WILD LIFE IN CANADA

r

WINTER ON THE TRAIL.

SUMMER ON THE TRAIL

[Frontispiece

WILD LIFE IN
CANADA

BY CAPTAIN ANGUS BUCHANAN, MUC.

AUTHOR OF "THREE YEARS OF WAR IN EAST AFRICA"

WITH NUMEROUS PHOTOGRAPHS BY THE AUTHOR

McCLKLLAND, GOO*>CHILD AND STEWART, LIMITED

TORONTO
1920

TO

D. F. B.

A GREAT LOVER OF NATURE AND
EVERY ASPECT OF THE CLEAN
BROAD OUTDOOR WORLD IN FAIR
WEATHER OR FOUL, AND WHO KEPT
FRESH IN ME EVEN UNTO MANHOOD
THE EVER-EAGER DELIGHTS OF BOY-
HOOD IN ALL LIVING WILD THINGS

PREFACE

CANADA, in a great belt that runs from sea to
sea, across the southern territory of her dominion,
is the civilised, rapidly growing country which
we all know to-day. Therein, in out-of-the-way
places where mankind pass not too often, there
are still quantities of big game and fur-bearing
animals and wild-fowl to delight the lover of
nature and solitude. But it is not of such places
that I write in this narrative — not of the outdoor
places that are within reach of those who inhabit
the populated south country of Canada ; for
the wanderings which it has been my good
fortune to experience, and which henceforth I
will endeavour to describe, were through a part
of the great unpeopled North, which even to-day
comprises more than half of the large Dominion
of Canada. So great is the far north territory
that there is many a hundred miles on which
no white man has yet set foot, and even where
the white man has been, in the distant interior
near to the Barren Lands, in many cases the
footprints have been so few that an old Indian
inhabitant of a district could easily count those
who had passed in a lifetime on his ten fingers.
Though I travelled 785 miles over ice and snow
by dog-sled, and 1,044 miles over water in a
single canoe, I lay no claim to having done a

xii PREFACE

great thing, for in face of the rigorous, bound-
less North a single man's effort must ever seem
small.

Again and again I might go back to the
solitude of the Great North — and perhaps I
will — but I know full well I will always deem
the hours of a lifetime all too short to accomplish
half that I would wish in that overwhelming
vastness that reminds me, with a sternly inti-
midating dominance, that I am but a tiny,
passing atom, active for the moment, but woefully
impotent before the timeless reign of the brood-
ing wilderness.

Yet, piece by piece, the character of a new
land is revealed, not by the endeavour of one
man or one generation, but at the instance of
many, and so if the long trails I have made
seem little in proportion to the limitless extent
that lay before me, I still trust that my investi-
gation of a country lying between the Sas-
katchewan River and the Arctic Barren Grounds,
and between longitudes 101° and 108°, may add
in some measure to man's knowledge of that
territory, whether the reader of this narrative
be layman with a love of nature, or naturalist
who finds delight in following the endeavours
of an associate.

In a scientific article recently prepared for
publication by J. H. Fleming, C.M.Z.S.,
C.M.B.O.U., a notable Canadian ornithologist,
dealing with the bird life which I collected on
this expedition, the writer says :

" Almost the first knowledge we have of the
ornithology of the Saskatchewan region is con-

PREFACE xiii

tained in a series of papers published in the Ibis
of 1861-62-63, by Capt. Blakiston, who spent
the winter of 1857-58 at Fort Carlton on the
Saskatchewan River, and in 1858 collected at
various points in what is now the Province of
Saskatchewan. In these papers Capt. Blakiston
incorporated much information from Vol. II of
the Fauna Boreali- Americana of Richardson and
Swainson, and other published sources of infor-
mation. Since then our knowledge of the birds
of Southern Saskatchewan has been considerably
enlarged, but strangely enough the ornithology
of the great region drained by the Churchill
River, and lying to the north of what was, till
1912, the northern boundary of the province,
has had little or no attention paid to it. Notes
on the birds were made by James M. Macoun,
who in 1888 travelled from Lesser Slave Lake
east by way of the Athabasca and Churchill
Rivers to Lake ^Winnipeg ; these notes were
eventually published by John Macoun in his
Catalogue of Canadian Birds. Less than a dozen
birds are in the United States National Museum,
collected at Du Brochet Lake in 1890 and
Pelican Narrows on the Churchill River in 1891 ;
probably collected by Henry MacKay and Joseph
Hourston, for Roderick MacFarlane. These are
the only skins I have seen from the region taken
previous to 1914. During the years 1892-93-94,
J. Burr Tyrrell, in the course of his explorations
of the Barren Grounds, more than once traversed
the Churchill River and his official reports l con-

1 Annual Report Geological Survey of Canada, viii. (new series),
Part D, pp. 5n to 120D, Ottawa, 1896 ; ibid. ix. 1896, Part F
(1897).

xiv PREFACE

tain the best description we have of this region ;
in these reports there are short references to
birds. When Edward A. Preble wrote his great
report on the natural history of the Athabasca-
Mackenzie Region 1 he included all that was
known of the birds of the Churchill River up
to 1908.

" When the boundaries of Saskatchewan were
in 1912 extended north to include a part of the
old North- West Territory, so little was known by
the Provincial Government of the natural history
of the northern part of the country that Angus
Buchanan determined to investigate the country
lying between the Saskatchewan River and the
Barren Grounds. He left Prince Albert on
May 6, 1914, and descended the Beaver River
to Lake lie a la Crosse, and the Churchill River,
thence continuing upstream on Reindeer River
and Reindeer Lake, entering the Cochrane River
on July 18, and Lake Du Brochet on August 1.
His base camp was made north of this lake,
and here he proposed to winter, but hearing of
the outbreak of the war in late October he
decided to return to the South, and reached
Regina on January 15, 1915, after an absence of
eight and a half months, during which he travelled
nearly two thousand miles by canoe and dog-
sleigh. The birds collected during this expedi-
tion were divided ; part were deposited in the
Provincial Museum at Regina, and the rest were
handed over to me ; they form a very important

1 A Biological Investigation of the Athabasca- Mackenzie Region.
North American Fauna, No, 27. Bureau of Biological Survey,
Washington, 1908.

PREFACE xv

addition to our knowledge of the birds of the
region drained by the Churchill River, and are
in fact the first collection made in far Northern
Saskatchewan"

It may seem odd to the reader that I make
record at this date of an expedition undertaken
in the year 1914, yet this may be easily explained,
and, I hope, the delay forgiven, as such a cir-
cumstance is entirely due to the exigencies of
the Great War, during which it was every able
man's duty to abandon civil occupation and
take up arms in defence of home and country,
even though such action would rudely shake,
and perhaps break, the foundation of almost
any career. On receiving my release from the
Army I have made haste to return to the full
pages of my diary of 1914 and to labour to record
my experiences of that time in the hope that
they might be in some measure instructive to
those setting forth on like adventure, and to
those who take an interest in wild life of any kind.
Moreover, whatever I experienced in 1914 of the
country I then travelled through still retains
the native novelty, for had other footsteps fol-
lowed mine I would have been told so by the
Government authorities with whom I remain in
correspondence. So, through the years of war
that have passed, the North remains the silent,
unbounded solitude that my canoe and dog-
sled intruded on for a brief space ; since then no
like expedition has passed along that pathless
route.

Every traveller appreciates or depreciates his
reception by the inhabitants of the country he

xvi PREFACE

travels through, and, in this instance I owed
much to the good services of the Saskatchewan
Provincial Government, who loyally supported
the expedition at the start ; to the Hudson Bay
Company, whose factors were ever ready to
assist and advise me in every way they could ;
and lastly, though I say it of people who cannot
read and know my appreciation, to the Cree and
Chipewyan Indians, who proved quaintly friendly
and unselfish in their hospitality, and resourceful,
magnificent fellow-travellers on the trail on the
few occasions that I came among them, and
when one or more aided me when trailing by
dog-train over ice and snow. To all I owe the
thanks and gratitude of a traveller safely re-
turned from a hazardous quest who enjoys
pleasant reminiscences of the weather-beaten,
kindly faces of worthy outdoor people, and still
recalls their strong handshake of genuine com-
radeship that on many a hard trail welcomed me
in, or pointed the way forth with well-wishing.

CONTENTS
CHAPTER I

IN A FRONTIER SETTLEMENT
The poor rich — The new-comer — The police — Joe Ryan . pp. 1-10

CHAPTER II

OUT TO LAKE 1LE A LA CROSSE

Outfit — How to pack — Launching canoe — Forcing way through ice —
Entering Beaver River — Early nesting birds — Meeting with Red-skins
—Photographing nests— On Beaver River— Trapping mammals

pp. 11-32

CHAPTER III

SEEKING THE SANDHILL CRANE

Groping in the forest — Discovering sandhill cranes — South-west gale
bursts — Sandhill crane's nest found — Our culminating disappointment

pp. 33-43
2

xviii CONTENTS

CHAPTER IV

ON THE GREAT CHURCHILL RIVER

Length of Churchill River — Shagwenaw Lake — Pelican Rapids —
Pelican Lake — Bald eagle's nest — Mosquito pests — Many birds observed
— An Indian settlement — Snake Lake — Sandfly Lake — Scouting alone :
Indians' appreciation — Black Bear Island Lake — A stiff storm — Great
Devil Rapids — Pike stolen by bear — From Rock Lake to Stanley —
A surprise welcome — Stanley Mission Post — Description of church —
Rapid River Lake — Possibilities of country — Mink captures large eel —
Rapids on Riyer ... . . . . . pp. 44-91

CHAPTER V

REINDEER LAKE AND FORT DU BROCHET

Beauty of Reindeer Lake — Fort du Brochet — Lake teems with fish —
The Lake Trout — Fish in Reindeer Lake — The Indians' deep-shadowed
land . . . pp. 92-103

CHAPTER VI

THE BARREN-GROUND CARIBOU

Winter haunt of caribou — The last of the roving big game— Search
for caribou fails — Building log cabin — The freeze-up — With Indian
hunting party — Crossing open water — Hunting alone — Wading through
ice-water — Attack by wounded caribou — Carrying pack-load — The
soundless land — Caribou in migration — The Chipewyan decreasing —
Shooting caribou — Snaring caribou — Meat needed for men and dogs —
Caribou hides and their use — Start for caribou ground — Decoying cari-
bou— Photographing caribou — Camera fails to work — A strange dream
— Cold spoils camera work ...... pp. 104-151

CHAPTER VII

SLED-DOGS OF THE NORTH TRAILS

Sled-dog population — Cunning of sled-dogs — Dogs of Foit du
Brochet — Dogs watch canoes return — Breaking in sled-dogs — Netting
winter's fish supply — Trailing over ice and snow — The power of the
North — Halting between camps — Making night camp . pp. 152-172

CONTENTS xix

CHAPTER VIII

THE TRAPPER

An Indian cabin — The dead of winter — Gullfoot's dog-team —
Digging out young foxes — Fox pelts and their value — Variety of colour
in foxes — Area of trap setting — How traps are set — Return to Indian
cabin pp. 173-191

CHAPTER IX

LEAVING THE LONE LAND

Dogs give out — Start on return journey — Friendship of natives —
Creatures of the wild — Finger frost bitten — Entertained by Cree
Indians — Nearing Pelican Narrows — Indian'guides go home — Approach,
ing civilisation — Amusing incidents — End of the long trail pp. 192-213

CHAPTER X

ANIMALS AND BIRDS COLLECTED AND OBSERVED

pp. 214-264

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

WINTER ON THE TRAIL .... Frontispiece
SUMMER ON THE TRAIL .... „

FACING PAGE

THE WORLD or THE NORTH . . . . 4

TYPICAL SLED-DOGS ...... 4

NESTLING GREAT HORNED OWL .... 26

LESSER YELLOW-LEGS 26

THE SANDHILL CRANE , | - 34

NEST AND EGGS OF BLACK TERN .... 36
NEST AND EGGS or COMMON TERN ... 36
GATEWAYS or MAGNIFICENT RIVER BETWEEN THE

LAKE EXPANSIONS . . .... 44

A RAPID . . . " 44

A BALD EAGLE'S EYRIE ..... 56
BUTTERFLIES ON MOIST SHORE SAND OF REINDEER

LAKE 94

THE LANDING AT FORT DU BROCKET ... 94

MY LOG CABIN 110

ESKIMOS ........ 110

A MALE CARIBOU IN CAPTIVITY IN LONDON . .118
CARIBOU RESTING ON A FROZEN LAKE . . .132
CARIBOU TRAVELLING IN TYPICAL INDIAN FILE . 132

HUSKY DOG 156

PURE HUSKY FEMALE . . . . . .156

EXPECTANT, EVER- HUNGRY DOGS . . . .158

DOGS INTERESTED IN THE MORNING CATCH OF FISH . 158
TIMBER STAGE ON WHICH is HUNG THE AUTUMN CATCH

OF FISH FOR DOG-FOOD . . . . .162
PURE TIMBER WOLF FEMALE : IN CAPTIVITY, TO

IMPROVE BREED OF SLED-DOGS . . . .162

LISTENING ATTITUDES 182

Is ALL CLEAR ? 182

DOGS RESTING SOUTH OF THEITAGA LAKE : TRAILING

FROM THE BARREN GROUNDS . . . .192

XX

WILD LIFE IN CANADA

CHAPTER I

IN A FRONTIER SETTLEMENT

THE railroad terminates at the crest of a stiff
incline a mile short of the head-waters of Crooked
Lake. The rural train, which travels the roughly-
laid single line on alternate days, completes the
monotonous, uneven journey with a final struggle
up-grade, between lines of coniferous forest, and
comes to a cautious standstill, emitting deep-
throated blasts of rebellious protest, in a narrow
clearing at the lower edge of the small frontier
town of Big River.

Straggling, train-tired passengers are told
gruffly that this is the End of the Line.

One enters the settlement — that is, one des-
cends from the train and traverses the total
two hundred yards of main thoroughfare — and at
once, and thereafter is struck by the conflicting
types of men and habitations.

Here civilisation ends and the wilds begin.
So far has engineering and enterprise progressed ;
thenceforward lie the untouched lands of the
limitless North. Here commingle the old spirit
of the untamed wild and the new spirit of civil-
isation. There are grim men from the woods

i

2 IN A FRONTIER SETTLEMENT

and the trail, English-speaking, French, Galicians,
Halfbreeds, Indians, rough-clad, stalwart, un-
trammelled, who talk in slow-spoken speech
with fearless bearing, while about their feet
move their company of dogs — restless, prowling,
hungry brutes ; neglected summer pensioners,
but, in winter, the pride of their masters — the
indomitable sled-dog. They are men and beast
of their surroundings ; hard-fighters who wrest
a stern living from virgin forest and stream, and
who ask no greater reward than to retain their
boundless freedom.

To the men their freedom is their all. They
cannot tell you why, again and again they seek
the North ; yet they cannot leave it. A mood
of discontent, or a vivid picture of everlasting
pleasure which they paint in imagination, sends
most of them, at some time or other, to seek
" civilisation," saying, " I wrill live as other
people do." But they seldom, if ever, keep
their resolve. They are out on the North trail
just as soon as the primitive wildness, which
is in them as it is in wild animals, awakes anew
and bids them seek again the quiet places. Such
men are the vanguard — the unstarred leaders of
advancing immigration that, as the rising tide
on the seashore, ever overlaps the old mark, and
escapes onward, ever onward, to populate the
surface of a vast new country.

Less prominent, far less striking, in this village
of the parting of the ways, are the people of the
New World — mill clerks, and trading store-
keepers, and their assistants ; and their two-
score wives and daughters. All somewhat dim-

THE POOR RICH 3

i native against the strong contrast of frontier
manhood ; somewhat unworthy — even trivial.
Each holding dearly to business, to the guiling
dress of the shop counter, and the much frayed
ribbons of a gaudy, doubtful society.

These are the interlopers, the people from the
South ; the harbingers of civilisation, who have
come, with their dollars and their trash, to dis-
turb the beauty and peace of virgin nature.
And those are the people who speak, with pride,
of the Town-site ; who proclaim the magnificence
of a meagre street or two, of meretricious frame-
built houses in narrow land plots ; and who
point to the importance of a lumber mill and a
gaunt, top-heavy Boarding House as if, on that
guarantee, the future of Big River were assured,
and their fortunes.

They forget too easily, in their vanity, that it
is not to those things that they owe their pros-
perity, but to the wonderful richness of the nature
around them. And theirs is a circumstance that
always fills me with a certain amount of sadness.
They may be rich in a worldly way, but how
poor they are of intellectual enthusiasm — at their
feet lies the broad, beautiful world, yet must
they trample it under with eyes only for the god
of Gold, and Power, and Pleasure. ... Ah ! well —
it is their life ; small perhaps, perhaps somewhat
narrow, but they know no other. They are
part of the great scheme of things ; impelled by
heritage and circumstance to follow a well-
trodden channel, and counselled by a strong
commercial instinct to launch out into activity
and endeavour, though, in life's short pilgrimage,

4 IN A FRONTIER SETTLEMENT

they may destroy the rich growth of centuries
in building up the ardent ambitions of the hour.

But the greater things, the things which are
neither little nor personal to any man, the
phantom forces which are behind the Universe—
the forces which ordain mankind to life, to an
existence, and to death — as fish, or fowl, or fly,
is ordered — those are the forces which are the
soul of the North. And it is a soul which
whispers thab the land and water and sky of
nature's universe will grow and nourish and still
be beautiful while race after race of mankind
rise up, halt a little, and pass away.

To anyone who valued, with the fresh outlook
of a stranger, the intensity of first impressions,
the world of the North showed calm and of
fathomless beauty and mystery, and dominated
all ; yea, even the foreground of humanity. It
was all-powerful, this vastness of eternity, yet
all forgiving ; and one was constrained to
murmur :

So great this beautiful earth,

So little our earthly being,

So let us pass ; each in our own way.

It was in this vein, then, that I mused of the
Frontier, and Beyond, on early acquaintance.

Time had passed since the evening of my
arrival. I had been two days in Big River — two
long days of delightful, ruminating freedom
amongst the older bushmen of the place. And
now it was the evening of the second day.

I sat at the only table occupied in the great,
bare, paintless, featureless, interior of the barn-

H91li

V

THE WORLD OP THE NORTH.
Limitless uniahabited expanse of land, lake, and river.

4]

TYPICAL SLED-DOGS.
Idle summer pensioners ; the pride of their masters in winter.

THE NEW-COMER 5

like Boarding House of Big River. I had
finished the evening meal — a hungry man's full
fare of pork and beans and potatoes, accom-
panied by the inevitable thick-rimmed mug of
hot tea — and looked round me with the air of
one who is satisfied and who has accomplished
the final task of a long, pleasurable day. I
knew, in hail-fellow-well-met fashion, all but one
of the half-dozen others at the table. There
were the Engineer and the Conductor, who had
come in, an hour ago, on the evening train —
Minnesota Joe, a self-famed, talkative trapper
from the States — and Pete Deschambault and
Louis Breau, two French-Canadian lumber-jacks.

But who was the new-comer ? That was what
I pondered with a half-hope that he might be
an experienced canoe-man such as I wanted to
hire for a long journey. He was of middle age
and uncommunicative, this stranger who sat
among them ; he ate his evening meal pre-
occupied, and silently. Undoubtedly he came
from the quiet places and from the hard trail.
Was not his face furrowed and worn with ex-
posure, was not his hair rough and untended —
and ate he not wolfishly, as a man who always
knows great hunger ?

When the new-comer and the two lumber-jacks
had risen from their meal and left the Boarding
House, I addressed the Train-Conductor.

" Seen new-comer before, Neal ? "

" Ya, stranger. Name, Joe Ryan. He's just
in. Been trapping or lumbering all winter."

"He's a talkative cuss, Neal; meditates as if
he were planning next winter's trap line."

6 IN A FRONTIER SETTLEMENT

" Ya, stranger, it's the bushman's way. They
live not by what they say, but by what they do.
Words ain't much use to them ; my trade's
different."

" Yes, Neal, you've a persuasive tongue, and
you make by it. But is there any chance of
this new-comer accepting hire for a summer on
the canoe trail ? "

" I don't know. It's hard to hire those men
for love or money if the work * don't ' appeal to
them. Going far, Stranger ? "

" Yes. I leave on the long trail north to
Brochet l as soon as ice moves in Crooked Lake.
Stiff going, they tell me ; few in those parts
have been right through. Bad rapids on the
Churchill ; blind c takes ' 2 on all the lakes."

" Aye, I've heard tell o' it, Stranger, dreary
tales too. But Joe's your man, if he will go.
He's reckoned a good hand here."

We parted then — each to bunk for the night.
• • • • •

Next morning, I entered into conversation
with Joe Ryan as we were standing together at
the entrance to the Boarding House idly enjoy-
ing the glorious fresh spring air.

" Do you feel it, man ? " I exclaimed, turning
to the new-comer with enthusiasm. " This
Earth's awakening ! this full, rich flood, which,
at the bidding of the mellow wind, trembles in
every timbre of the forest. The sleep of the
snows is over. Is it not so ? "

1 Far North Hudson Bay Fort on north end of Reindeer Lake.

2 Blind " takes " — the heads of rivers where the lake waters
find outlet, often concealed behind forested points, or some-
where in a score or two of bays.

THE POLICE 7

" Ya, Stranger," he answered. u The iron
hand is raised, our stripping of the forest is done,
the river and the mill can do the rest."

