190S.] 



BIKDS. 



377 



on two occasions, taking a bird of the year near Sarahk Lake August 

 6. and noting one on Lake Hardisty August 19. ^'V^iile ascending 

 the Mackenzie I saw one at Eoche Trempe-l'eau October 9. It had 

 in its talons the remains of a ruffed grouse, freshly killed and partly 

 eaten, which it seemed to carr}^ without difficulty. At Fort Simpson 

 on October '24: I took a female bird, the last one observed that season. 



During the coldest months of the winter this bird was not observed, 

 and it was next seen at Fort Simpson on March 28, 1904, when I col- 

 lected a female. This bird swooped upon a flock of redpolls, but 

 failed to secure one, and alighted for an instant on the summit of a 

 small dead tree. I observed single birds on April 5, 14, and 21, 

 securing the last-mentioned individual. A bird seen May 19 dropped 

 a freshly killed meadoAv motise {M'tcrotus druimnoiidi) when started 

 from its perch. AAliile descending the Mackenzie I saw two a short 

 distance below Fort Xorman June 16. and on my return trip observed 

 one at AVrigley Harbor, Desmarais Islands, July 30. 



Two specimens, both females, taken by J. W. Mills at Fort Simp- 

 son October 9, 1904, and February 13, 1905, respectively, have been 

 recently received. 



Richardson first recorded this species from the region, mentioning 

 several killed at Great Bear and Great Slave lakes ; ^ King noted it 

 on Back River, at the cascades above the motith of Baillie River, 

 September 11, 1834;^ Thomas Simpson states that it was taken at 

 Fort Confidence during the winter of 1837-38.^ In 1862 Ross re- 

 corded it as common in the Mackenzie River region north to the 

 Arctic coast, as wintering in the region, and as having been taken at 

 Fort Simpson.'^ ^lacFarlane speaks of it as not uncommon in the 

 Anderson River region, where a number of nests were discovered.^ 

 Baird, Brewer, and Ridgway state that Ross had received eggs of this 

 species from La Pierre Flouse and Salt River, and also describe an 

 egg from Fort Simpson.^ Bendire records nests containing eggs on 

 April 28 and May 2, and one containing young on June 20, 1863, all 

 discovered by MacFarlane in the Anderson River region, also an egg 

 taken by the same collector at Fort Providence April 14, 1885, show- 

 ing that the bird breeds rather early MacFarlane's manuscript cata- 

 logue records also a female taken with six eggs at Fort Anderson on 

 May 24, 1863. The bird catalogue of the National Musetmi records 

 skins received from Fort Resolution, Fort Rae, Big Island, Fort 



« Fauna Boreali- Americana, II, p. 94, 1831. 



^ Narrative .Journey to Arctic Ocean, II, p. 79, 1836. 



^ Narrative of Discoveries on North Coast of America, p. 216, 1843. 



'^Nat. Hist. Rev., II (second ser.), p. 277, 1862. 



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



f Hist. N. A. Birds, Land Birds, III, pp. 77, 78, 1874 



f Life Hist. N. A. Birds [I], p. 394, 1892. 



