1908.] 



BIKDS. 



437 



every day up to May IT, when the species was recorded for the last 

 thne. It was next seen at Fort McPherson, where it was breeding, 

 early in July. Here I collected adults on July 4 and 7. Two speci- 

 mens taken by H. ^y. Jones at Willow River, near Fort Providence, 

 May 6 and 9, are also referable to this form. J. W. Mills took a 

 female at Willow Eiver on April 30, and males on May 1, 1905. 



Throughout most of the Mackenzie Valley, the Anderson River 

 country, and westward, this is the prevailing form. MacFarlane 

 found it veiy abundant in the Anderson River region, where he dis- 

 covered a large number of nests, recording it under the name a^. 

 montkola.'^ In notes sent to the Smithsonian he states that it was 

 tolerably numerous at Fort Anderson on May 28, 1865. Specimens 

 referable to ochracecv from the following localities are in the National 

 Museum, all being labeled as having been collected with eggs : Three 

 females, Fort Anderson, June 2, 5, and 11, 1862; one fromi the Ander- 

 son River region " near Barren Grounds," June 20 ; one from La 

 Pierre House, June, 1862. Another taken at Fort Simpson, May 15, 

 1860, was apparently a migrant. Macoun states, on the authority of 

 Spreadborough. that it was rare at Edmonton, Alberta, in April, 

 1897, the bulk of the migration having passed; common from the 

 crossing of McLeod River, October 6, 1898, to Edmonton; a few 

 observed at Lesser Slave Lake, and one at Peace River Landing, in 

 June, 1903.'- On the authority of Raine, he records a nest and five 

 eggs found by C. E. Whittaker, June 18, 1900, at Peel River; a nest 

 with five eggs found on the foothills of the Black Mountains (west 

 of the Mackenzie delta) b}^ Stringer, June 13, 1899; and another 

 from the same region taken on June 8 of the same year. The nests 

 Avere placed on the ground and Avere built of dried grass and lined 

 with feathers.'^ 



Spizella passerina arizonae Coues. Western Chipping Sparrow. 



The familiar chipping sparrow, here represented by the western 

 subspecies, occurs in summer in the Mackenzie Valley north to Fort 

 Good Hope, but is rare in the northern portion of its range. In the 

 more elevated country to the eastward of the Mackenzie it is rare or 

 absent north of Great Slave Lake. ^ 



In 1901 we first noted this bird at Fort Chipewyan on May 21, 

 and saw it nearly every day in the vicinity of that post until June 5, 

 collecting several specimens. After leaving the vicinity of Fort 

 Chipewyan we did not again note the bird until we reached Fort 

 Smith, where we found it common June 20 to 28, and took several. 

 A nest found June 25 contained four slightly incubated eggs. While 



« Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., XIY, p. 442, 1891. 

 * Cat. Canadian Birds, Part III, p. 489, 1904. 

 «Ibid., p. 490, 1904. 