" Ah ! Been in the woods, Ryan ? "

" Ya."

" Quit now ? "

44 Ya."

u Know something about canoe and river
work ? "

"Well — I guess so, Stranger, been riverman
and lumber-jack, off and on, ever since I was big
enough to work."

" Know the north trail hereabouts ? "

44 No ! Have not been long west. Come from
the Ottawa " (River).

44 Well, look here, Ryan, the police canoe1 is
in from Green Lake — just arrived — I've seen
Bob Handcock, the police sergeant. Ice is
rotten on Crooked Lake, and moving, and passage
out is possible inshore for light canoe. Hudson
Bay Co. have failed to send me up promised
4 breed ' who knew the trail, and I'm going to
move out now as soon as I've a partner in the
canoe. What do you say to tackling the job ?
You can go back from Lake lie a la Crosse, if
you don't want to carry on after two weeks'
trial of it."

44 Wall, Stranger, it might be done. I don't
know you, you don't know me — that's a great
risk on undertakings of this kind, but perhaps

1 North- West Mounted Police. Splendid men, those single
representatives of justice who command that law and order
be recognised even in distantly remote corners where there is
no law except that which their strength of character imposes
on lawless men.

8 IN A FRONTIER SETTLEMENT

we'll hit it off. You're not Government ? No
party, no big stores, no following of camp cooks
and freighters. What are you out for ? Fur,
foxes, or prospecting ? >:

" No, Ryan, I'm going for none of those
things. When you've come off the Drive, when
you've had your glorious * flare up ' in the city,
and your body and mind are sick and sore with
months of summer idleness, what do you long
for ? Do you not crave again for the freedom
of the backwoods ; for the great silence ; for
the peace of the camp fire ? '

" Aye, aye, Mate."

" Well, so am I here. There's no rest in the
cities. I go to study the birds and animals,
and all of nature's things — and to bring, for the
Government, specimens for their museum.

" I travel, as you would travel — alone, caring not
for the ease and noise of retinue in surroundings
which are 'no part of such things. From maps
I know something of the main lakes and rivers,
and leave the rest to bush-craft.

" -What do you say, Ryan, will you come ? "

"H'm! — Ya, I guess so, Stranger — never had
a chance before to see that darned North Country."

" Right, Joe ! Shake ! Get what you want
in the store, on my account — six months' tobacco,
mind — and be around ready to pull out first
thing in the morning."

JOE RYAN, RIVERMAN AND LUMBER- JACK

Joe Ryan was a hard man. Hard, by nature
of his calling ; hard, at the bidding of his mind.
He has an unforgiving countenance, deep-seared

JOE RYAN 9

and weather-beaten, with no expression that
could be denned. Indeed, his face was an un-
committing mask hiding the shrewd brain which
had fought with a full measure of the hardships
of a bushman's life in the early days of the
lumber trade ; and which had suffered in the
seeking of recompense and pleasure. His was a
life, in its naked ruggedness, which hardly con-
stitutes a school for saints. Ryan had gone
through the bitter mill of experience, and he
knew the full joy, and the full sorrow, of weeks
of debauch and devilry when off the Drive.

But, now, at the age of forty-five — which is
beyond the prime of a lumber- jack's life — he had
learned that it was all wrong ; that, somehow or
other, he had made a mess of things. True, from
the beginning, he had known no other life. In
Town he had spent his pay, as the others did,
and been called " a good fellow."^ And so it
had been easy to go on, difficult to halt, and
impossible to go back. But of that he made no
excuse ; he was not built in that way. He had
failed. Yes, he knew he had failed ; but he
would carry out life to the end without a murmur
of complaint, without the slightest outward sign
of repentance or sorrow.

And Joe Ryan had never married — what
burden he carried, he carried alone. And, when
judgment is passed by the Great Unseen on those
who have known the utter desolation of a love-
less life, will not the hand which points our
fate be touched with a special tenderness and
forgiveness ?

For the rest, there was much in Ryan's life

10 IN A FRONTIER SETTLEMENT

to be recommended. He had been born in the
backwoods, of a race who fight hard and die hard
on the outer edges of the world, and he had
learned his craft, from boyhood, in a stern school.
No better lumbermen stepped the earth than
those from his home on the Gauteneau River,
none more expert with the axe nor smarter on
the logs ; and proud was their boast among the
French-Canadian settlements on the Ottawa.1

Yes, Joe knew his work, as the best of them
know it. He was among the chosen of the old
hands, and, though on the wrong side of forty
and not so active as of old, he could still compete
with many a younger man* . . .

Such, then, was my Riverman — this man
whom I had picked up by chance at " The End of
the Line," without introduction or recommenda-
tion, to be my sole companion on an unknown
trail for five months.

I knew nothing of the man except that I knew
his trade — which was a strong word in his favour
— and it was long months after that I really knew
him as I write of him. As he himself said :
" You don't know me, I don't know you ; and
that's a risk on a big undertaking." But he
took the risk, as he had always done, — the risk
of mistake by a stranger at the bow paddle of
the canoe on a dangerous rapid ; the risk of
" falling out " a hundred miles, or a thousand,
from anywhere. . . .

As for me — well, I was taking no greater risk
than he was.

1 Ottawa Biver, of which the Gauteneau is a tributary.

CHAPTER II

OUT TO LAKE ILE A LA CROSSE

I WAS setting out on a long expedition into the
North, through little-known territory, west of
Hudson Bay, on exploration and natural-history
research. I had left my collecting " shack " on
the Plains, from which I had roamed the rolling
bluff-dotted country north of Qu'Appelle Valley
for more than a year, and was now in the frontier
settlement, which I have described, waiting for
" open water."

On April 20 I had had an advice from the
Hudson Bay Co. at Prince Albert, saying : " The
ice in the northern lakes has not yet broken up.
We will advise you immediately navigation opens,
to enable you to go through by first open water."

On May 4, having no further advice, and im-
patient to get away, I left the plains on a dull
cold morning, though the air and the scene had
little promise of spring. Still were the long
stretches of yellow grass and the bleak, dark-
coloured poplar bluffs, unrelieved by the first
fresh delicate green of budding vegetation. There
was still frost in the ground, and snow in the
hollows and sun-shaded nooks. But the call of
the North was in me, and I would be off.

At Prince Albert, the northern town of the

11

12 OUT TO LAKE ILE A LA CROSSE

Province of Saskatchewan, I secured my canoe —
a light 18-foot chestnut cruiser — and completed
the carefully selected outfit which I was to take
with me, and which had been minutely calculated,
governed by the knowledge that I must travel
light, and that I was setting out from the mer-
cantile world for a year or more.

To anyone about to leave on a distant journey
into country uninhabited, or habited only by
primitive natives, the question of the essential
things that are to comprise an outfit is of great
importance, and therefore I give below a com-
plete list of what I considered I must take, and
how I contrived to pack it, in view of the nature
of my work and the months of canoe and sled
travel that lay before me.

OUTFIT FOR EXPEDITION
HUNTING EQUIPMENT

12-foot split cane fishing-rod. Hunting knife and sheath.

12 bore shotgun. 8-inch mill file.

•303 Ross rifle. Foot-rule.

Mauser revolver and belt sheath. 48-foot length of rope.

Revolver cartridges, 50. Field glasses.

Rifle cartridges, 100. Pocket compass.

Shotgun cartridges, No. 10 Camp axe.

dust-shot, 100. Few wire nails.

Shotgun cartridges, various Canoe pitch.

shot, 200. Ball of twine.

Small red cotton bag; containing :

Specimen labels. Needles and thread.

Address labels. Safety pins.

Indelible pencils, 5. Pins.

Lead pencils, 5 H.B. Buttons.
Wool for darning.

OUTFIT

13

Canvas dish-bag, containing :

Frying-pan. Knives, 2.

Camp-kettles, 2.

Pail, medium size.

Reflector for bannock-baking.

Cups, 2.

Plates, 2.

Salt-holder.

Pepper-holder.

Forks, 2.
Spoons 2.
Can-opener.
Waterproof match-box.
Packet sulphur matches.
Axe hone.
Steel traps, 2.

Small blue cotton bag, containing :

Bait-hooks. Lead sinkers.

Fly-book and box. Zinc wire.

Minnows, 2 boxes. Brass wire.

Reels, 2. Sandpaper.

Spare line. Beeswax.

Gut casts, 1 box. String.
Gaff-hook.

Blue box, containing taxidermal outfit :

File, small.

Nippers.

Brogue.

Scissors, 2 pairs.

Forceps.

Egg-blowpipe.

Egg-drill.

Brain-hook.

Black ink.
Skinning gloves.
Arsenic and alum, 3 Ibs.
Glycerine and carbolic, 2 Ibs,
Wadding, two 1 Ib. roils.
Small glass insect phials.
Mouse-traps.
Rubber bands.

Photographic outfit :

Camera stand.
Developing tank.
Thermometer (in tank).
Extension back to camera.
Dark-room lamp.

Acid hypo, 6 tins.
Film-packs, 6 tins containing

8 dozen each.
Rytol developer, 8 bottles, 22

tabloids each bottle.

Camera case, containing

Camera, " Voigtlander."
Focal-plane shutter.
Collinear lens.
3

Telephoto lens.
Coloured lens, 3 grades.
Extension release, 30 ft.

14 OUT TO LAKE ILE A LA CROSSE

Medicine chest, containing :

Blue pills.

Rhubarb and soda.

Quinine.

Carbolic.

Elliman's Embrocation.

Keating' s Powder.

" Cut " plaster, 1 tin.

Bandages, 2 rolls.

Attach^ case, containing :
Survey maps.
Sketch-book.
Large note-books, 2.
Rough note-book.
Handbooks on birds, 2.
Book on trees, 1.

Toilet bag, containing :
Brush and comb.
Shaving appliances.

Clothing outfit :
Blankets, 2.

Mackinaw trousers, 1 pair.
Red woollen shirt, 1.
Green cotton shirt, 1.
Woollen jerseys. 3.
Underclothing, 1 suit.
Socks, 3 pairs.

Tent:

Silk tent, 8 feet x 10 feet, which
packs into very small bulk,
and weighs but a few pounds.

Epsom salts, 1 tin.

Brandy, 1 bottle.

Mustard plaster.

Formaline, 5 per cent, solution,

for liquid preservative.
Mosquito oil.
Gun-oil.
Gun-rags.

Pocket dictionary.

Burns's Poems.

Wordsworth's Poems.

Rubber.

Mirror.

Candles, 3.

Tooth-powder and brush.
Soap, 1 cake.

Gloves, 2 pairs.
Towels, 2.
Soft hat.

Moccasins, 3 pairs.
Boots, 1 pair.
Trouser-belt.

Ground-sheet.

Grub for two men for two weeks (allowing that we kill fresh

fish and meat en route) :
Flour, 28 Ibs.
Bacon, green, 20 Ibs.
Baking-powder, 2 Ibs.
Beans, 12 Ibs.
Peas, split, 4 Ibi.
Prunes, 2 Ibs.

Sugar, loaf, 2 Ibs.
Tea, green, 2 Ibs.
Salt, 2 Ibs.
Butter, in tins, 4 Ibs.
Pepper, J Ib.
Cornmeal, 2 Ibs.

Total weight, 78£ Ibs.

HOW TO PACK 15

Excepting the guns, rifle and rod, which were kept separate,

the whole of this kit packed into five loads :
Food (two loads), 78£lbs. One large brown canvas pad-

Box specimen case fitted with locked kit-bag, 58 Ibs.

trays, 2 ft. x 1 ft. 3 in. x One smaller ditto, 53 Ibs.

1 ft. 3 in., and which carried

some of the small bags in

the top tray, 25 Ibs.

By the method of packing certain articles in
small bags and cases, as I have shown above,
and attaching outside a label stating contents,
one avoids confusion when any particular article
is wanted.

The outfit above-noted was, perhaps, not
perfect, but it contained most of the essential
things and served me very well throughout my
journey. In fact I would to-day make little
change were I again setting forth on a like
undertaking.

The question of weight is of course the great
consideration that must modify your choice
when you have but the limited space of a single
canoe to accommodate stores, as well as its two
occupants.

It was an hour after dawn — the breathless air
had lost but part of the wistfulness of night, the
clouds hung grey and heavy with rain. Spring
with a soft persistent hand was at last breaking
down the iron grip of winter.

It was May 12, and, having roped the canoe
and kit in a wagon hired from the lumber mill,
we were setting off on the long trail and were
making our way through spruce forest down the

16 OUT TO LAKE ILE A LA CROSSE

logging trail that terminated at the landing on
the south-east shore of Crooked Lake. The trail
to the Lake was very wet and heavy owing to
the spring thaw, and the teamster, as he set
out, was very doubtful of making the journey
over the soft, frost-ruptured, slush-lain ground.
However, spring was in our blood and difficulties
looked small, and we started off in high spirits,
accompanied by the parting good wishes of a
small group of trappers and lumbermen who had,
out of curiosity, collected to see the expedition
setting out on its long adventure.

After a good deal of effort — indeed, after
having twice completely stuck deep in the mire
of the trail — the steaming, blown team drew up
at the tiny landing, and our treasured posses-
sions were deposited on the Lake shore.

The morning was now advanced.

Had we been about to enter the Garden of
Paradise the day could not have been more
perfect. The bright sun overhead shone in a
cloudless, soft-blue sky, the air was vibrant with
eager vigour and full of the promise of spring ;
and in our minds' eye, before us, in the path of
our canoe, waiting our coming, was a great fair
summer-garden of limitless range and promise.
Small wonder if the pulse quickened joyfully
and one inhaled with keen appreciation deep
breaths of the fragrant, stirring, pine-perfumed
air.

We slid the frail, new, spotless canoe into the
water alongside the small rough-timbered land-
ing, and praised her every line as children would
a new toy, while over a " drop " from the flask

LAUNCHING CANOE IT

she was christened The Otter and we drank to

" success."

Then we bid farewell to the teamster, and
turned our attention to the lake, and to embarking
on our journey.

Though the day was fine the aspect of the
lake was not reassuring : it was on the eve of
rupture and change, but, contrary to expecta-
tion, the ice had not yet broken up in any ex-
tensiveness. We viewed the scene ; Joe with a
practised eye, I with half his intentness, and
listening more, it must be confessed, to the
tumult of the lake surface ; for on the air, from
the distance and near at hand, in haunting
restlessness rose the persistent modulating sound
of grinding, groaning ice-blocks agitated by the
underflowing flood- water. It seemed to me as
if the very soul of the ice-field was pleading to
be set free, knowing in some mute sense that
the holding grasp of winter weakened, and that
the hour was at hand when its substance would
cease to be.

I turned from those fancies, and conjectured
with Joe the chance of finding a clear passage
out. Around the landing, and across the head
of the lake, there was open water — clear ex:cept
for occasional detached lumps of floating ice —
but away down the lake, as far as the eye could
see, there was nothing but a great sheet of dull,
water-soaked, rotting ice, broken in places, and
piled up where pressure had forced it to bulge
and overlap on to a resisting surface.

" What do you make of it, Joe ? " I asked.

"Not much," answered Joe; "'We may or

18 OUT TO LAKE ILE A LA CROSSE

may not get through — better if we had delayed
a week longer. The ice is fast on this shore a
long way down, but as pressure is heavy and the
freshet flood is rising, it has probably drawn off
the shore on the far side, and an open channel
may be over there. If it remains calm the ice
will hold as it is, tiut wind from a contrary
quarter would move the whole ice surface and
send the pressure in whatever direction it pleased
to blow. But here we are, we'll try her anyhow."
So we pushed off into the icy water and headed
for the opposite shore across the head of the
lake. Reaching there we found an open channel
along shore, as Joe had surmised, and turned
the canoe's head northward along it. All went
well until we reached the cut across the lake
which the incoming police party in their large
canoe had opened up the day before. We had
not long entered this narrow channel when a
soft north-east wind began to rise and drift
over the ice, and anxiously we saw the pressure
begin to close the channel before us, and the
ice rasped against the windward side of our light
canoe. Briefly Joe uttered a word of warning —
for we were in imminent danger — bid me seize
an axe and break the pressure off the bows as
far as I could, while he worked madly with his
paddle in the stern. For an hour we laboured,
more like madmen than sane men, while we
could feel the canoe at times creaking and almost
giving way to the weight of ice against her sides
that threatened to break her into matchwood.
Luckily the ice, in most places, was water-
soaked and rotted, and by labouring incessantly

FORCING WAY THROUGH ICE 19

with axe and paddle we were able to move on
slowly, spasmodically, and change and relieve
the pressure on the canoe when it threatened to
sink us. We escaped through in the end, ex-
hausted and wet, yet very glad to have escaped
disaster to ourselves and to the irreplaceable
outfit.

We saw then how foolhardy we had been to
attempt the journey ; how complete might have
been the disaster at the very outset of our
undertaking.

We had learned a lesson on overhaste, but,
strange as it may seem, it is such uncommon
experiences that are a part of the charm of the
North — unexpected happenings, unforeseen
dangers, forces that may lurk in flood waters,
rapids, storms, night winds, ice floes, low-
dropping thermometer and steel-blue cold, or in
blinding blizzard. The ways of the North are
manifold, and men cannot know her long before
she bids them see her grim, unshakable strength,
and experience a corresponding demand for
daring and endurance.

The wind held in the direction it had sprung
from and, working down the channel on the
east shore, we had no further difficulty in navi-
gating Crooked Lake. It was a long, narrow
lake, trending northwards through forested hill-
country. The trees on the shore were mostly
delicate, thickly branched poplars, not yet in
leaf, and here and there a few green spruce
trees, sometimes grouped together in clumps,
sometimes solitary, while in places the forest
had been thinned by fire and many skeleton

20 OUT TO LAKE ILE A LA CROSSE

trunks stood like grave marks or sentinels in
their appointed places.

During our progress through the lake plentiful
bird-life had been observed, and the woods were
filled with little songs and call-notes of the
feathered tribes that were daily coming in from
the distant south to mate in their northern
home. All of the common species I left un-
molested, but secured four of the rarer types for
which I had come : an Osprey, Wilson's Phala-
rope, and two Dowitchers.

Demonstrating the wonderful instinct that
leads to the reappearance of bird-life in the
North almost at the exact hour of vital change
of season, a pair of Eared Grebes and a Loon
(Great Northern Diver) were seen on Crooked
Lake on May 12, when the lake had only yet a
very small area of open water. They were
kindred spirits in eagerness to be up and away
with the first breath of spring.

On the evening of the second day out we had
reached and entered the head of Crooked River.
Here we camped for the night, emptying the
canoe of her cargo and lifting her out of the
water in case flood might rise overnight and
damage her. Then we ate our evening meal,
and rested, for the two long days of paddling,
and kneeling in the canoe bottom, had found
out unused muscles, and made us aware that we
were not yet hardened to it.

And it was good to lie there idly and rest. The
day had been glorious — spring almost breaking
to summer ; and we were satisfied now that the
weather would cause us no further delay.

ENTERING BEAVER RIVER 21

As evening drew on we could hear, back in the
woods from different points, the dump — dump —
dump — dum ! of a drumming Ruffled Grouse,
quickly uttered, and closely resembling the
sound of a motor-engine starting. A little later,
carried to our ears across the darkening mask of
forest, drifted the soft, musical hoo-hoo-hoo ! of
a solitary owl. We heard too, then, a few slow,
rasping frog-croaks — a creature or two venturing
to life, though the nights were yet too cold for
them. Just as I was dropping off to sleep I
heard a heavy moose splash ashore, having
crossed from the opposite river-bank, and pass
through the willows quite close to our camp.

The following eight days we continued onward,
favoured, when we were on the move and not
collecting, by fast-flowing flood water that
hurried between wooded river-banks on their
long, long journey to the sea, some 800 to 900
miles away, where the Churchill River — of which
this was a tributary, via Lake lie a la Crosse —
found outlet in Hudson Bay. We were two
days on Crooked River, a stream about 130 feet
wide, or less, that turned and twisted, as its
name implies, but mainly flowed in a north-
westerly direction. On the morning of May 16
we arrived at the point where Crooked River,
twisting at this point in an abrupt astonishing
south-westerly direction, empties into the north-
flowing Beaver River, and for the remainder of
the journey to lie a la Crosse Lake we continued
on our way on the latter stream.

Beaver River was very beautiful. The banks
in many places gradually sloped back from the

22 OUT TO LAKE ILE A LA CROSSE

stream to a fair height and were wooded chiefly
with spruce and poplar. The poplars, with
fresh-bursting tiny leaf, were now delicately
green, against ground strewn with long-lain
brown autumn leaves, and amidst symmetrical,
formally erect, darker coloured spruce trees.

Crooked River and Beaver River have the
reputation of being difficult to navigate in
summer, as there are then many shallow stone-
foul rapids ; but in the big flood waters of
spring — feet above the common mark, and cover-
ing most of the danger spots — we overcame all
without serious trouble, finally running Grand
Rapid, the last and heaviest rapid on this stretch
of water, with a fall of about 25 feet.

Thereafter we found ourselves in easy slacken-
ing current flowing between banks which were
low, and led on through a widening valley.
Opposite Lac la Plonge, and towards its mouth,
the river widens out and passes through a series
of marshes and lakes before emptying into lie
a la Crosse Lake. Through those marshes and
lakes the river turns and twists on its course
between low, narrow banks which in many
places scantily divide it from the flooded main-
land on either side.

