1908.] 



BIRDS. 



357 



was obtained also by Ross on the Mackenzie." Ross, however, does 

 not ajDpear to have taken specimens and may have been mistaken as 

 to the species. 



Buteo platypterus (YieilL). Broad- winged Hawk. 



Apparently a regular summer inhabitant of the southern part of 

 the Athabaska region. On May 8, 1903, we saw one in the wooded 

 valley of the Saskatchewan near Edmonton. It was in suspicious 

 proximity to an old nest and possibly intended to reoccupy it. 

 Alfred E. Preble and Merritt Gary saw one on the Athabaska a few- 

 miles above Athabaska Landing on September 5 of the same year. 



J. Alden Loring found a nest of this species on the Jasper House 

 trail 12 miles west of Ste. Anne, Alberta, Ma}^ 27, 1896. It was in 

 the crotch of a poplar about 4:0 feet from the ground, was loosely con- 

 structed of dr}^ twigs, with a lining of green leaves, and contained 

 two eggs. The female was shot as she left the nest and is now in 

 the Biological Survey collection. 



Archibuteo lagopus sancti-johannis (Gmel.). American Rough-leggecl 

 Hawk. 



This Arctic species has oeen recorded from various points in the 

 region now under consideration. It probably breeds throughout this 

 area, though most abundantly in its northern portion. In the spring 

 of 1901 single birds were seen 10 miles north of Edmonton, May 1 ; 

 on the Athabaska below Fort McMurray, May 14 ; and on the Quatre 

 Fourches marsh, near Fort Chipewyan, May 24. 



The species was noted near Sturgeon River May 12, 1903, when 

 two birds w-ere seen. It w^as next observed on Great Bear Lake to 

 the eastward of Mc Vicar Bay, where I saw two individuals on Sep- 

 tember 8. I observed several while descending Bear River, Sep- 

 tember 29 and 30, and while ascending the Mackenzie from Fort 

 Norman noted these birds daily, October 1 to 16, moving southward 

 along the valley. The latter date, when the cold had increased so that 

 the ice had begun to drift freely in the river, seemed to mark the de- 

 parture of this and several other species, and the bird was last noted 

 at this time, 50 miles north of Fort Simpson. While ascending the 

 Athabaska the same autumn, my brother and Gary saw several be- 

 tween Quito River and La Biche River, August 27 to 29. They 

 found it common about Athabaska Landing, September 1 to 15, and 

 on the Edmonton trail between the Landing and Lily Lake, Septem- 

 ber 21 to 24, noting many immature birds. Though so common in the 

 valley of the Mackenzie in autumn, this species must perform its 

 spring migration by some other route, since during the spring of 1904 

 only two individuals were seen, on April 28 and May 3. at Fort 

 Simpson. 



a Hist. N. A. Birds, Land Birds, III, pp. 264, 269, 1874. 



