190S.] 



BIKDS. 



491 



Myadestes townsendi (AucL). Townsend Solitaire. 



This bird, new to the Mackenzie region, was first observed by Al- 

 fred E. Preble and Merritt Gary on the base of Mount Tha-on'-tha, 

 at the month of Xahanni Eiver, July 13, when a male Avas taken. A 

 pair with young was noted at the same place, Jrdj M, and a few 

 others were seen higher up on the mountain on July 15, 16, and IT. 

 Their clear bell-like notes were heard on the mountain every morning, 

 and the singer could often be seen on the topmost twig of a towering- 

 spruce on the mountain side high above the camp. A pair of adults 

 and a young one, which was full grown but still in the spotted plum- 

 age, were collected. 



This sj^ecies probably regularly breeds in the Rock}^ Mountains of 

 western Alberta. On July 15, 1896, J. Alclen Loring took an imma- 

 ture bird, now in the Biological Survey collection, in the mountains 

 15 miles south of Henry House. 



Macoun, on the authority of Spreadborough, states that this spe- 

 cies was seen everywhere in the mountains about the Athabaska Pass 

 in 1898. He records also eggs taken by Spreadborough in the Yel- 

 lowhead Pass July 13, 1898.« 



Hylocichla fuscescens salicicola Ridgw. Willow Thrush. 

 Macoun notes this bird as follows : 



First seen at Edmonton, Alta., May lltb, 1897 ; June 11th, found a nest on the 

 ground contaming two eggs ; * =■= - common from Lesser Slave Lake to Peace 

 River Landing, hit. 50° 15' in June, 1903; observed from Edmonton to Atha- 

 basca Pass, in June, 1898. (vSpreadborongh.) 



He records also specimens of both the birds and eggs taken at 

 Edmonton in May and June, 1897 and 1898, hj the same collector.'^ 

 Six specimens, comprising both sexes, taken at Edmonton, May 11 to 

 June 11, 1897, by Spreadborough, have been examined during the 

 preparation of this report. 



Hylocichla aliciae (Baird). Gray-cheeked Thrush. 



The gray-cheeked thrush breeds from about the region of Great 

 Slave Lake north to the tree limit, but is less abundant than the olive- 

 back. In 1901 specimens were taken at Fort Chipewyan on May 22 

 and 23. A thrush thought to be this species was seen on Loon Island, 

 50 miles north of Fort Resolution, July 12. At Fort Rae it was 

 noted nearly every day, July 19 to 29, and specimens, including 

 young in the spotted plumage, were taken on July 23 and 25. 



In the spring of 1903 we first observed the gray-cheeked thrush 

 near Pelican River, May 19, noting only one or two individuals. 

 The species was not again detected until July 20, when I saw one 



« Cat. Canadian Birds, Part III, pp. 702, 704, 1904. 

 ^ Cat. Canadian Birds, Part III, pp. 706, 707, 1904. 