I have come rapidly down those waters in
describing them, but in reality halt was made in
many places to investigate the shores, or an
inland lake, in carrying out research. During
the ten days taken to cover the total distance—
which was some 140 miles — thirty-two specimens
were collected between Big River and lie a la
Crosse Lake, and were skinned and carefully

EARLY NESTING BIRDS 23

packed away. At the same time many hundreds
of our more common birds had been under
observation.

Having come rapidly forward, as I have said,
I will return now and note a few of the inci-
dents of the riverside.

CROOKED LAKE,
May 13.

EARLY NESTING MALLARD

To-day found a Mallard's nest containing three
freshly laid eggs ; the nest being in a cavity
almost on the water edge in a low willow- covered
bank. This pair had lost no time in mating and
nesting, for ice still covered the lake. I marvel
at their instinct : the wisdom that brought
them hundreds of miles north across a continent,
their time of opportune arrival set with the
accuracy of calendar date : the wisdom that
placed the nest so very close to the water's edge,
as if the duck had knowledge that the river
soon would fall. Some people might say it was
accident, but the more one sees of nature, the
more one ponders over that wisdom which is
so often designated cunning.

AN OSPRKY'S NEST

Back a little way in the forest at the top of
the " mast " of a dead spruce tree we came later
in view of an Osprey's nest ; a look-out over
land and water without attempt at hiding. We
ran the canoe quietly ashore, and went to investi-
gate, while overhead, slowly circling, swung

24 OUT TO LAKE ILE A LA CROSSE

the great graceful birds that we had disturbed
from the nest. Some 60 feet above the ground
the dead tree had been broken off, and there
rested the great heap of sticks that composed
the Osprey's eyrie. I climbed the straight dead
limb with difficulty, for it was of fair diameter,
but I found, when directly beneath the nest,
that it was of such great bulk that I could in
no way reach out and above to the interior of
the nest on top. I was anxious to secure the
eggs, if there were any, and I tried from all
sides to gain a firm hold on the nest sticks to
draw myself outwards — but all to no avail, and
in the end I climbed down to the ground unre-
warded, and gave the quest up.

CROOKED RIVER,

May 14.

BLACK PHASE OF THE BROAD-WINGED HAWK

To-day I shot a Broad-winged Hawk which
was completely dark brownish black in colour.
It was a black phase of this species. Such pecu-
liarities occur, but they are rare, and one is glad
to find them, in the same manner that one is
glad to see a black fox or a brown-black timber-
wolf.

PIKE AND PICKEREL

Pike and Pickerel are plentiful on this river,
and we are securing them daily for food. Two
Pickerel caught on small minnow to-day weighed
l£ and 3| Ibs. respectively.

MEETING WITH RED-SKINS 25

CROOKED BIVEB,

May 15.

WE MEET TWO CEEES

While skinning a hawk this morning, two
Crees, travelling upstream, came into view. On
sighting our canoe they stopped on their way and
came ashore. They were going to Big River ;
they had some furs, they told us.

We gave them some food.

One was a weather-beaten man well up in
years, the other a boy of about 18 summers.
The elder man had a fine face, very pleasant
to look upon. His eyes were sincere, and had
an uncommon, permanent smiling expression —
though the whites of the inner corners were
bloodshot, as seems to be common to all ; many
fine wrinkles ran in between the eyes and the
nose, as if his eyes had for ever searched over
great distances. The nose was well chiselled
and strong ; the cheek-bones were high ; the
chin was firm ; the forehead broad, and with
two deep wrinkles across it. The colour of his
skin was shining, deep yellow-tinged brown.
The jet-black hair streaked down over the fore-
head, curled long and not ungracefully around
behind the ears, and down across the back of
the neck. The moustache and beard were
scanty — a growth of a few coarse, untidy hairs.
He wore Mackinaw trousers, loosely belted with
a broad coloured, Assumption sash, and a black
shirt. On his feet were moccasins that fitted
like gloves, decorated with interlaced coloured
straws on the foreparts. Neither spoke a word
of English.

26 OUT TO LAKE ILE A LA CROSSE
A COMMON FRIEND OF THE VOYAGEUR

The Spotted Sandpiper is a very common
bird on this river. We constantly disturb them
as we creep downstream, and they rise before
us, piping nervously, in pairs, or in threes or
fours, from the river-bank. With flood waters
high and covering all sand or pebble spits, they
perch always now on dead limbs of fallen trees
or uprooted willows which protrude over the
bank or lie water-logged in the river. It is re-
marked that when flying these birds show a
prominent mark of white across the centre of
the wings, which is invisible when they are in
repose.

THE SWALLOWS ARE HERE !

Tree Swallows are now arriving. The brief
spring is already shortening ; summer is almost
here.

YOUNG OWLS

Before the snows are gone the Great Horned
Owls build their nests.- To-day we found one.
It was in a black poplar tree, not yet in leaf,
situated about 20 feet back from the river bank.
The nest was about 30 feet from the ground on
a strong fork among bare limbs. It was not a
large nest — small in comparison to the great
size of this species — constructed with dead poplar
and lichen-covered spruce twigs, and lined with
rabbits' hair. In the nest were two three-quarter-
grown young, both very downy ; the down on
the larger one a beautiful buff-cream colour, the

NESTLING- GREAT HORNED OWL.
(Not yet half full grown) May 17, 1914.

LESSEE, YELLOW-LEGS.
A* fairly7 common shorebird, loud-voiced like the European Eedshank when alarmed.

26]

PHOTOGRAPHING NESTS 27

other more grey. They might, those weird
creatures in the tree, have been elves of a Wrack-
ham's pen, with their great round penetrating
eyes and taloned fierceness. While I examined
the nest, the parents perched in trees quite close
to me and hoo-hoo'd continually in alarm and
anxiety.

Finally we left the young to their parents'
care, after some trouble to secure a photograph
of them.

BEAVEB RIVER,

May 16.

THE AMERICAN GOSHAWK

To-day found nest of this species and
established identity beyond doubt by securing
the female.

The nest was not very high up in a black
poplar tree of a total height of some 40 to 50 feet.
On approaching the . tree the female Goshawk
swooped down from it, and again and again
passed close to my head, shrieking shrilly as she
did so. The male bird was, meantime, nowhere
to be seen, nor did he put in an appearance that
day, or the following day, while we remained in
the neighbourhood. The nest was composed of
dead twigs and was lined with dry pieces of bark.
It contained three very round white soiled eggs
\}^ x 2'25 in. — the full complement, as the
female when skinned and dissected contained no
further embryo egg-body.

To obtain a photograph of the nest's interior,
Joe and I made a ladder by felling two young
poplars 25 feet long and setting them against

28 OUT TO LAKE ILE A LA CROSSE

the tree next to the nest, thereafter nailing on
cross-rungs up which to climb. Had we made the
ladder complete on the ground, our united
strength could not have raised the cumbersome,
sap-heavy thing into position, nor would the
nails have held it together, since the wood was
green and soft. The ladder ready, the camera
was slung by a cord from my neck, the distance
to nest measured on the ground, and the camera
set to focus before ascending. The position on
the top rung was precarious — with the left arm
tightly gripping around the tree trunk, to prevent
my falling, I had only the free use of the one
hand to bring the camera into position, remove
the shutter, and touch off the release. However,
gradually I worked the camera round from my
back on to my right breast and then brought
it to bear steadily on the nest by straining the
cord back with my neck. After some trouble,
I secured three exposures. It took some time
to do all this. What was my reward ? None at
all ! Just a record of disaster ; for my reference
to this particular film-pack, which I was then
using, reads : " Rest of film-pack spoilt through
films jamming and not coming out properly."

And that was the only occasion on which I
have ever seen a living Goshawk or the nest of
that species.

BHAVBB RIVER,

May 18.

LONG DAYS AND MANY LABOURS

Arose 4 a.m. Came on about twenty-five miles.
Lay down to sleep at 9 p.m. A seventeen-hours

ON BEAVER RIVER 29

day, which is about our usual day — the principal
exertions, our ever-onward search and travel ;
and skinning specimens and preparing food when
we ran ashore at our night camping place.

GREEN LEAF SHOWERS FORTH ON WINTER-BARE
TREES

To-day has been very fine and the sunshine
brilliant, and on the river-bank the leaf-buds of
the poplars and willows are bursting, and the
trees in a few hours have become beautiful with
liberal show of minute ornament of purest emerald
green.

SCARCITY OF WILD DUCK

There is on this river, so far as we have gone,
a marked scarcity of wild duck. They are here
much less plentiful than on Crooked River. We
are now on the main Hudson Bay Company's
route from Green Lake to lie a la Crosse post,
and it may be that they are less common here
because this river is more often disturbed by
passing voyageurs.

BEAVER RIVER,

May 19.

WARBLERS ARRIVING

Many warblers are to-day in evidence for the
first time. 'With the advance of spring they are
feeling their way north. Groups of them were ob-
served among the willows, restless and plaintively
calling as if still in course of migration.

4

80 OUT TO LAKE ILE A LA CROSSE

WE LEAVE THE RIVER AND VISIT SMALL LAKE

After travelling some distance to-day, we
viewed, beyond the low bank on our right, a
small inland lake on the east of the river. Through
field glasses it was seen that this secluded water
held abundant waterfowl, so we decided to port-
age the canoe overland to it, and spend the
remainder of the day there. The borders of the
lake were grown with tall yellow marsh grass,
while down to the lake shores crowded compact,
sheltering forest, except on the river-side, which
was open marsh. Here and there a gaunt,
dead, storm-bruised tree stood in the water,
landmarks to remember, and the perching places
of a small colony of Bonaparte Gulls which were
among the many birds on the lake. Black Terns
were here in large numbers, flying swallow-like
in the air, but, unlike the swallow, plaintively
and fussily shrieking over our heads in protest
against our approach. Coots were numerous
and many duck : Mallard, Pintail, American
Scaup Duck, Golden-eye, and Blue-winged Teal.
Though ducks appeared scarce on the river they
were common enough here. From among other
and more uncommon varieties I secured seven
specimens, and felt well repaid for having halted
and turned aside to this favoured and fascinating
habitat of wild fowl. None of the birds on the
lake were nesting. They were either still on
their journey northward or had but lately arrived
in old haunts. I skinned late into the evening at
our camp by the shore of the lake, while coots,
in scores, splashed noisily, and chattered among
the reeds close by. Once or twice, a busy musk-

TRAPPING MAMMALS 81

rat swam smoothly across the calm water, from
shore to shore of an inlet, with nose and tail on
the water's surface and mouth packed with a
fresh gathering of reeds.

BEAVER RIVER,

May 20.

JOE TKAPS SMALL MAMMALS

I carry two steel traps and some mouse-traps,
for collecting purposes. The larger traps afford
Joe, my riverman, much amusement, for he has
trapped furs and has all of a trapper's enthu-
siasm, and love of speculation as to the possi-
bilities of a catch after his set is made.

After the evening meal is over off Joe goes
to look for signs of animals and make his sets.
Having found a place to his liking, you may
watch him plan to outwit his quarry, place a
trap just to his liking, cover it with great care,
stake it down, and finally lay his tempting bait
— a fish, a fish head, or a part of a bird carcass.
In the morning, yesterday, he had captured a
Ground Hog, and this morning a Skunk.

NEARINQ ILE A LA CROSSE

To-day we came down the lower reaches of
the river, and, against a light headwind, stole
out from its mouth on to the large lake of lie
a la Crosse. We had come through low country
latterly, where long marsh stretched away north
with the river course as far as eye could see.
There were lakes on either side, deep blue and
wind-ruffled, and with yellow marsh bordering
their areas ; low timber country on the far

32 OUT TO LAKE ILE A LA CROSSE

distance of land ; willows on the river-banks
with wave-shaded tops of fresh new green, and,
on the east shore, small occasional bluffs of
poplar. Overhead an equal feeling of unbounded
vastness and beauty — far off white pillowed
clouds in a soft blue sky.

MARSH HAWK. BIRDS VERY LOCAL

To-day I observed a single Marsh Hawk. This
is in a way remarkable because it is the first one I
have seen since leaving the prairies, where they
are very common. But birds in Canada are
often very local. Their favourite haunts are con-
tained within great areas, and they do not
apparently roam far beyond them except in their
migration north and south. One may live years
in one place and never see a single bird of a
species that may be fairly common a hundred miles
or more away in country of a different type.

In noting here those incidents I have done so
to give an impression of daily occurrence, the
like of which continued for many months while
travelling over 2,000 miles through Far North
territory. Hereafter I will not continue day to
day description of the country, its scenery, and
its wild life, but will take you boldly to the
subject of the chapters which deal with the most
interesting incidents of the expedition.

CHAPTER III

SEEKING THE SANDHILL CRANE

ONE evening in May found us quietly moving
along the east shore of Lake lie & la Crosse, when
the sun was lowering in the west and a soft, damp-
tempered haze hung around the bottom of the
dome of the sky. We were paddling along easily,
enchanted in a measure, by the scene and sound
of our unbounded surroundings. The setting
sun still lit the shore ahead, enriching with the
colour of gold the fresh young leaves and the
white trunks of the cottonwood trees, till they
were fair and fantastic as fairyland should be ;
while, on the lake, moved the low murmuring
lap of gentle waves coming and going in company
with the light northern breeze, and that made a
laughing trickle as they broke on the prow of
the canoe. So intense was the mystic hush of
evening, and unpeopled northland, that we
almost felt guilty that we would be discovered in
our quest — that quest that was not for fairies,
but for something almost as elusive : the haunt
of the Sandhill Crane.

To-day, to-morrow, or the next day, we hoped
to have luck and find that which we were search-
ing for, but who could tell !

Until an hour after sunset we kept on, listen-
ing, hoping that the lone call of a crane might

33

34 SEEKING THE SANDHILL CRANE

be borne down to us on the breeze— -But no !
nothing gave us hope — nothing ; and the day
was done.

Seeking night camping-ground we ran in where
the shore was bad, for we had to make a land-
ing somewhere on a shore composed of gravel,
and granite and sandstone boulders. But the
ingenious Joe jumped ashore, and while I held
out in deep water, cut and laid a bed of spruce
boughs at the water's edge, and on that the
frail craft was smoothly grounded, emptied of
her load, and carried ashore as wind was rising.

The country behind the east shore where we
camped, and which we were searching along, was
generally low and, although the map in my posses-
sion was blank, we knew it must contain many
forest-bounded lakes, absolutely secluded from
the disturbance of red man or white; and it
seemed possible that if any cranes were nesting
in the interior they might at some time come
out near this greater sheet of water, and perhaps,
if seen, betray the secretive locality they in-
habited. To go haphazard into the forest to
search would be as vain as " to look for a needle in
a haystack," requiring many months to attempt,
without any certainty of any success.

Two days later found us groping in the forest,
searching for unknown, unnamed water, through
country that had not even a game path to show us
our possible destination. The evening before we
had heard a crane call, clear and unmistakable,
from high in the sky over the forest. The call
had been repeated ; had grown nearer and louder
until, at last, we had seen the great winged bird

THE SANDHILL CRANE.

34]

GROPING IN THE FOREST 85

come into sight, and, ultimately, pitch on the
shore of the lake. Breathlessly then we had
watched and waited, for it was as if we were
searching for gold and were feverishly near to it.

For a little time the bird had pecked among
the gravel, then risen heavily, got started in
speed and equilibrium, and sailed away over the
forest straight back into the east. The bird's
manner of going had the decision of one returning
to settled haunts, and we felt sure that if we could
find a marshy lake somewhere in the area where
the bird had flown we would be very close to
the real centre of our search.

So were we groping in the forest — east for a
long distance, then traversing roughly north-
east and south-east. In our search we came on
more than one lake and had to make wide detours
in some cases to get past and beyond them, but
in none did we disturb the secreted crane, and
at the end of the day vain had been our search
through belts of crowded forest and muskeg
bog, where foothold was precarious and stepping
laborious.

Throughout the day we covered a large extent
of country and were disappointed to have seen
nothing of bear, moose, deer, or other animals
indigenous to this territory. But where areas
of forest are great and closely grown it is really
seldom that one sees big game in summer-time.
In fact, at this season, one might often be misled
to believe that there are none. However, that
would be a rash assumption : there is game in
plenty, though to-day was a blank one, and all
that we disturbed was an innocent, awkward-

36 SEEKING THE SANDHILL CRANE

moving porcupine, feeding among the branches
of a poplar tree, and a brooding spruce grouse
which we flushed from beneath an alder tree,
where six eggs reposed on a shallow gathering
of dead brown leaves.

Over the evening camp fire we were forced to
wonder if, after all, we had made a mistake, and
were to suffer the disappointment of an error of
judgment. Joe, no longer actively young, was
feeling tired and stiff after the long day on the
trail, and was plainly sceptical and inclined to
be disheartened and give up. I, on my part, was
prepared to doubt my judgment of the day before
—the bird, after all, might have been a solitary
one without mate or settled haunt, an outlaw
male roving broadcast where it willed, free and
restless as the four winds of the wilderness.

In the early morning, while the dew yet lay
white on the undergrowth, and mists lay cloud-
like over the muskegs in the hollows, we were
out of our blankets and preparing to strike
camp.

We had decided to give up : to go back to the
canoe, and continue on the long north trail.

We were eating our hasty breakfast — tea,
bannock, and a slice or two of fried salt pork —
when suddenly we both started to our feet, each,
in excitement, exclaiming quite needlessly " Lord !
what was that ? " as clearly and closely the call of
the lost crane vibrated through the morning
stillness. The sound came from the north-east,
no distance ahead. Astonishment and delight
lit up our faces ; though the incident decisively
showed us how near we had been to utter fools, in

NEST AND EGGS OF BLACK TERN.

NEST AND EGGS OF COMMON TERN.
Rocky Island, in an inlet bay above Samoy Lake.

36]

DISCOVERING SANDHILL CRANES 37

giving up when within reach of our rare and
elusive quarry.

A few minutes sufficed to finish breakfast and
start on the trail. Our search did not meet 'with
immediate success, and by eleven in the forenoon
our eagerness was rebuffed and considerably
abated, while we were still hunting for the lake
that held the secret. But at last we had our
reward, in all its fulness since it had been so diffi-
cult to attain, for, about half an hour later, we
came on a small marsh-bordered lake, and there,
when we stepped out of the woods into view, two
great Cranes arose from its interior, uttering
their call of warning, above the peevish screaming
of a large colony of Black Terns, as they swung
wide and high over the lake, disinclined to depart.
Here indeed was the lake we had been searching
for, this forest-locked sheet of water, lying
calmly at our feet full of meditation and reflection,
and unaware that it held for us great treasure.
The lake was angular, and had one small island in
the middle on which grew an ill-thriven tree or
two. On all shores there were extensive reed-
marshes, broadly stretching out into the lake,
where water-depth was shallow.

We explored along the shore of the lake for
some distance, disturbing bird life of many kinds
as we went, but ultimately decided that it would
be impossible to search thoroughly for the crane's
nest without the aid of our canoe. This would
mean a very long arduous portage, but Joe, my
sturdy old backwoods-man — as keen as I on the
quest — himself suggested it, and made light of
the toil which he was setting for himself.

38 SEEKING THE SANDHILL CRANE

To begin with, our task was to blaze and clear
a trail back to our camp on lie a la Crosse Lake ;
so we set out on the back-trail, seeking the line
of clearest passage, and cutting out saplings and
overhead branches whenever they would inter-
fere with a clear way for man and shoulder-high
canoe. At intervals a clean white " blaze " was
sliced on the homeward side of a spruce, pine
or tamarac tree, to show clearly our way ahead
when we came to return with the canoe. Our
small hand-axes struck out quickly and unerr-
ingly as onward we pressed.

By late afternoon a long distance had been
cleared and blazed, by constant toiling, and we
thought we were near to our old camp. Here
we were at fault, however, and for an hour could
not find our proper course nor come out on the
shores of Lake lie a la Crosse. Although we
did not know it at the time, we had got too far
round to the north — not much, mind you, but
just enough to change the whole aspect of the
country and lead to confusion.

At dusk, after crossing a spongy muskeg bog
with difficulty, we came out on the inner end of a
far-reaching inlet bay of the lake. Joe was put
out by this time and candidly lost. I, assisted by
the compass, was convinced we were north of our
camp, but for once Joe was "at sea," and could
in no way back up my opinion.

However, after a rest, my counsel having pre-
vailed as to direction, we cut south-east into the
woods again.

We had not been on the fresh trail more than
an hour before we found ground we knew and

SOUTH-WEST GALE BURSTS 39

camp. We were not long in rolling ourselves in
our blankets ; and slept the faultless sleep of
well-tired and healthy hunters.

Prewarned by constringed wispy grey clouds
of the previous evening, we awoke in the morning
to find a storm had burst.

For two days we were delayed, while a heavy
south-west gale scudded angrily over Lake lie
a la Crosse and made it impossible for us to canoe
up-shore to the inlet bay where our blazed trail
terminated. Had we known at the outset that
the storm was to last, we would have cleared an
overland trail to the inlet. But that would
have entailed considerable labour, so we waited
for the change of weather, trusting to luck, and
it turned out that luck was not in good humour.

On the third day we were up at 4.15 a.m. —
if my watch was right — while the golden glow of
dawn was in the east, and the sun was still
hidden behind the dark peaks of the spruce-tops.
In the crisply cool morning — for the thermometer
registered only 4 per cent, above freezing — we
started up-shore in the canoe, disembarked at
the inlet, and commenced the long portage inland.

