190S. ] 



BIRDS. 



385 



a favorite nesting j^lace. I saw another on May 12. and 4: on May 14. 

 During the remainder of the month I frequently observed the 

 species. At AYillow Eiver, near Fort Providence, J. W. Mills 

 and H. AV. Jones collected a series of specimens during the same 

 month, taking the first on May 12. and noting the first female on May 

 IT. On June 2 and 3, while descending the Mackenzie by canoe, I 

 found the bird common along its banks between Fort Simpson and 

 Xahanni River, and I again noted it near the latter place on June 

 5. On my return trip I observed it on Smith Portage August 4, 

 and found both old and young common at Fort McMurray August 

 11 to 14, and 25 miles above Pelican Portage August 28. 



A specimen taken at Fort Eae some years ago is in the museum at 

 Fort Simpson. Several specimens, taken by Mills and Jones near 

 Fort Providence May 13 to 19, 1905, have been received by the Bio- 

 logical Surve3\ 



Eoss recorded this species as common in the Mackenzie Eiver re- 

 gion north to Fort Simpson, and as having been taken at that post.® 

 About the same time many were sent to the Smithsonian Institution 

 by various officers of the Hudson's Bay Company. The following 

 specimens, representing both sexes, are still in the collection: Two 

 from Fort Simpson, May 21, 1860, and June, 1861, Eoss; and one from 

 each of the following localities, the dates not given — Xahanni Moun- 

 tains, 100 miles northwe>t of Fort Simpson ; Fort Eae ; Fort Eesolu- 

 tion ; and Big Island, ^lacoun states that J. M. Macoun, in the sum- 

 mer of 1888, found this species common along the Lesh-er Slave and 

 Athabaska rivers between Lesser Slave Lake and Fort McMurray, 

 and along the Clearwater, and that Spreadborough noted its arrival 

 at Edmonton on May 3 | probably in 1897].'^ 



In 1806 J. Alden Loring reported yellow-bellied woodpeckers com- 

 mon along the trail between Edmonton and the foothills, but did not 

 observe any after entering the mountains. 



Phloeotomus pileatus abieticola (Bangs). Northern Pileated Wood- 

 pecker. 



This woodpecker inhabits the heavy forests along the Athabaska 

 and Slave rivers, and in the vicinity of the Eocky Mountains ranges 

 as far north at least as Liard Eiver. 



In the spring of 1901 I heard the unmistakable notes of this bird 

 below Pelican EiA'er May 9, and again below Little Eed Eiver May 

 15, while we were descending the Athabaska. William GuUion, one 

 of my canoemen, who knew the bird well, saw one near our camp at 



«Xat. Hist. Rev., II (second ser.), p. 27S, 1862. 

 * Cat. Canadian Birds, Part II, p. 311, 1903. 



44131— No. 27—08 25 



