478 



NORTH AMERICAN FAUNA. 



[NO. 27. 



Geothlypis trichas occidentalis (Brewst.). Western Yellow-throat. 



This bird seems to be of regular occurrence in suitable places north 

 to Athabaska Lake and the Peace River Valley. In 1901, on my 

 return trip, I saw several individuals, evidently a family party, in a 

 thicket of young growth near Vermilion Creek, 42 miles north of 

 Edmonton, on September 3. 



On June 1, 1903, Merritt Gary observed a singing male in a marsh 

 bordering Athabaska River a few miles above its mouth. 



In the early summer of 189G, J. Alden Loring reported seeing 

 several ^-ellow-throats in the grassy margins of water-courses on the 

 Jasper House trail Avest of Edmonton. 



Macoun, on the authority of Spreadborough, states that this bird 

 was first seen at Edmonton, Alta., May 27, 1897, common and nest- 

 ing in the willows by June 1st ; common from Edmonton to the sum- 

 mit of the Rocky Mountains in Yellowhead Pass in July, 1898, breed- 

 ing in willow thickets on the borders of marshes ; common from Lesser 

 Slave Lake to Peace River Landing, Lat. 56° 15', in June, 1903." 

 He records also 3 specimens taken at Edmonton in May, 1897.^ 



Wiisonia pusilla (Wils.). Wilson Warbler. 



The black-capped warbler apparently occurs throughout the region 

 north to the tree limit. A dearth of specimens from the region 

 makes it difficult to formulate the ranges of the eastern form and its 

 subspecies jnleolata, but the bird breeding over most of this area seems 

 to be referable to the typical form, while the slight amount of evi- 

 dence at hand indicates that the bird of the lower Mackenzie is 

 pileolata. 



In 1901 I saw a single individual at Fort Chipewyan on May 23. 

 I next noted the species a short distance below Grand Rapid, August 

 20, when I saw one in a thicket beside the river. 



In 1903 we observed numbers on the loAver Athabaska on May 31 

 and June 1. In the autumn, while ascending the Athabaska on their 

 return trip, Alfred E. Preble and Merritt Gary obserA^ed the species 

 as f olloAvs : Fort McMurray, August 8 to 11, several seen and one 

 secured; Brule RapicL August 18, one male seen; House RiA^er, 

 August 22, one taken : Pelican Portage, August 25, seA^eral seen. 



In 1904 I took a female, the first one observed, on a willow-coA"- 

 ered island beloAv the mouth of Nahanni RiA^er, June 6. I also noted 

 it near Fort Wrigley, June 7, and 8 miles below there, June 8. At 

 Fort Norman on June 11 I saAv seA^eral, collecting a male. I ob- 

 served several at Fort McPherson, July 14. During my return 

 trip I took a specimen at Fort McMurray, August 11. 



'^Cat. Canadian Birds, Part III, p. 639, 1904. 