You know how a canoe is carried ? . . . The
paddles are lashed to the narrow cross-bars —
which are the seats of the canoe — in such a
position that when the canoe is upturned and
hoisted over a man's head, the head slips between
the paddle stems just before the spatulated blades,
which thereupon descend comfortably on to the
broad shoulders of the carrier. In lashing the
paddles into position for canoe portage they are
longitudinally arranged so that the canoe will be

40 SEEKING THE SANDHILL CRANE

fairly evenly balanced when being carried — if
anything, a little more weight should be pro-
portioned to balance behind rather than in front.
A chestnut canoe is a heavy man-load, somewhere
in the neighbourhood of one hundred pounds,
and it is wise to load up carefully and comfort-
ably before starting on an undertaking that
tries one's strength to the utmost before the
other end of the portage is reached.

Meantime, to return to our undertaking, we
had been labouring for hours along the blazed
trail, and it was not until the afternoon that we
reached our destination — the lake that contained
the cranes.

After a brief rest we launched the canoe :
assuredly the first craft since the beginning of
time to intrude on the placid waters of that
unknown lake, set deep in forest seclusion.

We eagerly commenced our search for the
crane's nest, urged on by sight of the birds wrho
wildly flew from before our neighbourhood, utter-
ing once or twice their curious call. Our search
was a long one ; all the marsh shores were examined
in vain, and not until evening, when on the island
in the lake, did we find the nest. Here, on a
marshy point on the south side of the island, to
our great delight, we came on the long-concealed
nest — a large platform of gathered marsh-wreck
built on the water surface among reeds ; and
therein two large oblong eggs of medium bufflsh
sienna colour (perhaps finely speckled) and with
spots and splashes of darker colour.

Now in the case of rare birds' eggs you doubt-
less know that it is essential to establish their

SANDHILL CRANE'S NEST FOUND 41

identity beyond any shadow of doubt if the
record is to receive recognition and be of scientific
value. This is usually done by securing one or
both of the parent birds. But in this case I had
a double interest in wishing to secure the parents :
for all along I had never been sure of the identity
of this pair of birds — their apparent colour
bothered me. Observing them through Zeiss
field-glasses they appeared buffish brown tinged
in colour, not the leaden slate-grey of the Sand-
hill Crane as I knew it in autumn in the plains.
(The red on the forehead was very bright, and the
neck more greyish than the rest of the specimen.)
Was theirs strange plumage of the Sandhill
Crane, or could they be Whooping Cranes ?
Here was uncommon interest, and I was more
keen than ever I had been in my life before to
secure those specimens.1

Joe and I soon planned a method of outwitting
the cranes. I, with my twelve-bore gun, hid
among the willows on the island, while Joe put
out on to the lake in the canoe, paddled across it,
and landed, and hid himself and canoe in the
forest to make believe that we had taken our
departure.

I had not long to wait in my hiding-place before
my excitement grew intense. The great cranes
called, one to the other, appeared in the distance,
and soon were swinging overhead, examining the

1 Since this was written I have had opportunity to look over
the half-dozen skins of the Sandhill Crane which are in the
British Museum. One of those had, on the forebreast, decided
sienna-brown colouring, and I now conclude that the specimens
above referred to were this species, but of exceptional sienna
breast plumage.

42 SEEKING THE SANDHILL CRANE

lake beneath. Again and again they passed over
the island where I lay hidden, lowering in their
flight, but not low enough — they were very wary ;
provokingly suspicious.

At last, as one of the great birds came sailing
straight toward me, I thought it within long
range and took my chance — Both shots rattled
on the great bird, but alas ! it but faltered in its
flight for an instant, and passed rapidly away
from my discomfited sight.

I felt all was over now — the great chance irre-
vocably lost ; but hoping against reason, I waited
on until dark.

Neither bird returned, and sadly I put off for
shore when Joe came for me.

We left the nest and eggs untouched on the
island, deciding to sleep the night on the lake
shore and visit the island again in the morning
in the forlorn hope that the cranes would in the
meantime return.

We spent a comfortless night, cold — since we
had no blankets — and tormented by mosquitoes.

Next morning we were early on the lake, and
moved quietly toward the island, while no cranes
were seen or heard, foreboding ill for our enter-
prise. But we were not prepared for the cul-
minating disappointment that awaited us at
the island — when we came to the crane's nest it
was empty !— the eggs had gone ! Where ? We
could not tell ; we could only surmise that rats,
crows, or the cranes themselves had destroyed
them or carried them off.

It was all a terrible disappointment. Great
hopes sustained until the final hour ; then nothing

OUR CULMINATING DISAPPOINTMENT 43

but wreckage. For two years I had dreamed
of finding the nest and eggs of this species north
of Prince Albert, and this result when my dream
seemed true !

Like everyone else naturalists have their suc-
cesses and failures. This was my dark day.

Before leaving the lake we spent an hour
among the colony of Black Terns that were just
commencing to nest, and obtained some photo-
graphs of the few nests that contained their
complement of eggs.

CHAPTER IV

ON THE GREAT CHUKCHILL RIVER

IT is difficult to measure the distances one travels
in passing through new country, so one seldom
attempts it. When the question arises of travel
about to be undertaken, or that has been ac-
complished, one falls back, as a rule, on what
maps one possesses to scale off as best one can
on a minute scale the straight distances as they
are there shown. But such map measurements
are at best but rudely approximate, for seldom
indeed can one follow a land or water trail
directly from point to point, as one assumes
the course on the map. Indeed, if one surveyed
and laid on paper the actual course of a primitive
canoe l in navigating a lake, while keeping land
in view and avoiding the unsheltered open lake
on which it would spell death to be caught in
one of those rapid rising storms of wind so common
to the country, one would be astonished at the
line that would zigzag and curve in its progress
towards its objective, for it would in all proba-
bility take along shores of jutting headlands and
through bewildering groups of island, that ever

1 I speak of inland waters that have grown old in their own
deep solitude, where stout power-driven sailing-craft are un-
known of the kind that coiild surge ahead through all winds
and currents and on any course, aided by chart and ship's compass.

44

GATEWAYS OF MAGNIFICENT EIVER BETWEEN THE LAKE EXPANSIONS.

A EAPID.
Scene of^ sound, commotion, and colour.

44]

LENGTH OF CHURCHILL RIVER 45

interrupt and change the route of travel ; and
add many hours' labour to the patient voyageur.
Over land it is the same ; one works forward to
a distant objective, for ever on the look-out to
avoid the rougher going — thick undergrowth,
swamps, muskegs, and such natural obstacles —
and endeavouring to obtain the most comfortable
and progressive route that the local conditions
of the country offer.

Maps show the distance that I have canoed on
the Great Churchill River— or "The English
River " as it is locally called — from lie a la Crosse
Lake eastward to its junction with Reindeer
River, to approximate 276 miles ; while beyond
the point of my departure from it it continues
easterly another 540 miles before it empties into
the sea in Hudson Bay. This is sufficient to
make clear that it is a mighty river in length,
as it is also mighty in breadth and volume of
water.

Throughout its course the Churchill River is
an extraordinary series of wide lake expansions
linked together by gateways and glens of mag-
nificent river where waters gather in indrawing
volume to enter, and hurry, and tumble, and
roar in their wild escaping onward, ever onward
to the next lake, and the next, in their
incessant, time-set journey to the sea.

On the section of the river on which I travelled
there were no fewer than sixteen large and
beautiful lakes, ennobled by solitude, rich in the
undefined and the mysterious of the Unknown :
each resembling the other in that they were gems
inset in the one type of fair green forest country
5

46 ON THE GREAT CHURCHILL RIVER

indigenous to that latitude ; each different in
that the aspect to the eye was ever a changing
scene of fresh beauty and of fresh and gratifying
originality. One never grew tired nor complained
of monotony. Stimulated by beauty, rather was
one incited almost to hurry from one fair picture
to another, seeking what lay hidden beyond the
next river-bend, or the next island, and when
that also was revealed to wish in passing,
and in the fulness of praise and satisfaction,
that the best of one's friends in the world could
be there also to share such wealth of wonderful
scenes. It was much too fine, it seemed, to be
revealed to just an audience of one.

Those lakes on the route occupied, approxi-
mately, 157 miles of the total distance, so that
considerably less than half of my journey on the
Churchill was on actual river.

In the manner of our going I will trace the
course of the Churchill River to the mouth of
Reindeer River.

Our solitary canoe, containing my able river-
man at the stern-paddle and myself at the bow-
paddle, entered the Churchill River from the
north end of lie a la Crosse Lake. After passing
down a short, narrow stream of rapid water, we
entered and traversed Shagwenaw Lake — a lake
which lies almost north and south. The north
shore, with forest to the water's edge, was not
far distant on our left, but on our right, away out
south as far as eye could see, stretched a beautiful
sheet of water interspersed with such a confusion
of wooded islands as might well perplex the
voyageur should he be so unfortunate as to be

SHAGWENAW LAKE 47

doubtful of direction. It was an invigorating
day in early June ; cool, almost cold. Bright
sunlight lit up the full deep green of the peak-
topped forests of spruce and pine and glinted
along the bleached, disfigured trunks of storm-
wrecked, long-dead trees, uprooted and thrown
down here and there at the forest edge in an-
gular disorder. Broad earth and broad water
were beautiful : so also the heavens, beyond
Space of remarkable atmospheric clearness — grey
islands of cloud lying low along the northern
horizon, a few faint white puffs and shallows to
the east, and to the south a heavy pillowed
gathering of white and grey clouds, sun-touched
on their bankings with the south-east morning
sun — overhead a great wide dome of clearest,
softest blue.

Without difficulty we found the outlet from
Shagwenaw Lake and entered a long stretch
of river, wide and deep, and, for the greater part,
gently flowing. During the afternoon two rapids
were encountered : the first, not having excessive
fall and having a feasible-looking course down
the edge of the rough centre volume of water,
we attempted to navigate, and successfully ran,
after first going above, and walking down on the
rocks, to make a critical examination of the
rapid, for both of us were complete strangers to
the river and had not the almost essential native
advantage of knowing where lay each ugly
water-covered rock and disconcerting whirlpool.
The second rapid on examination offered no
canoe passage, so we portaged the canoe and kit
overland, and camped for the night at the lower

48 ON THE GREAT CHURCHILL RIVER

end of the portage path, which was but a faint,
almost invisible passage down the forested shore,
used once a year, perhaps, in this thinly popu-
lated, almost depopulated land, by some three
dozen Indians journeying to the rendezvous of
the official Treaty Party at He a la Crosse to
draw Treaty money, and hold a big powwow.

The following morning we resumed our journey
and were soon to learn that we had rapids and
typical hard river voyaging to contend with.
During the morning we encountered three rapids.
The first we ran, and shortly after leaving it
behind we passed, on the north shore, the sand-
bars which lie at the mouth of the Mudjatick
River. The Mudjatick, or Bad Caribou River,
noteworthy because it affords a possible pass-
age, i though a hard one, to Lake Athabasca,
rises in the height of land north of latitude 57°
and flows south about eighty miles in a shallow
winding channel before it joins into the Churchill
River. Thereafter followed other two rapids
both too dangerous to run, so at each we let the
canoe down the less turbulent water close in to the
south shore : a process we accomplished by wad-
ing hip-deep, at bow and stern of the canoe, over
the uneven, bouldered, hole-dented bed of the
stream ; leading the canoe slowly and laboriously
downstream, holding against the rude strength
of the downpouring passing current.

About midday, after a strenuous morning, Joe
and I landed. I had secured three museum
specimens and nine mallards' eggs en route.
We lunched on the eggs — finishing the lot at a
sitting. I assure you that if one works hard one

PELICAN RAPIDS 49

eats heartily in the North. It was June 2 —
where we lunched on shore Pin Cherry Trees
were in blossom and Wild Strawberries, and
tiny purple Violets * were in flower ; charming
colours before the great background of ever-
green forest.

In late afternoon, when nearing the head of
Pelican Rapids, we came quietly downstream on
two moose standing in the cool water, browsing
contentedly on a bed of Water-lilies in the
solitude of a sheltered bay. Had it been open
season, or had meat been necessary to our exist-
ence at the time, they would have fallen easy
prey. When our scent was borne to them they
left the water, and vanished in the forest.

Before sundown we portaged Pelican Rapids —
a roaring, tumbling force of water that one heard
rumbling in the distance long before one came
upon it. It was a wild, angry rapid, typical of
many on this mighty river — agitated waves when
eager escaping waters rushed together through
the narrow, bouldered gateway ; long, swinging
swells curling at the crests and breaking in silver
foam ; great waves rising over boulders and
rocks, and plunging into the depth beyond.
Below the entrance, ere the force died out in the
great deep pool at the bottom, were boiling
whirlpools ; and backwater eddies — swinging round
to the sides of the main stream and back into the
head- waters of the angry turmoil. On the shores
were dark rocks tilted at all angles and broken
limbs of trees stuck in crevices where high water
had lodged them. Everywhere the waters were
blue in the sunlight except where they broke

50 ON THE GREAT CHURCHILL RIVER

in silvery foam — an inspiring scene of sound and
motion and colour. . . . And there was an old
friend : the Tennessee Warbler, whose kind par-
ticularly haunt the shores of rapids, singing
joyfully of summer and boundless activity, seem-
ingly in competition with the prolonged purring
sound of the rapid, which clearly pleases him.

Next morning we passed the great marshes at
the entrance to Pelican Lake — marsh that teemed
with duck in the full pride of brilliant summer
plumage. Mallard, Pintail, and Shovellers were
the most abundant, and Green-winged Teal and
Golden-eye in lesser numbers. In addition to
those birds there were great colonies of Common
and Black Terns nesting among the marsh-reeds,
and many Yellow-headed Blackbirds — hoarse,
shrill-voiced reed-birds, piebald in aspect, with
their black and yellow markings of sharp contrast.

The air was dotted with swinging groups of
birds we had disturbed, winging their way for-
ward, then backward ; while the water and marsh
held many more. It transpired, as the months
passed and we travelled on through lake and
river, that this lake (Pelican Lake) was recalled
as the one containing the greatest abundance of
waterfowl. It held, however, one disappoint-
ment— there were no pelicans — at least none
were seen. Possibly they once inhabited the
locality, as the name of the lake implies, but now
have departed.

Pelican Lake was very irregular on all sides,
with long bays biting deep into the mainland ;
also there were many wooded islands, mostly of
fair elevation, standing well out of the water.

PELICAN LAKE 51

Small poplars grew chiefly on those islands and
a few white birch, while here and there a group
of spruce and pine showed darkly, and above the
tops of the other trees. Willows bordered the
narrow beach of light granite stones, which
maiked the line between water and soil.

On Pelican Lake we encountered difficulties.
Crossing it in the canoe we faced a heavy head wind
and struggled against large waves which the heavily
laden canoe rode badly, for she rose stiffly to the
crests of the waves and pitched heavily into the
hollows between. We shipped more water than
was comfortable and, once or twice, shipped it
in ugly fashion until we feared damage to our
canvas-protected stores, which lay packed in the
centre of the canoe, if not a trifle anxious for our
own safety. Finally, about 3 p.m., we were
able to reach an island, and put ashore to wait
until the wind should drop.

At 6 p.m. the wind had moderated and we were
able to go on, and reached the east shore of the
lake. But then again we were in difficulties, for
along those shores we searched until dark with-
out finding the "blind" (hidden) outlet from
the lake.

It had, altogether, been a disappointing day
of hard work and little progress.
. Next morning early we found the channel
through to Primeau Lake, but again, during the
day, we were in trouble, for in the afternoon we
toiled up a deep bay which in the end blankly
terminated, and it took us until evening to return
to the position of our mistake. On a great
many waterways of the north, if without an

52 ON THE GREAT CHURCHILL RIVER

Indian guide who knows the territory, it is a
grave problem to determine what to do when con-
fronted with two, or even three, long channels
of water, to the terminus of which the eye cannot
see, and decide which is the one which holds some-
where in its shores (secreted, perhaps, in yet
another bay off the main bay) the river outlet.
Sometimes, on the dead water of the lake at a
shore point, or at a stone, or at weeds, it is
possible, on close examination, to find the
slightest of down-flowing current passing the
stationary object ; and then one may be positive
that one is following the right course. At other
times it is one's good luck to hear the faint rumble,
like a rising puff of wind in the trees (which one
must be careful not eo confuse it with), of a dis-
tant rapid or waterfall, and know that where it
arises is the river. There is yet another sign
which sometimes gives one comfort when current
and sound fail, and that is some mark of Indian
travel on shore : a willow or tree from which an
axe has robbed some branches and left the wounded
ends, the black ash, or a burnt stump, of an old
camp-fire, or, best sign of all, a discarded teepee —
for those elementary, pole-framed, cone-shaped
habitations of the native nomads are seldom,
if ever, erected except somewhere on an Indian
main " roadway." But there are times when all
those signs are wanting and one must simply
trust to Providence when confronted with the
puzzling irregularity of the shore.

The following morning, June 5, we found our
course soon after pushing off. Below Primeau
Lake we ran Crooked Rapid and part of Knee

BALD EAGLES' NEST 58

Rapid, after making a short portage over the
rocks at its head where the first inrush of water
broke angrily over a rocky dip in elevation. We
had not long left Knee Rapid when a Black Bear
was sighted on the north shore, wading in the
water in search of fish, as is a common habit with
them in summer. The canoe was run ashore,
and as the animal ambled into the woods, for it
had seen or scented us, I tried a long shot at about
300 yards, but failed to bring it down.

The greater part of the day was spent
travelling a zigzag course through Knee Lake, a
long, extensive sheet of water, and we camped
toward sundown well up to the north-east end,
where should lie the river outlet.

Knee Lake, like the others, was very irregular
in shape, and contained many islands. The rough
hilly north shore was often less densely wooded,
and, here and there, ranged along the lake
for a considerable distance, were bare grass -hills
scantily scrub-grown.

During the afternoon we came on a pair of
Bald Eagles nesting on a prominent point on the
west shore of a side-channel on Knee Lake.
The huge, twig-constructed nest was on the top
of a decayed spruce tree, and contained one well-
grown young bird.

To-day was a lean one for securing specimens.
I note that it was remarkable that I saw no hawks
in this territory, and had not seen one since leaving
Lake lie a la Crosse — though up to that time
I had seen a fair number and had secured one or
two skins. It bears out that which I have always
experienced in Canada — that birds are remarkably

54 ON THE GREAT CHURCHILL RIVER

local, principally because, in my humble opinion,
in such a vast country, they are free to select
ground of nature most attractive to their habits
of feeding, and most remote from their natural
enemies. I do not include man and gun as
" natural " enemies, for they have invaded the
country after the habits of the birds were inherent.
Large numbers of some species, such as geese and
cranes, have had the wisdom to seek new haunts
north of the line of civilisation. All of the
edible species that remain within the settled
country, such as Sharp-tailed Grouse, Pinnated
Grouse, Ruffed Grouse, ducks of many species,
geese, and cranes — all are diminishing, some even
threatened with extinction, like the buffalo and
the Prong-horned Antelope ; and that though
the legitimate shooting season is open but for
two brief weeks in the Fall (autumn) of the year.
With extracts from my field diary I will follow
out the incidents of the remaining days we
voyaged down the Churchill River; extracts
which it is my hope will continue to serve to bring
before the mind's eye of the reader something
of the varied, wholly outdoor and untrammelled
aspect of this great northern waterway.

June 6. — Morning dull, threatening rain, high
wind from north-west. Astir before 5 a.m.
Cooked breakfast, and, as customary, the one
meanwhile struck tent and packed canoe ready
for embarking, while the other was employed over
the fire. Mosquitoes were very troublesome
when we came ashore last evening, and worried
us all through the night. At all times at this

MOSQUITO PESTS 55

season mosquitoes are in great numbers, but
when they are particularly bad — swarming and
biting with unshakable persistency — it is a certain
sign that rain is near. Those insects, and black-
flies and sand-flies at times, are the bane of summer
travel in Canadian north territory. Out on the
water they never trouble one, but on shore they
pounce on one from the vegetation that is there,
and are a constant jar to one's full pleasure. One
should never set out, as I thoughtlessly did,
without mosquito curtains ; I would never again
overlook to prepare against them. True they
carry no disease, but in numbers and capacity
to torment they far outstrip the malarial mosquito
in Africa (Anopheles) in my experience.

We reached the east end of Knee Lake between
9 and 10 a.m. There were there, close to the
exit from the lake, a small log cabin or two, on
the north shore and on an island. Those were
completely deserted of Indian or halfbreed : no
sound was there, no contented smoke curled
above the thatched roof to give welcome to lonely
voyageur hungry for companionship and the sound
of human voices. The inhabitants had gone, the
men taking with them their womenfolk and their
children, even their dogs. They had gone, per-
haps, to meet the Treaty Party, perhaps to pitch
their teepees at some favoured summer haunt
where fish and fowl and beast were sufficient to
feed them plentifully.

Invariably those log cabins of Indians are
built — as those here were — on a site remarkable
for the long stretches of water it commands :
the sharp bend of a river, or the junction of two

56 ON THE GREAT CHURCHILL RIVER

rivers, is most often chosen, where the hunter
inhabitant can obtain, without moving from his
door, an extensive view down at least two great
watercourses, and see, perhaps, the passing of
worthy game, and, seeing them, would then set
out in chase.

