region north to the 

 limit of trees. . In the spring of 1901 one was seen on the road near 

 Sturgeon River May 1. The species was next noted near the outlet 

 of Athabaska Lake June 2, when a pair was observed, and another 

 pair was seen near the mouth of the Peace June 6. Single birds 

 were observed 10 miles below the Peace June 6, 25 miles below 

 June 13, and near Fort Smith June 24. At a point on Slave River 

 100 miles below Fort Smith a pair was seen July 1, and their nest, 

 which contained young, was discovered in a large balsam poplar 

 near the river. One or two single birds were observed not far below 

 here on the following day. On our return trip, single birds were 

 seen at Fort McMurray August 12, below Pelican Rapid August 

 23, near La Biche River August 27, and 50 miles north of Edmon- 

 ton September 2. 



In 1903 we first noted this species near Athabaska Landing May 



11, and again near that place May 15. We next saw it on the Atha- 

 baska 50 miles below the Landing May 17, and observed a melanistic 

 individual a few miles farther down on the following day. We saw 

 a pair near the outlet of Athabaska Lake June 5, and a single one 

 near the mouth of the Peace June 9. A nest was found on an island 

 a feAv miles below Fort Smith June 15, and the male, a melanistic 

 bird, secured. The female was seen to be normally colored. The 

 species was noted between there and Fort Resolution on June 16, 

 18, and 19. My brother and Cary observed it at Fort Simpson July 

 10 and at Nahanni River July 12. On their return trip they fre- 



« Expl. in Far North, pp. 86, 261, 1898. 



^ Cat- Canadian Birds, Part II, p. 227, 1003. 



^ Ibid., p. 229, 1903. 



