396 



XOETH AMERICAN FAUNA. 



[no. 



Sault Rapid, where many were heard as we paddled along during the 

 early morning hours of June 18. It was noted also near Sans Sault 

 Rapid June 19. At Fort Good Hope it was rather common in the 

 willow and alder thickets June 21 to 24, and several specimens, includ- 

 ing both sexes, were taken. After leaving this place I noted it below 

 Fort Good Hope June 25, and found it rather common on the lower 

 Peel July 1. At Fort McPherson I noted it nearly every day during 

 the earhv part of July, and took a nest, together with the female 

 parent, on July 8. The nest was built in a low bush and contained 

 four fresh eggs. It is rather bulky, being 4 inches in diameter by 3 

 inches high, and is rather loosely constructed of coarse grass and 

 some white cottony substance, and lined with fine grass. While 

 ascending the Mackenzie on my return trip I saw an individual at 

 Birch Island, about 90 miles below Fort "^Vrigley, July 21. 



All specimens from this region being referable to the eastern race 

 {E. t. alnorum). early references to j^usillus and trailli are assumed 

 to refer to this form. Richardson recorded TyramviJa pusRJa from 

 Fort Simpson." This species was afterwards taken at that place by 

 Ross, who considered it rare.^ Under the name Emindonax pusillus 

 tmillii^ then applied to the eastern form, Bendire records eggs taken, 

 together with the parent birds, at Fort Resolution.^ A skin from 

 the latter place, collected June 30, 1865, and one from Fort Simpson, 

 taken in June. 1861, are still in the Xational Museum. A male taken 

 by Loring on the Jasper House trail, about 100 miles west of Edmon- 

 ton, May 30, 1896, also agrees with specimens from the type locality 

 of E. t. aJnorum. Macoun states that J. M. Macoun took one and saw 

 others at [the mouth of] Lesser Slave River May 23, 1888, and that 

 Spreadborough first noted it at Edmonton May 26, 1897, and found 

 it common by June 2.^^ 



Empidonax minimus Baird. Least Flycatcher. 



This diminutive flycatcher is extremely abundant in the Atha- 

 baska Valle^^ and extends northward on the Mackenzie at least to the 

 vicinity of Fort Xorman. 



In the spring of 1901 the least flycatcher was first seen at Point 

 La Brie, near Fort Chipewyan, May 27, and was again noted May 29. 

 Two were taken at our camp near the outlet of Athabaska Lake, June 



I. The species was common 10 miles below Peace River, June 7 to 



II, and several nests were found. One collected June 10 contained 

 four eggs in which incubation had begun. At Smith Landing it was 

 found to be common June 13 to 18, several being taken, and it was 



« Aun. and Mag, Nat. Hist, XI, p. 484, 1843. 

 ^Xat. Hist. Rev., II (second ser.), p. 278, 1862. 



Life Hist. X. A. Birds [II], p. 310, 1896. 

 ^ Cat. Canadian Birds, Part II, 354, 1903. 