At this point of Knee Lake there was a pair of
ospreys nesting ; magnificent, masterful birds —
the " Fish Eagle " of the country. Their nest
was on the top of a dead jack pine on a drear
hillside scorched at some not long past date by a
runaway bush fire. There grew there now, among
the charred and blackened debris, the little ad-
venturings of new green growth ; an uprising of
little living things about the feet of the grave,
grey, dismantled masts of trees that were dead and
but monuments now of lives once lived.

When we were nearing the osprey's nest the
male bird was seen to approach, against the wind
on powerful wings, carrying in his talons as food
for the sitting female a small pike about twelve
inches long. This fish he carried not broadwise
to the wind, but held parallel to the body, and
with the head facing forward, so that it offered
little resistance to the wind.

About 10.30 a.m. we passed the mouth of
Haultain River, a stream from the north, about
300 feet wide where it empties into the Churchill
River over shallow sand-bars. Here, in the marsh
west of the river mouth, I spent some time ob-
serving bird-life. Five specimens were collected
during the afternoon, and three nests of eggs
were found.

It commenced to rain after midday and we got

A BALD EAGLE'S EYRIE.

56]

MANY BIRDS OBSERVED 57

miserably wet before evening. During the day
the following birds were observed : Leconte
Sparrow, Swamp Sparrow, Yellow-bellied Fly-
catcher, Yellow Warbler, Tree Swallow, Red-
winged Blackbird, Belted Kingfisher, Snipe,
Bittern, Mallard, Shoveller, Golden-eye, Blue-
winged Teal, Holboell Grebe, Black Tern, Crow,
Raven, Osprey.

June 7 (Sunday). — Awoke this morning after
a miserable night passed on water-soaked ground
in damp blankets. The activities of the mos-
quitoes on the 5th were sure forecast of rain, and
so rain had come. It rained all day, and we did
not attempt to move on but sat tight within
the shelter of my small silk tent. I skinned the
specimens I had collected yesterday, while Joe
did his best to nurse a spluttering fire before the
tent-door for the cooking of meals. Rain can be
a most disconcerting element when canoeing and
camping-out in this fashion, far from any settle-
ment ; a steady downpour will very soon find a
way into every conceivable corner, no matter
how well you have fancied you have taken pre-
cautions against it, and the result is that before
long you sit among your far-carried, dearly
valued possessions and see them in a state of
half ruin before your eyes. Then only sunshine
can lift your depression, and, in spite of your
unpleasant experience, when Old Sol breaks
through again you find yourself gaily arranging
your possessions before its heat, and looking
out on the world with a freshened optimism.
Rain was, however, by no means a constant
tyrant, for we experienced a beautiful summer

58 ON THE GREAT CHURCHILL RIVER

of sunshine with days of rain a rare excep-
tion.

June 8. — Morning overcast after a night of
heavy rain, but the heavy clouds cleared about
10 a.m. and the day thenceforward was bright
and pleasant; the air crystal-clear as the spark-
ling water, the whole North world pure with the
intense cleanness of virginity.

To-day we passed down the rapidless stretch
of river between Knee Lake and Sandy Lake :
a stretch sub-named Grassy River on account of
the waterway for some distance wending its way,
in three separate channels, through broad green
marsh. The chief incident of the day was the
finding of a colony of nesting terns on a low, plant-
barren, wave-washed island, full note of which
is given in the subsequent chapter of " Field
Notes." While on the island, some time was
spent photographing nests, and, thus delayed, we
were still short of Sandy Lake when night ap-
proached and necessitated our pitching camp on
the river bank.

June 9. — We breakfasted in rain, and struck
camp, to continue our canoe journey under the
same discomforting conditions. An hour after
leaving camp we emerged into Sandy Lake, and
throughout the day voyaged through it. Sandy
Lake bore out its name, containing many low
broad points and bays of beautiful sand. Indeed,
so clean and white were the shores in many
places that the lake was thereby of pleasing fresh
aspect in comparison with those already navi-
gated. Here, too, and on account of the compo-
sition of the beach, shore birds were found more

AN INDIAN SETTLEMENT 59

numerously than anywhere previously, and I
collected ten specimens ; among them a pair of
Sabine's Gulls, of which I saw three. These are
noteworthy, for they were the only specimens
of this species encountered throughout the expedi-
tion, and possibly they are quite rare in this
inland territory. Further west, some two hun-
dred and fifty miles, Ernest Thompson Seton and
Edward A. Preble made an expedition in 1907
down the Athabasca River and adjacent waterways,
and in their list of birds observed do not record
having seen a single specimen.1

Late in the afternoon, close to an island in the
north-east corner of Sandy Lake, we came on a
small settlement containing fourteen inhabi-
tants. Here (in the rude, unkept clothing of an
outdoor exile), we found a white trapper, by name
Hans Madson — a Danish-American married to an
English-Cree halfbreed woman. Not an old man,
this ruddy haired Dane of perhaps five-and-
thirty, yet were the customs of his race well-
nigh erased and his disposition imbued with
the habits and mannerisms of his redskin asso-
ciates : only in colouring and speech did trace
of his origin remain ; so far had he grown into
the likeness of his surroundings. His cabin was
empty of every luxury of food, and his eyes lit
hungrily when opportunity was given him to
receive a portion of sugar and prunes in exchange
for dried moose meat ; for his daily food was
little more than dried meat, and fresh or dried
fish, cooked without seasoning and eaten without
vegetable or bread of any kind. He was undis-

1 The Arctic Prairies, by E. Thompson Seton.

60 ON THE GREAT CHURCHILL RIVER

guisedly delighted to see us, and told us we were
the only whites he had seen since the Fall of the
previous year, when he had been out to Prince
Albert. He begged us to camp the night near
him, and this we did, sharing with him as real
a European meal as scant stores could furnish,
much to his satisfaction and gratitude.

The boom in black fox farming was at its height
in 1913 and 1914, and every good fox that could
be trapped alive in the wilderness was being caged
and sent east to Prince Edward Island for breed-
ing purposes. Like every other white trapper
in the Dominion of Canada, Hans Madson was
" fox crazy " : smitten with the mad desire for
great riches, as men are swept off a sane balance
who join in a great gold rush. He was obsessed
with the thought of digging out dens of priceless
black and silver cubs, or the offspring of black or
cross parents. Now, however, the cub season was
over, and his chance of success, for the time, was
gone. He had had no great luck — a few reds and
cross foxes he had taken — but, undaunted, still
he talked of the rare animals he had seen on
frozen lakes and in snowed-up forest, and of
others his Indian friends had reported ; and he
dreamed with true optimistic sporting keenness
of the possibilities of success when the next early
spring should approach.

June 10. — In the early morning we bade a good-
bye to Hans Madson, who looked on with melan-
choly visage at our departure : God knew when
next he would see a white man ! Not likely
another to pass his way this summer, nor any
summer, for he had pitched his camp off the route

SNAKE LAKE 61

of the red man's trail — off such trails as rare,
adventurous, self-exiled wanderers of the white
race turn curiously along one or two days in a
score of years. In olden days Indian tracks
from the Reindeer River — Foster River territory
radiated from the Hudson Bay post at lie a la
Crosse, and this stretch of the Churchill River
was a well-used main route, but later, a shorter
and easier north route developed to the Churchill,
from Cumberland House via Sturgeonweir River
to Frog Portage, and from Prince Albert via
Montreal River and Lac la Ronge to Stanley
Mission Post.

Soon after we had bidden farewell to Madson
the canoe entered the short stretch of river that
led on to Snake Lake and we ran Snake Rapid,
the only rough water on our course to-day.
Thenceforward the day was occupied in travell-
ing through Snake Lake, a lake of some twenty-
one miles length from western to eastern extreme.
The shores of this lake had some prominent forma-
tions of vertical sand-bank, or small cliffs ;
especially on the north-east shore. During the
day much bird-life was observed, and some nests
and eggs collected at points we landed at. To-
ward evening we camped well to the east of
Snake Lake within view of a solitary deserted
winter post of the Hudson Bay Company. This
day witnessed a favourable change in the weather,
for about noon the rain, which had been with us
for the last four days, gave place to clearing skies
and periods of sunshine. Charming was the
evening at our night camp: late western sun-
light rested with golden richness on the eastern
6

62 ON THE GREAT CHURCHILL RIVER

wooded shores, while below the curving, chang-
ing shore-line the broad lake water lay becalmed
and wholly placid and blue, and a perfect mirage
of leaved forest, scarred banks, spotless pebbles,
and dainty sandpipers was reflected on the imme-
diate lake margin. Overhead — with similar instan-
taneous sight, and marvellous quick-changing
flight of Swift or Swallow — swinging, plunging,
rising through the cool, balmy, rain-purified
air, flew a pair of Nighthawks, feeding on insects
the while they emitted their hoarse, grating call,
which is associated with summer evenings any-
where in Canada ; though perhaps most familiar
of all to those who camp outdoors by lake or forest.
Such sounds, and a few others, are inseparable
from Canadian wilderness ; typical in their own
country as the call of the Curlew or peevish
Lapwing on the dreary, wind-swept, highland
moors of the British Isles : such the maniacal^
laughing cry of the Loon (the Great Northern
Diver) heard on nearly all backwood freshwater
lakes ; such the eerie wolf -howl of the Coyote on
the western plains.

June 11. — A day of perfect weather — very plea-
sant for canoeing. Progress to-day was marred
by our missing our true course when east of the
deserted Hudson Bay Cabin. There we entered
a long false bay to the south of the turn beyond
the Post and had three hours' fruitless paddle to
and from its blank extreme before we were again
back on an open course, where we discovered a
slight sign of current to definitely point the way.

About 3.30 p.m. we entered Sandfly Lake, a
lake of lesser size than Snake Lake. This proved

SANDFLY LAKE 68

again to be a lake containing a great many
islands similar to Shagwenaw, Pelican, and Knee
Lakes of those we had thus far voyaged through
on the Churchill. Some of the islands were of
fair elevation and were wooded, others were low-
lying surfaces of rock and boulders with a scant,
ill-thriven growth of grass. We landed at a gr oup
of the latter where large colonies of terns and gulls
were nesting. Of those I made observations and
notes, and collected a few rare shore-birds.
Before departing we gathered some fresh eggs to
augment our food supplies, counting them a
great treat since they were a change from our
regular diet of bannock, salt pork, wild duck, and
pike. Pike and black and red Suckers were the
only fish I caught on the Churchill River — no
trout were seen ; not even on Trout Lake.

This day I observed a single Chipmunk — note-
worthy, as I had not before seen this pretty little
animal on the Churchill. A Porcupine was also
seen landing on the shore after swimming across
the expanse of water above Sandfly Lake. He
proceeded to climb a poplar tree to feed on buds
and leaves. This was the first occasion on which
I had seen this species in the water. It appeared
not to relish its immersion, for it shivered with
cold, and perhaps with fear, when it landed.

June 12. — We reached the exit from Sandfly
Lake in the afternoon and passed into swift-
flowing river where bad rapids were encountered
and canoe navigation became impossible. This
meant hard labour, but, as it was all in the day's
work on travel of this kind, we stuck to our task,
with the result that three rapids were overcome

64 ON THE GREAT CHURCHILL RIVER

and an open course lay before us at camping time.
At the first rapid — Pine Portage — we waded into
the water and let the canoe slowly down a shallow
branch of the river on the north side ; at the
second — Birch Portage — we portaged the canoe,
stores, and specimens overland through the wood
.on the south shore ; and at the third — Fall
Portage — we again portaged, but only over a
narrow twenty-yard rocky neck, to evade the fall
that was there, for the water below was navigable.
To travel, as we did, without an Indian guide
to lead exactly over the recognised route — which
is invariably the quickest and least laboursome
route, and the outcome of knowledge handed
down from one generation to another — meant
that when no human trace could be found on
shore, such as an old portage path, when naviga-
ting rapids, or where friction of feet had slightly
whitened a vague line over an exposed platform
of rock, we simply had to act on blunt individual
judgment in accomplishing our journey ; and
blundered on occasions and gave ourselves extra
labour. On rare occasions we saved labour, as
in this case, for a small map I possessed stated
that there were four portages at this part of the
river, while we only actually made two, though
a third would have been necessary had we not
succeeded in letting down the canoe at the top
rapid. However, travelling guideless as a rule
increases the labour and risks, and certainly
means loss of time ; yet, even so, there is some-
thing most attractive in attaining to complete
independence, complete freedom from reliance
on others, which is most typical of the primitive

SCOUTING ALONE—INDIANS APPRECIATION 65

spirit which the North makes known to you, and
approves. And, beyond the pleasure it gives
to be able to go where you list through the
wilderness, and risk what you list, the extra
labour you undertake has behind it, as all labour
that is difficult must have, a spiritual satisfaction
and reward : for among red men or black in
British colonies, the prestige of our race is surely
upheld by those who, when occasion arises, can
stand up alone, endure alone, and accomplish
alone, admitting no weakness to the eye of the
critical native. Many an Indian expressed great
surprise at my travelling unguided through their
boundless country. Foolhardy it must have
seemed to them who knew the difficulties and
dangers ; yet none called me a fool. Rather
were they ready to be my friends — not on account
of myself, but because their simple imagination
painted me like the adventurous White Chiefs of
our earliest settlement, who wandered far and
had great knowledge, and whom they were
willing to serve as subjects.

June 13. — Having secured some specimens
yesterday — among them an adult Northern Bald
Eagle — I was busily employed skinning all
morning.

After lunching we again pushed forward, our
course swinging well into the north-east up the
lake-like expansion that lies between Sandfly
Lake and Black Bear Island Lake. Passing the
neighbourhood of the mouth of the Foster River
— a river of considerable size flowing from the
north — no sign of its outlet was seen, and I have
since learned that that was because it empties

66 ON THE GREAT CHURCHILL RIVER

into the Churchill in the bottom of a deeply inlet
bay.

Toward evening we entered Black Bear Island
Lake through its maze of channels which flow
between the large islands that block its entrance
and obscure extensive viewr. Like the shadows of a
big problem were those islands which were crowded
in and almost made prison walls about us, leaving
us anxious to solve the riddle that would dis-
cover the doorway of escape and give again the
freedom of the open road. Nowhere do I recall
such another eerie, shut-in scene as this. But in
an hour or so we had worked our way through
to more open water and pitched camp for the
night on the north mainland of the lake, viewing,
across the shimmering, dead-calm water, and
over the tree-covered contour, a glorious sunset
among grey and white clouds that had retired
to the horizon from the great blue open sky.

No less ungenerous than on the days that have
gone before are my entries and remarks this
evening on mosquitoes and black flies. They
give no peace when on shore : they truly are the
curse of summer travel in Canada.

June 14. — A lovely morning ; calm, and clear,
and warm ; the continuance of a spell of fine
weather without drawback to voyaging. We
did not leave in the canoe at once this morning,
but explored in the dark forest behind camp
among fallen limbs and trunks lying about on
the rough, hillocky, moss- covered underbed of
the woods. Many of the trees were picturesquely
lichen-grown with whitish, close-clinging plant,
and with scattered tufts of hairy, moss-like, pale-

BLACK BEAR ISLAND LAKE 67

green plant. At the edge of the forest was an
eighteen-inch growth of green grass and weeds.
Forested hills sloped upwards from the north
shore of Black Bear Island Lake, and at the
summit in some cases an outcrop of rock and
large boulders protruded prominently. The lake
was some fourteen miles in length, and while
we remained on it we never quite forgot its some-
what frowning, shut-in aspect. Even birds
seemed to shun the neighbourhood, for few were
seen, and I recorded it the worst I had so far
travelled through in that respect. It has not
been common with me to hear the red squirrel's
chatter in this territory, but here I heard one
to-day. While speaking of creature sounds, I
am reminded that it was on this lake that I
first noticed the absence of frog-croaking in the
evenings, and it was not until reaching Stanley
Mission on June 23 that they were again heard.
Unfortunately I was too busily employed with
other subjects to investigate their apparent
absence from this area — a stretch of about seventy
miles of watercourse. No black bears were seen,
and in supporting its nomenclature this lake was
as disappointing as Pelican Lake. Probably,
when the course of the Churchill was mapped, a
black bear was seen on one of the islands of the
lake, and therefore the name — a name selected on
the spur of the moment, without perhaps grasping
any very great and permanent characteristic.
On the other hand, I, in my haste onward, might
easily miss such a characteristic, did it in reality
exist, therefore it is merely a passing personal
impression that I at present record. Had I been

68 ON THE GREAT CHURCHILL RIVER

the original surveyor I think I would have chosen
" Eerie Lake " as name for this strangely silent
expansion of dark water, wherein were closeted
ghost-like citadel islands, and wherein I never
quite threw off the impression that I had in-
truded on a sanctuary of spooks and fairies of
long-past ages.

June 15. — Day again fine. Noonday sun high
overhead, giving the broad earth fulness of
summer, and its living season of growth. How
blithely it lifts the spirit ! How different this to
the sun's low, short circuit in winter over land
then dormant !

Characteristic of the country are the cone-
peaked tops of Black Spruce on the sun-lit hill-
sides, their branches drooping down a little in
extending horizontally outward ; in this respect
differing from the White Spruce, which is more
straightly outgrowing.

Passed the rapid at Birch Portage about 3 p.m.
and entered Trout Lake. We let the canoe
down through the troublesome current at the
top of this rapid and ran the remainder. We
camped for the night on Trout Lake.

It is now twenty-four days since we left lie a
la Crosse Post.

Joe to-night caught a pike weighing seven and
a half pounds when trolling with a small blue
phantom minnow.

June 16. — Spent till noon to-day looking for
right course on Trout Lake. Yesterday headed
out north-easterly in following the small survey
map in my possession, but found no outlet. To-
day, in the forenoon, canoed down the east shore,

A STIFF STORM 69

poking into all side-inlets — but without avail,
and we lunched at Birch Rapids, from whence we
had started yesterday. From there we set out
dice north, and found our course through.

About 2.30 p.m. thunderstorm and squall broke
over us when in mid-lake, and gave us a rough
time until we reached inshore, where we lay
up until evening ; then travelling onward, when
the wind went down, late into the night. We
shipped a lot of water in mid-lake when struggling
against the great waves that arose, and at one
time feared for the safety of our craft, but
finally we got through with little more than a
thorough wetting to our persons, the stores and
specimens saved by the tarpaulin which I always
have laced over the canoe-centre against rain,
or spray when running rapids. Such a tarpaulin,
and a light platform to keep the kit rai% d off the
canoe bottom, are essential for protect^!) against
wet on long, rough journeys of this kit ^

Saw first two blooms of Wild B^se'^or Briar
to-day. rt^'

Dragon-flies are now about the shores, and
have been in evidence for the past three or four
days. They commonly fly back and forth at
height of the tree-tops (say 40 to 50 feet) or else
very low around the roots of the willows on shore ;
to rest on occasions out of the breeze on the sand
in the bays.

Daily I note ornithological observations, and con-
tinue collecting specimens, but these are omitted
here as I deal with them in a later chapter.

June 17. — Up at 3 a.m. and away early with the
desire to make up for time lost on Trout Lake.

70 ON THE GREAT CHURCHILL RIVER

Morning very dull and chilly, with wind from
the east — it looked like rain, but the sky cleared
later in the day and there was none. In early
morning entered the north channel of the two
riverways which run past the large island which
lies between Trout and Dead Lake. Here we
had to pass four rapids ; at the first two, Trout
and Rock Trout Rapids, it was necessary to run
ashore above and portage the canoe and kit
overland to quiet water below — laborious work
over the rough ground with the huge loads we
piled on our backs to lessen as far as possible
the number of journeys back and forth on the
portage trail. After we had finished at the
second rapid I put up my rod and fished the
deep, swirling pool at the top with a small
minnow, hoping that I might see trout. Here I
hooked two great fish, not trout, alas ! but pike.
The first one finally broke, taking the whole of
my tackle ; the second, after some twenty minutes'
play on my trout rod, I landed — a pike weighing
18 Ibs., measuring 3 ft. 5 j- in. in length. Hitherto,
until that canoe voyage, I had always looked
upon pike as an unclean, poor-quality-food fish ;
but on the Churchill River, and elsewhere, we
caught those fish almost daily at times, and
thoroughly relished eating them. Of course,
living as they did in clean cold water, those fish
were of particularly good quality, and, besides,
real hunger cures many a fanciful aversion.

Resuming our journey we ran Light Rock
Rapid and the nameless one below, having some
exciting moments on the latter, which was
stony and very rapid, and somewhat dangerous,

GREAT DEVIL RAPIDS 71

but through which our canoe travelled headlong,
like the wind, unscathed. And so out to Dead
Lake, the shores of which were high and rocky,
timbered as usual with willows, poplar, spruce
and pine. Camped for the night well to the
north-east of Dead Lake.

During the day, on a marsh in the river, we
saw a fox prowling, searching for fish or water-
fowl. Unaware of the canoe for a few moments,
the animal allowed us a full view of it, then, as it
saw us, but a glimmer of rusty red and white-
tipped brush as it leapt ashore with great bounds
through the marsh and into the forest. It is
not often that a fox is thus seen during the day
in summer, in the open, in country which is for
them one vast wilderness of forest cover.

June 18. — This morning we paddled out into
the south-east sun, while before us were the
silver-glinting, sun-lit waves that ran merrily
with a moderate breeze. The short remaining
distance on Dead Lake was soon covered, and we
again entered a connecting link of river — the
link between Dead Lake and Otter Lake. Here
we spent all day getting past rapids which had
principally to be portaged.

