1908.] 



BIRDS. 



371 



male in a dense thicket of small spruces. The species was not else- 

 where detected during that season. 



In the spring of 1903 this species was first noted about 20 miles 

 south of Athabaska Landing on the evening of May 14. During my 

 trip northward from Fort Eae to Great Bear Lake I saw single 

 birds on Lake Hardisty August 18, and a few miles north of there on 

 the following day. I saw one at Fort Franklin September 20, and 

 one near the head of Bear River September 28, both during the mid- 

 dle of the day. The species was last seen on the Mackenzie, 10 miles 

 above Gravel Eiver, October 1, when a single bird was seen perched 

 on a dead tree beside the river. 



In a small collection recently received from J, W. Mills are two 

 specimens, both males, taken at Fort Simpson February 18 and in 

 April. 1905. 



Under the name Strix tencjmolmi^ Richardson mentions two speci- 

 mens of this owl taken in the Rocky jNIountains near the source of 

 Peace River.'^ Ross listed it as being rather rare in the Mackenzie 

 River region, where it wintered, and as having been collected at 

 Fort Simpson.'^ Eggs taken by Ross at Fort Simpson in 1861, after 

 being several times recorded, are referred to by Bendire, as late as 

 1892, as follows : " The only genuine eggs of Richardson's Owl in 

 the U. S. National Museum collection are three collected b}^ Mr. 

 Ross at Fort Simpson * * * on May 4, 1861."^ Baird, Brewer, 

 and Ridgway record skins from Fort Resolution, Fort Rae, Big 

 Island, and Fort Simpson.'^ MacFarlane did not take the species 

 in the Anderson River region, but thinks that he observed it in the 

 country between Fort Good Hope and the Anderson.^ In some notes 

 recently sent me he states that one was shot at Fond du Lac, Atha- 

 baska Lake, in Ma3^ 1885. 



Glaux acadica (Gmel.). Saw- whet Owl. 



AVe heard the notes of several of these birds a few miles north of 

 Edmonton during the evening of May 30, 1901. On our return trip, 

 Avhile encamped on the Athabaska near Big Mouth Brook, on the 

 night of August 26, we again heard the notes of this species several 

 times. Macoun records specimens taken at Edmonton, Alberta, by 

 vSpTea dborougli. ^ 



« Fauna Boreali-Americana, II, p. 96, 1831. 



*Xat. Hist. Rev., II (second ser.), p. 277, 1862. 



'■\AU Hist. X. A. Birds [I], p. 349, 1892. 



^ Hist. N. A. Birds, Land Birds, III, p. 42, 1874. 



^ Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., XIV, p. 437, 1891. 



^ Cat. Canadian Birds, Part II, p. 274, 1903. 