At Great Devil Rapid, the first of the rapids
here, we encountered tough opposition to travel.
Portage was necessary — a portage of excessive
length, which gave us incessant labour until
lunch-time in effecting the transport of the canoe
and stores down to the foot of the dangerous
water. The portage was sixty -four chains in
length, over rough, uneven ground, through
forest that skirted the banks of the river. Joe,

72 ON THE GREAT CHURCHILL RIVER

heavily laden, made three trips over this portage,
and I five, for, fitting in our work to save time,
as we always did, I went back for a load while
Joe prepared lunch, and again for a final one when
he washed up and packed our belongings in the
canoe. Therefore the distance Joe travelled on
that rough portage amounted to almost five miles,
and mine to eight miles — all over rough country ;
and one-half of those distances, the down-trail
half, accomplished while carrying heavy loads.
Thus you can conceive the nature of hard river
work which the voyageur has to contend with
— work so hard that I think it can truthfully be
said that no white man can accomplish it who
is not accustomed to it. Hardened though I
had been with previous outdoor life on the Saskat-
chewan Plains, I well remember how tiny my first
packs seemed in comparison to Joe's 60 Ibs. to
100 Ibs., and how I perspired and laboured with
them, and how impossible it seemed that I should
ever be able to carry such a load as he did. Yet
to-day my loads could equal his — so can man
harden his will and muscle to any task in the
face of necessity.

Overcoming Great Devil Rapid was our morn-
ing's work, but there our difficulties were by no
means at an end, for we found we had yet two
more portages to make this day, each necessitating
the unloading of the entire contents of the canoe,
the carrying of heavy loads to the bottom of
each portage, and, finally, the carefully balanced
repacking of everything into our frail craft, so
that we would, each time we embarked, enter
the water snugly compact and weather-worthy.

PIKE STOLEN BY BEAR 73

Below the third portage we camped for the
night, after having there cut and cleared a
portage pathway through the forest, as we failed
to find any old track made by Indians. The
river above this rapid broke into more than one
channel, and apparently they evade this last
rapid by taking through, or portaging, at one
of the other branches. No one could run the
water we encountered in a canoe.

Fished with fly in river to-night, but saw no
sign of trout. Caught 5-lb. pike on minnow.

Shot two specimens — a Northern Raven and
a Grey-Cheeked Thrush.

June 19. — Mosquitoes and black flies were
particularly virulent last evening ; it was
calm and close — omens of a weather change, and
sure enough all to-day it rained heavily. In the
morning we decided it was too wet to travel
on account of portages ahead where stores would
be soaked were we to uncover them for pack
transport overland.

So we stayed in camp all day, I skinning and
looking over my case of specimens, Joe cooking
meals over a spluttering fire, and baking a few
days' supply of sour-dough bannock from the
sack of flour.

The 5 Ib. pike caught last evening was gone
in the morning from the tree on which it had been
hung. A bear had taken it, for claw marks were
on the bark where the thief had reached up to
plunder our larder. I could well imagine the
brute in the dead of night contentedly licking
over its lips when it had finished the meal as it
ambled away into the forest, well pleased at

74 ON THE GREAT CHURCHILL RIVER

scenting and finding such easy prey ; perhaps
almost laughing up its sleeve at our impending
discomfiture.

June 20. — We awoke to find the rain-storm
past, and, refreshed with yesterday's rest in
camp, we made an early start, embarking at
4.30 a.m.

Soon the great easy-flowing river narrowed,
and we heard ahead the unceasing rumble of
falling water — we were coming to Otter Rapid.
Arriving there, and after making the usual care-
ful survey of the agitated waters, we decided
that no likely channel presented itself that could
be run ; therefore we would attempt to let the
canoe down along shore very close in to the bank.
Into the water we got, clothes and all, till it
swept high and forcibly against our thighs, one
grasping the canoe forward, the other astern.
The shore proved rough to let craft down :
strong side-swinging inshore waves and eddies
caught and strained the canoe, and almost swept
us off our feet as slowly, feeling for precarious
foothold, we carefully stepped and stumbled
along over the rocks and boulders and pockets
of the river-bed. Nearing the foot of the rapid
we made a short portage across a rocky point and
in doing so cleared the last stretch of troublesome
water. Soaked to the skin were our lower bodies,
from our jacket pockets down ; but we never
changed into dry clothes, for we were inured to
this sort of thing, and garments were few. We
shivered somewhat on occasions when we first
got into the canoe again after being in the water,
but soon wind and sun, and the heat of our

FROM ROCK LAKE TO STANLEY 75

bodies, dried up the clammy, uncomfortable
wetness. Hardly a day passed that we kept
dry throughout.

Below Otter Rapid was Otter Lake, and by
lunchtime we had almost completed the distance
on this nine-mile expanse of water, which was
full of high, wooded islands distributed in great
profusion, as on other lakes which I have pre-
viously described.

About 2 p.m., on entering the river channel
between Otter Lake and Rock Lake, we en-
countered more rapids. Here again we took like
deer to the water and let the canoe down Stony
Mountain Rapid ; then passing on to Mountain
Rapid, which we had to portage. Below this
latter rapid we cooked the evening meal ; but
did not camp, for we were neaiing Stanley
Mission, and, excitedly eager for the society of
mankind after our long, lonely spell on the canoe
trail, had agreed to keep on and attempt to
reach the post to-night. A twelve-mile sheet of
open water lay before us through Rock Lake —
no more rapids between this and the Post.

Memorable were the last two hours outside
Stanley Mission. Southwards down Rock Lake
we paddled in the full content of a perfect Northern
evening, praying wind would not rise to detain our
eager passage, lilting snatches of half-forgotten
popular songs, snatches of Joe's French-Canadian
songs of the Ottawa River, even snatches of
the old Scotch airs of boyhood were amongst
our mutual repertoire this evening : each timidly
singing with rusty, unskilled voice, but each
voicing surely the lifting of spirits from the

76 ON THE GREAT CHURCHILL RIVER

gloom of lonely days now that we anticipated
meeting kinsfolk. Without fault, as luck would
have it, we steered a true course down the lake,
which appeared less irregular and confusing than
many of the others, and late in the evening, after
hours of unceasing paddling, we came upon
narrowing shores which promised the foot of the
lake and the location of Stanley Mission. The
light in the western sky lay low on the horizon ;
the shores to the right and left darkened to solid
blackness ; the air and the water were alike
becalmed. In through the last long stretch of
lake glided the solitary canoe, our two figures,
dark in the dusk, rocking slightly as we flicked
the paddles methodically in and out of the
water with easy, almost careless strokes — action
that was habit after months on the water. At
last two light-coloured dwellings gleamed dimly
on an inland bay to the south, promise at last of
the settlement we sought. Into the bay we
glided ; noiselessly we stole inshore with the
stealth peculiar to canoeing. Eagerly we listened,
but no human voice was there to give us welcome
— we had not been observed, and apparently the
inhabitants had gone indoors to sleep. . . .
A disconsolate sled-dog, on a distant shore, gave
forth a long, coyote-like howl . . . then, again,
deadly silence. We stopped paddling before an
Indian teepee that was just discernible on the
dark shore and called out. No answer came. . . .
Again I spoke ; footsteps shuffled, and there
was a murmur of gruff voices within the teepee ;
then an Indian hailed us, but in response to my
question, asking direction to the white trader's

A SURPRISE WELCOME % 7t

dwelling, he made no response — he did not
understand my tongue. . . . Down the shore
a door creaked, suspense a moment, then a clear
woman's voice rang out in English. We were
dumbfounded. Was there a white woman here ?
There must be. . . . l Clearly the voice directed
us. How sweet it sounded here, how welcome
the assuring instructions ! — for we were dog-tired
after our long day (eighteen hours in all), and
eager to land and camp.

June 21, 22, and 23. — During those days we
camped at Stanley Mission Post ; the 21st was
a Sunday, and we took things easy, on the 22nd
much time was spent at the Hudson Bay Com-
pany's post, replenishing supplies, while on the
23rd it rained heavily, and unfortunately delayed
our restarting for a day.

Throughout the period we were at Stanley
Post our chief care was to protect our tent and
belongings from the sled-dogs of the settlement.
They were a downright pest, so bad that Joe
and I had to take it in turns to stay at home and
sit on the doorstep, so to speak, to defend our
belongings against their attentions. We lost a
few little things to begin with, in spite of our care,
but the culminatng offence that brought our
wrath down on them was when on the night of
the 23rd they raided our tent while we slept and
devoured six loaves of bread which the half breed
woman at the Post had that day kindly baked
for us as a particular delicacy, and which were

1 Next day we found there was a lady teacher at the Mission
engaged in educating dusky half breed and Indian children,
and that it was she who had spoken to us.

7

78 ON THE GREAT CHURCHILL RIVER

to have been our main food supply for the next
month on the trail.

There was no Factor at the Hudson Bay Post,
for he was south at the Lac La Ronge Post at
the time, and purchase of stores was made
through his halfbreed wife, who spoke Cree well,
but only a very little broken English, so that
conversation was carried on with difficulty ; for
at this time I knew but a few words of Cree.
There was only one more Hudson Bay Post be-
tween Stanley and my ultimate objective in the
north — that of Fort Du Brochet at the far end
of Reindeer Lake — so here at Stanley I replenished
my stores to the extent of 150 Ibs. from the
standard variety common to all fur-trading posts.
Selecting a limited quantity of almost every
available edible article in the store, my purchases
were : — Two 24 Ib. sacks of flour, 25 Ibs. " Hard-
tack " ship biscuits, 5 Ibs. rice, 5 Ibs. beans, 15 Ibs.
bacon, 8 Ibs. salt pork, 5 Ibs. sugar, three cans of
syrup, 3 Ibs. evaporated apples, 2 Ibs. baking
powder, 2£ Ib. bag of fine salt, 2 cakes of soap,
\ Ib. cut tobacco, | Ib. black plug tobacco, three
hundred 12 -bore cartridges, one spoon troll for
pike, one tump line (for roping and carrying loads
over portage), two yards mosquito net, and one
pair of socks.

The Provincial Government had arranged with
the Hudson Bay Company, previous to my depar-
ture, to take care of and transport whatever speci-
mens I collected on the expedition, so at their
trading post I packed 57 skins and 47 eggs for
shipment, those I had taken since passing lie a
la Crosse post.

STANLEY MISSION POST 79

Stanley Mission Post is at an abrupt angle of
the Churchill River, for the down-trending waters
flow unseen through Rock Lake in an almost due-
south direction to narrow, then expand to broad
river width, at Stanley, and swing again into its
natural easterly course. The scattered settlement
is on both banks of the river, north-west and
south-east ; however, the greater number of mud-
plastered cabins and canvas-covered teepees (wig-
wams), and the Protestant church and mission,
are on the north-west shore. There is one
island in the bay opposite the north-west shore.
Wooded hills are behind the settlement, while
on the low ground there is clay soil in which
good potatoes are grown. I noticed Dandelions
growing here, and surmised they had been
brought up at some time in potatoes or other
foreign seed. Stanley Mission Post is the largest
settlement north of the Churchill River. It
contains about two hundred inhabitants, men,
women, and children ; and about twice that
number of dogs. Very few of the natives are
pure Indians, nearly all being a variety of castes
of halfbreed. All speak Cree. The Post, owing
to its geographical position, might almost be said
to be on the outer fringe of the Frontier, for it is,
though distantly, in touch with the large northern
town of Prince Albert through the route which
lies directly south, some two hundred miles in
length, via La Ronge Lake and Montreal River :
therefore the race of Indians is affected by contact
with civilisation, as almost all Indians are to-day,
except in the most remote and furthest-north
territories which they inhabit — affected in purity,

80 ON THE GREAT CHURCHILL RIVER

in physique, in reserve, and the quiet grace of
race which indubitably marks, and marked, the
full-blooded Indian.

Of our two great religions the Catholic faith
appears to be the stronger pioneer on the out-
skirts of civilisation in North-west Canada, and
beyond, for at a great many surprisingly remote
stations of the Hudson Bay Company it has
established missions where priests work faithfully
alone among the few somewhat pagan inhabitants
that constitute | their (charge. Therefore one
comes to take Catholic missions as a matter of
course on the north trails, but here, at Stanley,
was a less common institution — a long-established
Protestant mission which at the time of its begin-
ning must have been a great pioneering venture
on the part of the mission, and missionary,
which undertook it, and even now could give
to a man exiled from his kind, and the customs
of his kind, but little comfort and reward except-
ing a measure of satisfaction to earnest con-
science and devout determination. The highest-
up habitation on the hillside on the north-west
shore is the mission house, while the church,
dominant and outstanding in this place of tiny
dwellings, is erected on the east margin of the
settlement, near to the shore. Inhabitants of
Stanley say the church was built sixty-five years
ago, and as it is the most pretentious erection
north of the Churchill, and has been so for many
years, I will endeavour to describe it. The archi-
tecture, if it could be so called, was crude, almost
barn-like ; such as could be described was Gothic
in design. The church was constructed with

DESCRIPTION OF CHURCH 81

timber above the foundations, which were of
rough stone imbedded in and plastered with clay.
The main aspect was that which most churches
bear in greater or less proportions — a tower rising
high over the entrance ; a nave forming the main
body of the church, lighted from clerestory win-
dows ; and narrow side-aisles behind columns,
and below roofs intaking to the upper walls.
There was a small vestry in the rear, but no
transept, and so the pulpit stood on the right
of the congregation at the head of the nave.
There were seats in the nave, and bare forms
against the walls in the side-aisles, while in a
space in the nave at the rear stood a simple,
antique-looking font, which I thought the most
beautiful thing in that strange place of worship.
The whole was impressive, since it was obviously
the outcome of the rude labours of necessity of
men who wished beyond all else to advance the
faith of God to the outermost corners of the
world. A large wood-burning stove stood at
either end of the nave, for heating purposes in
winter, and from those stoves unconcealed gal-
vanised smoke-funnels ran overhead to find an
exit finally in the roof; the whole being one of
those harsh, incongruous necessities that one
finds in out-of-the-way places and which are
most disturbing to one's sense of good taste.
The church, well packed, could seat two hundred
people. All hymn-books were printed in the
Cree language. The whole interior of the church
was kept in some degree of preservation with paint,
paint that, alas ! in effect was almost vivid rather
than gravely peaceful ; again, no doubt, a

82 ON THE GREAT CHURCHILL RIVER

circumstance occasioned by necessity — lack of
colours to select from, and the impossibility of
having an accurate blend sent in to that remote
station by any but a particularly enthusiastic
craftsman. The walls, and ceilings between the
rafters, were painted pale blue ; the column
white ; and, for the rest, all woodwork was
painted dark reddish-brown — the cornice, the
column caps, the window-frames, the roof-rafters,
and the seating — while the window openings
contained leaded glass divided into small oblong
panes of red, yellow, blue, green, purple and
white in glaring contrasts. I came again outside,
and was almost glad of the grave greyness and
ill repair of the exterior, which appeared to be
in the last stage of decay ; moss growing on the
weather-beaten, paintless grey boarding, and
many places broken and growing to an open
wound.

Leaving the church, the door was closed and
secured with a piece of string tied to a nail.

June 24. — It was daybreak at 2 a.m. and the
rain was easing outside the tent. By 4 a.m. we
were hauling up tent-pegs and preparing to
leave Stanley. There was a light wind from the
north, but it was dull and cold— more like Fall
weather than that of June. Small openings of
clear sky showed scantily through dreary, dull-
grey clouds — disclosures more blue than any of a
common summer's day, and it is probably on
account of the strangely cold atmosphere that
there is such brilliancy to-day.

Proceeding on our way down the Churchill
River, we soon^came to Grave Rapids, below

RAPID RIVER LAKE 88

Stanley Mission, and nearly upset the canoe in
running them. We were running the rapid on
the left of the swells that surged down the middle,
when, in a flash, we were too far into them, and
shipped a canoe-load of water before we righted
on our course and fled on swiftly to the foot of the
rushing water. Then, lurching heavily, we pad-
dled ashore and emptied the canoe, finding as
before that the canvas cover had saved most of
our provisions and kit from the water.

Thereafter, after some delay in finding the
inlet, we came on through Rapid River Lake.

About 2 p.m. we portaged at the rapid above
Drinking Lake and again had lake expanse before
us and an unobstructed stretch of water through
which we made good progress. The shores of
Rapid River Lake and Drinking Lake were
similar to those previously passed, except that
neither were very confusing in outline.

At 4.30 p.m. we reached the foot of Drinking
Lake and made a portage at the entrance to the
narrows above Key Lake, where an island
separates the river into two channels : a large
main channel and a small channel. Down on
the rapid water of the latter we ran in the canoe,
thus evading the fall which obstructed passage
at the foot of the other channel. Here we camped
for the night within hearing of the pleasant sound
of tumbling, hurrying water, well satisfied with
our long day, for we had covered about twenty
miles as the crow flies and overcome three rapids.
A number of birds were noted, but none collected,
since they were either commonplace, or of species
I had already collected.

84 ON THE GREAT CHURCHILL RIVER

June 25. — On the water about 6 a.m. and pro-
ceeding onward through Key Lake.

About 11.30 a.m. we reached the bottom of the
lake, where we portaged overland at Key Falls.

Below the falls, going quietly downstream, we
came on a very large brown bear. The bear, when
first seen, was wading belly-deep in the water on
the outside of some reeds on the north shore on
the prowl for fish — suckers or pike, which such
animals capture by striking at in the water in
lightning scrap fashion. Providence or sense of
danger stirred in the brute while we watched,
for it waded leisurely ashore and disappeared into
the bush before we had even planned how to get
near enough for shooting. The animal gave no
sign of having seen us or scented us, and so we were
induced to paddle down on to the south shore of
the river, and go into hiding opposite where it had
been hunting on the chance of its returning.
There we lay up for two hours, but our patience
was unavailing, and disappointed we resumed our
journey at the end of that time.

In the late afternoon we made a portage at
Grand Rapids and camped for the night at the
lower end. The portage at this rapid was a long
one, nearly half a mile in length.

Again and again I am prompted to exclaim in
admiration of the vastness of the Churchill River.
After twenty-four days on the great waterway,
her lakes and rapids have not lost one whit of
their impressive strength and grandeur ; unbridled
force running wild ; powerful water-power
worth many a man's kingdom if only it were
within the boundary of civilisation. In such a

POSSIBILITIES OF COUNTRY 85

trend of thought one is apt to try to look into the
far-distant future and wonder what changes
another century will bring and to what industries
mankind will turn when they assail this virgin
country. Lumbering, though the timber is
small in comparison to the great trees in British
Columbia and elsewhere, will probably be the
first industry to be taken up, while rich minerals
may be found, and good agricultural land ;
though on the river bank I saw no promise of the
latter, much of the ground surface of the forest
being bare rock and boulder where sand takes
the place of soil. But no living white man yet
knows what the interior of the vast northern
territory holds ; inland there may be great
tracts of soil suitable for agriculture. Only the
waterways, where summer canoeing is possible,
have been roughly surveyed. Beyond them the
maps remain a great blank space.

During the day I collected some specimens of
birds and found a number of nests. In the
evening I caught a pike weighing 3|lbs., which I
was astonished to find had an adult Cedar Wax-
wing in its stomach. Dissolution had not set in,
the bird was intact, and easily identified. Wax-
wings prey much on insects, and I fancy this
bird had dipped to the water surface in pursuit
of a beetle or shadfly, and the ravenous pike had
on the instant risen and seized it.

At dusk I took my rifle and went quietly back
on the portage path to the top Grand Rapid in
the hope of seeing bear, but had no luck, though
bears at this season of the year frequent such
places if they are in the neighbourhood to prey

86 ON THE GREAT CHURCHILL RIVER

on the shoals of black and red suckers, many of
which are easily cornered and captured in shallow
channels and pools in the angular, rocky steps
of a fall.

June 26. — To-day we travelled Island Lake,
the last lake expansion between us and the mouth
of the Reindeer River, where our journey on the
Churchill would end. Island Lake held beauti-
ful scenery. After leaving the east end of the
lake, which was something like many of the
others in rough shores of bewildering outline,
there lay before us a wide expanse of water, the
clean-cut shores of which had straight distances
of green grass and coniferous tree-trunks rising
perpendicularly from the earth, their bases un-
screened by willows. Nearing the north-west
end of the lake there were a few pretty islands
where bright grass blended with the darker green
of shapely poplar trees. The water of the lake
was clear, so clear that it sometimes permitted a
view of the clean, stony bottom through a good
depth of water.

In the afternoon, after spending some time
searching through one or two of the islands, we
reached the end of Island Lake and there located
Frog Portage on the south shore opposite an
island, where the river takes a sharp turn into
the north-east. Frog Portage is an overland
link into Lake of the Woods, which is the north
end of the Sturgeonweir River route, that runs
150 miles south to Cumberland House and thence
forty-five miles east to The Pas in northern
Manitoba, where, for the present, terminates
the railway service on the Canadian Northern

MINK CAPTURES LARGE EEL 87

branch now under construction to Hudson Bay.
I made particular note of the position of Frog
Portage, which was difficult to discern until you
are almost upon it — as, indeed, are all Indian
trails — and I cut a large blaze on a solitary tree
which stood on a bare point on the east shore
after resuming our journey, so that I would be
warned when I approached it on my return and
might be sure of finding it, for it was by the above
route that I intended to return to civilisation at
some distant date in the future.

There were some Crees camped at Frog Por-
tage : four teepees containing one deaf old man
and a number of women and children. With the
exception of the old man the male inhabitants
were away " freighting " stores north from
Pelican Narrows for the Hudson Bay Company.
I photographed the gipsy-like dwellings, after I
had overcome the old man with a gift of tobacco,
to the seeming consternation of the female in-
mates, who in their acute shyness reminded me
somewhat of alarmed sheep.

Leaving Frog Portage behind we continued
onward in a more north-east direction than hither-
to, until approaching darkness bid us camp.

To-day I saw a Mink swimming rapidly ashore
with prey in its mouth. With my shot-gun I
fired near to the animal as it landed, and it
dropped what it carried, which proved to be an
eel fifteen inches long, showing by deep-sunk
teeth-marks that the strong, squirming thing had
been held in vice-like grip across the head to
subdue it and prevent its escaping. To-day, too,
I again saw a Porcupine swimming in the water.

88 ON THE GREAT CHURCHILL RIVER

Previously, on June 11, I had noted a similar
occurrence.

June 27. — This was our last day on the Churchill
River, for about 2 p.m., after portaging at
Kettle Falls, we came to the mouth of Reindeer
River and turned north up that broad stream of
crystal- clear water that cut a well-defined line
where it joined the more brownish water of the
Churchill.

Stiff paddling henceforth lay ahead : against
current we must now journey onward ; no longer
was our course downstream.

Somewhat reluctantly we bid good-bye to the
stream whose name and character had grown
familiar and given us pleasure, and thereafter
faced the dim trail into the distant North.
Always, on such travelling as this, the familiar
scene and the knowledge and experience you
collect go back to the Past, while ahead, round
each bend, and island, and point in your course,
lies the alluring, unravelled unknown of the
Future. So like our lives ! — the plan unfinished,
the map of our course to be drawn as each day
leads onward. Unseeing what is in front of
us, yet in faith picturing scenes as we imagine
them to be, and as we would like best to find
them.

But so far as the Churchill River was concerned
our travels there were ended, at least for the
present. We had voyaged by lake and stream for
forty-seven days, twenty-seven of which had been
spent on the broad, beautiful waterway which I
have endeavoured to describe.

Below I give a summary of the Churchill

River from Lake lie
River :

RAPIDS ON RIVER 89

la Crosse to Reindeer

Locality.

Approximate
Distance.

Rapids on River.

Shagwenaw Lake

3 miles across

1st Rapid : ran.

head of lake

River below Shag-

22 £ miles .

2nd Rapid — locally named

wenaw Lake

•' Drum Rapid " : made short

portage.

3rd Rapid : ran. (Mudjatick

River Mouth below this rapid.)

4th and 5th Rapid : let canoe

down close in on south shore.

6th Rapid, Pelican Rapid,

locally named " Dipper Rapid,"

a bad rapid : portage over

quarter of a mile.

Pelican Lake .

61 miles

across centre

though

southerly

length 12£

miles.

Primeau Lake .

9 miles.

River below Primeau

5 miles.

1st Rapid, Crooked Rapid : ran.

Lake

2nd Rapid, Knee Rapid : made

short portage over the rocks at

the worst part and ran the

remainder.

Knee Lake .

15 miles.

River below Knee

18 miles.

No rapids.

Lake

Sandy Lake .

6 miles across

though 10J

miles in

SW.— NW.

length.

River below Sandy

3£ miles.

Snake Rapid : ran.

Lake

Snake Lake

21 miles.

No river below. No apparent

current where lake-bottom nar-

rows.

Sandfly Lake .

11 miles.

River and unnamed

9 miles .

1st Rapid, Pine Portage : let

lake below Sandfly

canoe down shallow branch on

Lake

north bank.

2nd Rapid, Birch Portage : por-

taged on south shore.

3rd Rapid, Fall : portaged about
twenty yards over short neck

of land.

Foster River. Mouth concealed at

north end of an unnamed lake

expansion below above rapids.

90 ON THE GREAT CHURCHILL RIVER

Locality.

Approximate
Distance.

Rapids on Eiver.

Black Bear Island

13 1 miles.

Lake

River below Black

10£ miles

Birch Portage : portage about

Bear Island Lake

250 yards, but we let down

canoe at head of rapid and ran

the remainder.

Trout Lake

9 miles.

River below Trout

7 miles.

1st Rapid, Trout Rapid : made

Lake

short portage.

2nd Rapid, Rock Trout Rapid :

made portage of about 250

yards.

3rd Rapid, Light Rock Rapid:

ran.

4th Rapid : ran ; but the rapid

very stony and dangerous.

Dead Lake .

6 miles.

River below Dead

10£ miles

1st Rapid, Great Devil Rapid :

Lake

portage nearly a mile in length.

2nd Rapid, Little Devil Rapid :

made two portages. Cut new

portage path at last : this

portage is apparently evaded

by the Indians, who may use

one of the other channels

here formed by islands.

3rd Rapid, Otter Rapid : portage
about half a mile long, but we

let canoe down along shore

until near foot of rapid, then

made short portage over rocky

point. It proved a rough,

difficult river-bottom to wade

down.

Otter Lake

9 miles.

River below Otter

1 mile .

1st Rapid, Stony Mountain

Lake

Portage : short portage, but

we did not use it, for we let

canoe down> side-channel.

2nd Rapid, Mountain Portage :

made short portage.

Rock Lake . ; .

12 miles.

Stanley Mission Post at lower

end of this lake.

River below Rock

£ mile .

Grave Rapid : ran ; but nearly

Lake

upset in swells in middle of

rapid — on being drawn into

them by current.

Rapid River Lake .

12 miles.

River below Rapid
River Lake

£ mile.

Fall : portaged over quarter of
a mile.

Drinking Lake

7 miles.

RAPIDS ON RIVER

01

Locality.

Approximate
Distance.

Rapids on Elver.

River below Drink-

2 miles .

Island Portage : made portage

ing Lake

at entrance of narrows, then

ran down in side-channel, thus

evading falls at foot of main

channel.

Key Lake

9£ miles.

River below Key
Lake

2 1 miles . .

Key Falls : made short portage.
Grand Rapids : made portage

of about half a mile.

Island Lake or Trade

10 miles.

Lake

River below Island

2 6 miles. >.

Kettle Falls: made short por-

Lake to mouth of

tage on west bank.

Reindeer River

CHAPTER V

REINDEER LAKE AND FORT DU BROCKET

REINDEER Lake ! Fort Du Brochet ! Names
remote on the map of Canada, names situated in
that Far Northern hinderland where so few have
come into being that each denominates a kingdom
of virgin country which lies, unknown to our
race, on all sides of the point that has been
discovered. To me such names are big with
possibilities, big with the attraction of things
mysterious, big because they shelter a country that
is waiting the races of the future. Yet to you, no
doubt they are mere names of Lake and Post to
be glanced over and forgotten, and given back to
the gigantic soundless wastes of semi-Arctic
Canada. Because they are hidden away in far-off
distance they hold what fame they have in the
still unravelled clouds, and the secretive silence,
of the ever-passing years.

Reindeer Lake is between longitudes 102° and
103° and extends north to latitude 58°. It is a
vast sheet of water which stretches 140 miles
north and south, and forty miles across where its
width is greatest. It is in a country of rock, and
muskeg and low-lying hills which are filled with
silence and unseen cieatures.

The lake contains countless islands (some
thousands) which are wooded, as are the land

92

BEAUTY OF REINDEER LAKE 93

shores, with the strong character of dark-peaked
Spruce and Scrub Pine, and a few Tamarac and
Birch. The island shores, which are bordered
with Willows at the fringes of the forest, are
rugged and grey with rock and boulders, brightly
relieved for occasional stretches with long low
bays and points of spotless, warm-toned sand.
Distant stretches of water open up between the
islands, low smoke-blue hills show faintly in the
distance, miniature traceries of dark trees rise,
like masted ship, out of reflecting shadows on the
far lake surface where hidden islands lie, and
right out, as if at the end of the world, the waters
die away into the clouds where no land is in
sight. It is a wonderful lake of hidden distances
which appear and disappear in all directions
behind the foreland, as onward you travel through
a truly bewitching fairyland. And over the
clear blue waters of the lake, reaching far into
the great distances, reaching even beyond into
unseen but imaginable places, there reigns im-
pressively the weight and solemnity of an unseen
Spirit. It is the Spirit of the North — silent
grandeur, and vastness, and untouched purity
of a Virgin Land lending awe and greatness to
Creation. It is the dominance of that Spirit which
makes man feel, when in the great grave presence
of it, how impotent, how insignificant a part of
the Universe he is, and how humble he should be.

There are two Trading Posts on Reindeer Lake :
one, a winter post, is on Big Island at the south
end at the head of Reindeer River; the other,
Fort Du Brochet, the chief Post of the territory,
is on the north mainland near the mouth of the
8

D4 REINDEER LAKE AND PORT DU BROCKET

Cochrane River. The two Posts are, depending
on wind, five to six days' canoe journey apart,
while the York Boat of the Hudson Bay Company
— a cumbersome, wide-beamed sailing craft of
some forty-foot keel — with following wind (and
the Indian crew always wait for such a wind when
about to make the voyage), and travelling day and
night, can accomplish the distance in two days.

It was in mid- July that Joe and I in our solitary
canoe approached the north end of Reindeer
Lake and sought the inlet which would hold some
sign of habitation.

Night was creeping down over the earth, and
the shores were darkening to blackness when our
journey on the lake drew to a close and we neared
the Post of Fort Du Brochet. The gladness of
a summer's day was folding its spirit in repose,
and the inflexions of a score of tiny nature
sounds were fading away into the darkness,
though still the strained ear caught the laughing
trickle of water against the canoe and the low-
speaking lap of the gentle waves as they came and
went with the lazy northern breeze. Our
approach was unheralded, and the lone canoe
stole softly inshore, where cabins stood solemnly
silhouetted against the wistful sky. Dim figures
moved on shore to the left, and low voices, in
native conversation, rose — then died away. Stars
peeped out, and the Northern Lights grew clear
in the overhead sky. A rising fish splashed — and
another. . . . Then silence reigned.

The canoe was run in on the sand close by the
shadowy landing, and my companion and I stepped
ashore to pick our way up the rough path to the

BUTTERFLIES ON MOIST SHORE SAND OF REINDEER LAKE.

THE LANDING AT FORT DU BROCHET.

FORT DU BROCKET 95

Fort. Night settled down to death-like silence.
. . . The Spirit of the North was in the air, and
in the solitude of the lonely Post. .

After rounding an island promontory Fort Lu
Brochet is approached, where its scanty settle-
ment of miniature dwellings stands grave and
grey in one of those hidden inlet bays so common
to all waterways of the rugged North. The small
gathering of teepees and cabins shows suddenly
and at close range before the vision of the voya-
geur, and he welcomes them, after his long, hard
journey through unpeopled country, as an unex-
pected find. He exclaims with pleasure at the sight
of habitations, and excitedly anticipates the joy
of conversation with the white or half breed
trader at the Fort. It is the way of men on the
outer trails to be delighted with such rare meetings
with mankind, for as they gain the freedom of the
wilderness the mind looks ever back to its harvest
of memories of companionship, and looking back
grows ever hungrier for the voices of their kind.
Those primitive shelters, artless and somewhat
uncompromising in line and colour, are therefore
as welcome to the traveller as at other times
might be the comfortable bungalow of a civilised
home. Indeed, it is possible they are more wel-
come, for in the Silent Places men learn a greater
appreciation than in a world of ease.

The small, log-hewn, square-built cabins are
weather-beaten and grey like time-worn boulders
on the wayside, and stand solitary as sentinels
on a bare, treeless, grass-grown knoll. The Fort
— the buildings of the Hudson Bay Company,

96 REINDEER LAKE AND FORT DU BROCKET

comprising a house, a trading store, and an assort-
ment of outhouses — stands dominant on the
highest ground on the extreme east of the knoll.
To the west, strange to say, is a tiny Catholic
mission and church ; the latter cross-planned, as
is the Roman custom, notwithstanding its insigni-
ficant size and crude workmanship. At some
little distance from the mission is the Trading
Store of the " French Company " (Revillion
Brothers), rival traders to the Hudson Bay Com-
pany, who here established a footing some ten
years ago. There are six cabins in the settle-
ment occupied by part-blood or full-blood Indians,
who are at intervals in summer and winter em-
ployed in the transport of furs and stores for the
trading companies. White fungus-like tents,
in awkward discord with natural colours, are
pitched here and there along-shore. They are
the temporary shelters of the ever wandering
Chipewyans, for alas ! the days of the mahogany-
coloured, smoke-soiled deer-skin (caribou or
moose-skin) teepees have almost gone, and their
peaked pyramid forms range no more in native
beauty along the shore-front.

There is little stir of life around the cabins
during the long summer's day, for the men are
commonly away fishing or hunting or " freight-
ing " for the Company, and the few squaws,
with their half -wild children about them, keep
chiefly to their dwellings. Occasionally the dogs
of the Post, which form the greater part of the
population, give voice to vicious quarrel or howls
of deep-rooted melancholy ; but, as a rule, they are
to be seen curled up in slumber here, there, and

LAKE TEEMS WITH FISH 97

everywhere, indifferent alike to the peace or
desolation of the quiet scene.

Such is the aspect of Fort Du Brochet, the
furthest inland post in the region and one of the
hardest to reach from the far-distant frontier.
One may call it a rude settlement in a rude land
of water and cloud and wilderness: yet it had
its native life of quaintness and simplicity;
and, above all, its summer days, and its sunsets,
and its Northern Lights of superb, wild, natural
beauty.

The clear blue water of Reindeer Lake is teem-
ing with fish, and it is almost as wonderful on
that account as it is for its rare northern beauty.
And those fish abound in water that is exception-
ally fine, and which, no doubt, gives to them
wonderful growth and well-being. An extract
from the Canadian Geological Survey Report
on the country between Lake Athabasca and
Churchill River, 1896, p. 99 D, states :

" A chemical examination of the waters from
Reindeer Lake and Churchill River was made by
Dr. F. D. Adams in the Laboratory of the Survey
in 1882. In summing up the general results,
Dr. Adams says : ' Of the foregoing waters that
from Reindeer Lake is remarkable for the small
amount of dissolved solid mattei which it con-
tains ; in this regard it would take rank with the
waters of Bala Lake, Merionethshire, Wales, and
Loch Katrine, Perthshire, Scotland. . . .' '

There are, in Reindeer Lake, as far as is known
to me, eight different species of fish, most of which
are to be found in many of the waterways of the
North, particularly where rivers flow, or have

98 REINDEER LAKE AND FORT DU BROCKET

connections to lakes. Many small land-locked
inland lakes apparently contain no fish, or very
few, and those usually pike.

The fish contained in Reindeer Lake are, if we
exclude the small fry of which I had not sufficient
time or opportunity to take account, Whitefish,
Lake Trout, Back's Grayling, or Arctic Grayling (?)
Pike, Pickerel, Red Sucker, Black Sucker, and
lastly a small herring-like fish, indigenous appar-
ently to the south end of the lake, which, after
reference to specimens in the Museum at Ottawa, I
believe to be the Alaska Herring, or Mooneye Cisco.

THE WHITEFISH is the great food fish, both for
the natives of Reindeer Lake and their sled-dogs.
The flesh is white and delicate, and delicious to
eat ; and one never tires of it even when it is
made a constant diet. They are caught only in
gill-nets, and weigh on an average between two
and three pounds. The smallest fish I saw taken
weighed one pound, and the largest six pounds.
In shape the whitefish is narrow-backed, with a
full, curved outline and deep-girthed sides which
are covered with silvery coarse scales ; the head
is small, and tapers sharply to the fine-lipped,
toothless mouth. The lower sides and belly are
silvery white, which is the striking colour of
the fish, for they look like bars of silver when
freshly caught ; the upper sides glint with pale
bluish-purple, or reddish-purple in some instances,
and darken into the brown over back, while
the scale outlines there show black. The dorsal
fin is of ordinary size ; not large, and brightly
coloured like the grayling, which it resembles
somewhat in shape and size.

THE LAKE TROUT 99

THE LAKE TROUT is almost of equal food value
to the Whitefish, but it is never caught in great
numbers by the Indians in their set nets. The
flesh of this fish is deep yellow, and firm and full-
flavoured ; but one tires of it quickly as a regular
diet, probably on account of its richness in fat
or oil. In shape those trout are full and lengthily
well proportioned ; in colour the fine scales are
silvery white on the lower body, and white-
spotted sage-green brownish above, while there
is a thin, dark, well-defined line along the centre
of the sides. They are powerful fish, usually
weighing between three and a half pounds and
eight pounds, though they are occasionally caught
of much greater size. I secured one weighing
nineteen pounds, and preserved the skin, which
is now mounted in the Saskatchewan Museum.
One is recorded weighing twenty -five pounds,
caught near the mouth of Stone River.1 Those
trout can be easily caught on a rod by trolling
a minnow or spoon, but fly was tried on a few
occasions without success, though fish were seen
breaking the surface of the water in all directions
on suitable evenings.

I had no occasion to catch more trout than
the day's needs required, and on Reindeer Lake,
particularly at the south end, half an hour's
trolling was often sufficient to take a five to ten
pound basket ; when the rod would then be put
away. Fishing for food in this way during the
six days it took to travel from the south to the
north end of Reindeer Lake, my catch totalled

1 Report on the country between Lake Athabasca and Churchill
River, 1896, p. 14 D.

100 REINDEER LAKE AND FORT DU BROCKET

thirteen trout, weighing fifty-two pounds. I
have often wondered what a whole day's catch
would amount to in weight in those unfished
waters, and almost regret I had not occasion to
make the test.

BACK'S GRAYLING, or ARCTIC GRAYLING (?) is
only on very rare occasions caught in nets by
the natives. They probably do not live long
periods in Reindeer Lake, unless that when
doing so they keep to the deep waters and avoid
detection. I have caught them below Reindeer
Lake on the Reindeer River, and above Rein-
deer Lake on the Cochrane River. They are
much given to frequenting the swift waters of
river rapids, and it is there that I invariably
found them. They were caught only on a small
phantom minnow, which was the only lure I
could induce them to rise to, and weighed be-
tween one pound and a half and three pounds.
They were exceedingly game and fought splendidly
in the swift current. From an angling point of
view they afforded more excitement and fun
than did the Lake Trout. I greatly enjoyed
fishing for them, and also the scramble over the
rocks to reach their favourite " lies " in surround-
ings where the river roared and tossed in com-
panionable tumult.

In shape the Grayling resembles the White-
fish, but the flesh is not so firm, and white, and
palatable, though quite fair eating. In colour the
upper sides are silvery brown, with glints of
pale blue, and also with slight yellow and red
tints, while there are a few widely spaced promi-
nent black spots on the fore-shoulder ; the back

FISH IN REINDEER LAKE 101

is darker than the sides, and therefrom arises a
very large dorsal fin, almost a third of the length
of the fish, which is brilliantly spotted and streaked
with many lights of deep purp]e and greenish
blue ; the belly is blackish when the fish is first
taken from the water, but later it pales to white.
It is, altogether, a brilliant rainbow-tinted fish
when seen swimming in the clear water, but quickly
loses much of those glints of colour when killed.

THE PIKE. — This fish, commonly called Jack-
fish in Canada, is that long-snouted, somewhat
repulsive fish that everyone knows ; and it
needs not description. Its flesh is quite edible
in northern waters, but nevertheless it is never
used for food by the Indians when Whitefish
and Trout can be got. I caught many of those
fish on spoon or minnow, and took one on the
rod weighing eighteen pounds.

THE PICKEREL, an American species of Pike,
is very similar to the above, and was almost
equally common, and taken with the same lures.

THE RED SUCKER is very plentiful in Reindeer
Lake, and in the river flowing into it, and is
often caught in nets along with the Whitefish.
It is used for dog-food, but only seldom for
human food, although the heads cut off and
boiled are often eaten by the Indians, who con-
sider the eyes a delicacy. The flesh is white,
but somewhat soft, and, if used for native food
at all, is dried or smoked previous to consumption.
In shape they are a broad-backed, round-barrelled
fish of equal depth and width, while below the
blunt-pointed snout is the puckered, toothless,
circular mouth from which they derive their

102 REINDEER LAKE AND FORT DU BROCKET

name. They weigh, as a rule, between two
pounds and four pounds. In colour the fish
is white underneath, with the under-fins tinted
with shades of yellow and reddish chrome ; the
back and upper sides are medium dark shades of
blackish-brown with a clear pinkish tint over-
lying the ground colour on the full length of the
middle sides ; the gills are yellowish.

In summer these fish are often seen in great
shoals in the clear shallow waters of rapids, and
their colours then show beneath the surface with
oriental brilliancy.

THE BLACK SUCKER is very similar, but lacks
the bright colouring of the Red variety. Both
are fish imperturbable by any kind of lure,
failing the possession of nets they may be speared
in shallow water.

THE ALASKA HERRING or MOONEYE Cisco
is probably the strange little fish which I saw
taken for food purposes at the south end of
Reindeer Lake. None were caught at Fort Du
Brochet at the north end of the same lake, and
the Indians declare they are known only at the
first-named locality, which appears very strange.
I saw many of those fish when passing on my way
north, but omitted to secure specimens. And
unfortunately when I returned in winter the
lake was frozen, and none were procurable, though
I tried.

I am unable therefore to positively establish
the identity of this species, but certainly record
the location so that at least the presence of this
small herring-like fish, which is apparently pecu-
liar to one particular section of water, may be

THE INDIANS' DEEP-SHADOWED LAND 103

noted and investigated later by others if not by
myself.

Reindeer Lake is undoubtedly very abundantly
stocked with fish, and one is prone to wonder
if, in time, it will come to be exploited by the
white race on account of their food value.

But meantime its vast expanse lies undisturbed ;
virgin — for one can almost discount the piscatorial
activities of the handful of Indians that now
live on her shores, for those are the activities
of but a limited number of individuals who can
make no visible impression on this inland sea. . . .

And so, of the future of Reindeer Lake one
dreams, or is prone to dream, when camped by
her shores when the sun is lowering in the gold-
rippled, peaceful West, and the air vibrant with
the churring of nighthawks. . . . And, as you
muse, and night creeps in, further sounds of the
wild awake and catch your acutely tuned ears,
as does even the minute rustle of a mouse in the
grass in the breathless intervals of overawing
silence. . . . And at last, as if aware you had
been waiting for it, from the shadow-filled swamp
near-by arises the elf-song of the white-throated
sparrow in mystic sweetness. . . . Then are you
glad to cease your ponderings ; glad that Time
has not changed this wonderland : and that
yours is the good fortune to camp on Indian
hunting-ground, in the Indians' deep-shadowed
land.

CHAPTER VI

THE BARREN-GROUND CARIBOU

AT the south end of Reindeer Lake, soon after
striking north from the great Churchill River,
one is vividly made aware, even in summer, that
the land of vast Caribou herds has been reached.
There at the Indian camp at the outlet to Rein-
deer River you will find strewn about the small
Indian cabins, in untidy disorder, remains of
many Caribou — bleached hair, hoofs, and white,
weather- washed knuckle-bones — whi ch even
wolfish sled-dogs have given up chewing at in
distaste at their absolute poverty. Afterwards, as
you pilot your way northwards, through the
great lake of forested islands, you will be aston-
ished, wherever you land, at the number of
Caribou paths that lie before you — cleai-cut
paths, worn down by the hoofs of countless
animals, following, Indian-file, one after the other
over the cranberry, moss-grown, sand surface
of the woods — paths not grown over ; unchanged
since the time of the last migration except that
they bear no fresh hoof imprint. Those paths
are traced in many directions, but perhaps the
greater number, and those most deeply worn, are
those which run north and south.

You have reached the great winter-haunt of
the Barren-ground Caribou (Rangifer arcticus).

104

WINTER HAUNT OF CARIBOU 105

Since the beginning of time, as far as men know,
they have always come here — Reindeer Lake !
Assuredly jnot for nothing had it been thus named.

In that particular territory the southern bound-
ary of Caribou migration may be said to be the
Churchill River, though animals have been killed
on rare occasions as far south as Cumberland
House on the Saskatchewan River. But the
great area of Reindeer Lake, larger than a half-
dozen English counties, is pre-eminently the
favoured winter feeding-ground.

In October or November each year large herds
of Caribou reach the north end of the lake, and
apparently continue south chiefly on the eastern
shores. Thereafter they scatter abroad for a
period, and travel slowly from place to place,
over frozen lake and snow-lain forest, while feeding
on abundant white moss and marsh-grass, and a
consideration of mud which they seem to relish.

In winter their method of feeding is to dig
down to the ground-surface with their remarkably
sharp forefeet, and then to work forward in the
channel they have made in the snow, which is
sometimes of a depth of three feet or more.
When the depth of snow is very bad the Caribou
prefer feeding in open muskeg valleys, between the
more densely grown forests, where the wind gets
at, and sweeps away, part of the covering, and the
labour to reach the undergrowth is accordingly
less.

Early in the year the does and yearling fawns
again commence to move northward, while the
bucks remain behind to follow later. They
return not as they came, not chiefly on the eastern

106 THE BARREN-GROUND CARIBOU

shores of the great lake, but scattered broadcast
among the islands of the frozen lake, and on both
mainland shores. The fact is that theirs is a
leisurely return, since there is no weather change
to urge them to haste — as is the case when the
great massed droves hasten south — and so they
travel easily, and in food-seeking, scattered herds.
There is almost certainly a second reason for the
leisurely return of the does and fawns, and that
is the maternal instinct of the does, for many of
them are with young that they will give birth to
in early spring.

One can easily understand why those great
herds of Caribou travel south in the Fall. The
undergrowth on the Barren lands is plentiful,
but there are no trees. When winter comes the
wind, driving over the exposed white surface,
packs the snow hard, and an icy crust forms
through which it is difficult, sometimes impos-
sible, to break for grazing. It is, as it always is
by nature's arrangement of things, a question of
existence, this insistent migration of those animals.
As the thermometer drops in the Far North, and
food and shelter become difficult to find, the
animals will band together and grow restive, and
pause from time to time to sniff the wind from the
south with question on their countenance. And
one day, with proud heads up and anxious eyes,
they will commence their long travel through
sheltering forests where snows are soft and food
is plentiful beneath the yielding surface.

At Prince Albert, or any frontier town, you
may on rare occasions run across a Cree or a

THE LAST OF THE ROVING BIG-GAME 107

Chipewyan Indian who has ventured out to the
white man's country, to " the people who live
behind rocks ": — as he terms the white race that
live in stone-built houses. If you question him
closely, you may hear of the great Caribou migra-
tions which pass his far-off wigwam at some name-
less point in space and which provide him with
meat stores for half the months in the year.

If he narrates vividly his story will be legend-
like as the tales of Buffalo herds on the North- West
prairies half a century ago or as the tales of the
herds of Pronghorned Antelope— that, alas !
have wasted away since civilisation came to the
prairies, and the fences of the Canadian Pacific
Railway held them hapless prisoners when they
longed to answer the insistent call to the south,
and to change which was essential to their
existence.

In many ways I had heard of the migrations of
the Barren-ground Caribou, each new tale whet-
ting my desire to witness them. The Buffalo had
gone, the Antelope were almost gone ; mankind
would never again witness those great animal
herds in their wild state. There remained —
beyond the pale of white man — the last of the
roving big-game race in Canada ; the Barren-
ground Caribou

I had read at one time some records of Caribou
in a work entitled Through the Mackenzie Basin,
which contained " Notes on Mammals," by
R. Macfarlane, and I had written them down,
though little knowing that I would evei come to
think of them again. Those records were :— ~

" Caribou observed passing in the neighbour-

108 THE BARREN-GROUND CARIBOU

hood of Lac du Brochet (north end Reindeer
Lake). Fall migration witnessed in October,
November, or December. Spring migration in
April, May. Caribou seen each year from 1874
till 1884 : none seen from 1885 until the autumn
of 1889."

Those notes contained for me one main idea —
that Lac du Brochet was a particular winter
haunt of the Caribou. That thought caught hold
and took root.

Hence you have found me entering the Land of
the Caribou — hence was I in the middle of
August 1914 (beyond the reach of knowing of
war, which I did not learn had broken out until
October) approaching the height of land that
occurs in latitude 59° and longitude 102°, 800
miles, by the course I had travelled, from my
starting-point east of Prince Albert.

Passing Fort du Brochet, before entering the
Cochrane River, I had been told by Philip
Merasty— an ancient Hudson Bay servant and
crafty hunter, and a fine old half breed who, but
for his name and elementary mission education,
you would take for a full-blooded Indian — that
during the past three years the Caribou had been
arriving in their neighbourhood at an earlier
date than formerly. It was in October and
November that Caribou appeared in former
years, he said, but they looked for them now in
late August and September. Yet in his crude
diary, which I found secreted in his cabin eaves
some weeks later, I came on the illuminating
information that his son Pierre had seen the first
Caribou on frozen Reindeer Lake on October 21,

SEARCH FOR CARIBOU FAILS 109

1913. I would rather trust the diary record than
the verbal one, and later experiences have borne
this out.

However, for the moment, I had been encour-
aged by the Indians at the post to think that if I
continued my canoe journey north I would have
every chance of seeing Caribou at the point I now
had reached.

I was in beautiful country. Beyond the
bright gravel beach, and points of fine white
sand, of lake and river shore, rose hills ; grace-
fully rounded and sweeping in outline ; massing
large and bold and grand. Along the shores
where moisture was plentiful were willows, and
a few alders, and small green tamarac trees ; at
their roots, mosses, and much of that bushy
ground-shrub known as Labrador Tea, the white
bloom now dead, and rusty brown where un
blown. Back from the shore were hills grown
mostly with scattered, low-statured Northern
Scrub Pine; the sand and gravel surfaces moss
covered, and the boulders green as the surround-
ings, with lichen.

From time to time I went ashore to search
for signs of Caribou, climbing to bare, sand: ,
bouldered ridges in some cases, and viewing range
after range of like hills, with marsh and lake
pockets in the hollows in the foreground. . . . But
never a sign of life in the distance — there at my
feet game paths worn down by the feet of countless
Caribou, antlers long cast aside, hair and bones
where an animal had died, markings of hundreds
of rabbits (varying hare), but not a single fresh
footprint on the sand, except of fox and wolf.
9

110 THE BARREN-GROUND CARIBOU

Animal life seemed dead ; not even a rabbit
moved, and I fear it must have been that mini-
mum year of growth, that periodic time when the
rabbit plague nearly exterminates the species
in a region.

Day after day I waited — and watched. . . .
Everything in the land had at first been beautiful,
in my eyes — but, God ! how the awful silence of
its vast space grips you. Even now I felt it,
even before the great covering of snow had
muffled every corner of the earth, and land and
water came to be bound in iron ice-grip.

At Fort Du Brochet I had been advised that I
had not much time to spare before freeze-up set
in, and that I would be well advised to return
speedily. Later this turned out to be, for this
particular year, a deceptive estimate ; but, at
the time, my waiting at the head of the Cochrane
River seemed precarious if I was to get out to
the post before ice formed on the lake, beach
the canoe, and outfit for further travel by dog-
sled. Therefore, after two weeks of unrewarded
watching for Caribou, I gave up, and turned
the canoe-bow into the south for the first time
for many months.

It was something over a hundred miles back
down the Cochrane River to Du Brochet 'Post.
The return journey began favourably, for the wind
was behind, and wind and current sped the canoe
merrily on its way ; but on the following day,
and thereafter, the weather broke down badly
and rains and heavy head-winds delayed travel-
ling. Indeed in mid-afternoon on one occasion
the storm grew so fierce that I gave up struggling

MY LOG CABIN.

110]

BUILDING LOG CABIN 111

against it, and ran ashore and camped for the
remainder of the day.

It transpired that broken stormy weather had
set in for an extraordinarily long period, and on
getting back to Reindeer Lake and Fort Du
Brochet, I had a long time to wait for freeze-up
during an extremely open Fall.

However, I had plenty to do while waiting, for,
in addition to collecting a dog-team from the
Indians at the Post, I set about building, on the
margin of a small inland lake two miles north
of Du Brochet, a log cabin which was to be " my
home" and a winter base, a safe storage for
museum specimens, and a quiet outlook from
which Caribou could be observed if in the neigh-
bourhood.

To build a log cabin single-handed, and with only
an axe, is a substantial undertaking, and, though
I was hardened with months of " roughing it," I
found it arduous work. Standing trees had to be
felled, lobbed of their branches, and the heavy
trunks carried from all directions to the site of
the cabin : afterwards the labour of construction.

Working steadily from dawn till dusk, in three
weeks my " home " was finished — moss packed
between the horizontal tree-trunk cracks, and
mud-plastered outside against penetrating wind
and cold. If you have lived long months in the
open in all weathers, you will know, when you
reach habitation, the wonderful luxury and rest-
fulness of living with a roof overhead, a place
for one's belongings, and a completely sheltered
cook-fire ; and when it is driving rain out-doors,
or blowing a wild old gale, or snowing pitilessly,

112 THE BARREN-GROUND CARIBOU

or freezing bitterly steel-cold, you may know
what it is to draw up to your glowing log-fire or
lie snug in your deer-skin bag on your branch-
formed bed — if it be night — and feel altogether
glad that you have not to rise up and go out and
do battle with the elements.

Meantime, in the northern latitude the seasons
were changing.

By mid-September the leaves of the birch trees
had completely faded to tints of yellow and
yellow chrome, and many had fallen. Summer
birds had gone south, and their notes and cheep-
ings were gone from the woods which held but
the chatter of an odd red squirrel or the whistle
of a friendly jay. Evening crept down earlier
than hitherto. Night after night Northern Lights
be-ribboned the sky as they fleeted across the
zone from west to north-east (" The dance of the
spirits," the Indians call this beautiful pheno-
menon) ; and always, now, when the wind veered
to the north it had the bitter chill of snow in it.

On September 16 there were snow showers ;
on the 24th snow, and wind, and rain.

At the end of the month all leaves had fallen,
and I walked in a land of mourning, half -thinking
to step light-footed lest I disturbed the dead in
a vast, deserted hall where even the evergreen
spruce and pine frowned down on me darkly.

Those were days of brooding grey skies— days of
frost and biting wind: days of repentance and thaw.

With October came freeze-up and snow, while
Snow Buntings were about the wood-bottoms and
lake-shores, and passing on south in migration.
On October 2 the thermometer dropped sharply

THE FREEZE-UP 118

and all the following day a snowstorm raged. . . .
Winter had come.

Thereafter for many days land and water were
binding in iron ice-grip. Night after night the
unspeakable silence of the great snowland was
broken by the awesome, re-echoing sound of
rending ice as frozen surfaces strained and con-
tracted relentlessly, and split from end to end
in the all-powerful grip of zero weather. Re-
peatedly, nightly, the eerie sound broke on the
near shores to disturb a lone man's slumbers,
and passed, with rise and fall of key, boom — boom
— booming, away into the level distance of the
outer lake, to die in desolate cryings.

By the end of October the land was in the grasp
of deep winter, which would rule for five to six
months unremittingly.

But winter had been late in coming, for the
Indians at Fort Du Brochet say this was the
most open Fall they had experienced in the past
eight years. Be that as it may — and I had come
to be dubious of all Indian records of time —
winter had come, and with it the Caribou.

On November 4, late in the evening, an excited
Indian brought news that Caribou had been seen.
They had been encountered, north of Fort Lu
Brochet, coming from the east, and crossing
the Cochrane River. He told me, " Plenty deer ;
to-morrow we kill, and have plenty meat."
" Would I go ? " he asked, to my astonishment,
while he drank strong tea with me and smoked a
pipe.

Now in my experience the Indians (I mean the

114 THE BARREN-GROUND CARIBOU

unspoiled Indians of the Far North) test a white
man in their own peculiar way before they accept
or reject his friendship as good or bad, though
they do it so delicately that you may be unaware
of their intentions. Observant at all times, they
are extraordinarily keen-sighted in reading any
mute sign of any phase of nature ; and quickly
read character in the face, and in actions. I had
come among those reticent Indians a stranger,
but ultimately I found that mine was a case that
had extreme advantages. Primarily I knew
something of Wild Life after their own manner,
and could talk to them in their own way ; which
was generally to illustrate a sentiment or a des-
cription through the medium of an object, or a
living animal, bird, plant, or element with which
they were very familiar. Indians are intensely
reflective, and they have strange names for wise
members of their tribes which go to show this.
I give a translation of two of the best I have
heard. " The silent snows are falling, forming
signs" . . . " He listens to the unseen Rapids"
Secondarily, I was not trapping fur, not, therefore,
encroaching on the rights to territory which were
the red man's by heritage. The research work I
did was full of interest to them. For hours I have
had Indians squat and watch me skin birds — a
proceeding they had never witnessed before —
or skin an animal for remounting : which meant
cutting the skin so differently from that of a fur
pelt, and the preservation of the limb-bones and
skull. Finally, but not the least noteworthy, if
you have a mind to humour Indians, on rare
occasions I played a few 'pipe-marches on a

WITH INDIAN HUNTING PARTY 115

Chanter, which astonished and delighted a people
who are passionately fond of music in any form.

How far those little incidents had gone toward
making up the approval and goodwill of the
Indians I had had no inkling, nor had I given
the subject a thought until this day of Caribou
arrival. But now I had been asked to join them
on the morrow, and go with them to this secret
place the Caribou were passing. I may be for-
given if I was pleased at this certain sign of
friendliness on the part of this once-wonderful,
fast-declining race of hunters, who speak mostly
by actions and rarely by words. Having a great
admiration for the intelligence and skill of the
good old-world type of Indian — and they still
exist in the Far North — I confess I was glad to
think that I was to be one of such a party in their
hunting ; though I, later, was to learn that the
morrow held for me yet another Indian test —
the last thfey ever asked of me..

Thus it came about that in the small hours of the
following morning (3 a.m.) a guttural voice hailed
me from outside my cabin door and I drowsily
extricated myself from out my fur sleeping-bag
to open the door and admit icy blast; and
not one Indian, but the whole hunting party — a
total of seven. They had left the Post half an
hour ago and were on their way to the hunting-
ground. ... I was to hurry, and come with
them.

By necessity in the northland one sleeps in most
of one's clothing for warmth, for one had long
left behind the land of wardrobes, and blankets,
and beds — and so in no time I was ready to join

116 THE BARREN-GROUND CARIBOU

the others ; fur clad, as all the Indians were, in
outer garment of Eskimo kind — a pull-over, shirt-
like, hooded upper garment, and trousers reaching
below the knee — all native-tanned Caribou hide
with the long thick hair outside. On our feet
moccasins— that finest of light footwear for fast
travelling and stealthy hunting.

I took down my rifle and we filed out of the
cabin and started off.

Outside the night-sky was dull and grey, but a
fair light was thrown on the snow by the cloud-
obscured moon, which was full.

Led by Gewgewsh, one of the best and most
active hunters in the territory, the party trailed
ahead in single file, at great speed and without
any seeming effort. With unerring knowledge of
" lie " of land, and every nature of obstacle to
avoid, those Indians chose the easiest and
quickest line of travel to a definite objective ahead.
As they travelled one could hear the low tones of
their hurried laughter and guttural speech, for
excitement was intense among the Indians.
They were keen sportsmen, keen as children on
an exciting game, and above all they had been
talking and dreaming of Caribou for weeks, and
they knew that to-day they would kill and have
meat at last, and after a summer of fish-food
their palates, and the palates of their squaws and
papooses, were languishing for fresh meat.

About 5.30 a.m. the party reached a chain of
small lakes which it was necessary to cross ;
unmapped lakes that linked up with Reindeer
Lake further south. Those lakes had a strong
current running through them, and because of this

CROSSING OPEN WATER 11T

current the Indians would not risk crossing on
the lake ice at present — a month later, yes !
Therefore the party halted at a narrow neck
between two lakes, through which open, fast-
flowing water passed. Here it was planned to
cross by raft ; and speedily, with the faultless
precision of men who knew exactly what they
wanted, some trees were felled and the construc-
tion of a raft begun. Eight stout logs were cut
and laid together over cross-poles at either end
and bound firmly in position. This done another
tier of logs was placed on top so that the total
timbers would float the weight of a man. The
completed raft was about 2 ft. 6 in. x 9 ft. 6 in.
Satisfied all was then in readiness to go forward,
and as time was not pressing, for it was still
night, everyone adjourned to the blazing fire
which two of the Indians had kindled, and
partook of tea and food. How welcome was fire
and tea in the bitter cold morning to both Indian
and white.

The picture about the fire was striking. A
group of fur- clad, gracefully athletic-looking
Indians standing or squatting near their firearms
beneath the gloom of dark-boughed spruce forest
which night had not yet left; feather-flaked
snow falling lightly, stippling the air in its sus-
tained, unhurried descent, and whitening the
hooded heads and shoulders of the men ;
inside the circle leaped the eager flames of the
log-fire, lightening the underside of the nearest
snow-laden spruce boughs, and casting a glowing
touch of light on the meditative, strong, bronze-
dark faces of the Redskins.

118 THE BARREN-GROUND CARIBOU

Before long it was decided to move on. It
was then close upon dawn, which would be about
7 a.m., and clear daylight about 8 a.m. The raft
was carried to the water's edge and floated on the
stream, a rope attached to it, and then Gew-
gewsh poled his way skilfully over to the oppo-
site shore, Once across he tied another rope
to the raft ; and then, by see-saw method, it was
pulled from shore to shore, each time carrying
from one side a single passenger, until all were
across.

Once all were on the far bank conversation
ceased and the party moved quietly inland
expectant of soon meeting Caribou. Coming,
after a time, to a small inland lake, the first
indications of Caribou were found — fresh hoof-
marks on the smooth snow surface. Thereupon
the party changed its composition, Gewgewsh
and another Indian going off in a north-east
direction to follow up the fresh tracks, while
the main party continued south-east. The two
hunters had barely left us when we heard them
commence to shoot. Six shots they fired ; one
of which hit the object, as was easy to infer by
the odd sound of the dull plunk of the bullet as
it struck home. Soon the main party sighted
Caribou — three bucks on an open pine-wood
hillside. Upon those a regular fusilade of in-
effective shots was fired by the excited Indians ;
and then a general rush to head them off, as they
crossed running west, and more shots during
which one Caribou was brought down. The
animal was cut and disembowelled where it had
fallen, and left unconcernedly to be gathered

HUNTING ALONE 119

later without an apparent glance to establish its
location in forest that I would have had to blaze
a tree or two and take careful bearings if I was
to be sure of ever finding the spot again. The
shooting of the Indians — never brilliant — up to
the present had been particularly bad. They are,
however, seen to better advantage when hunting
more or less alone, and when not unbalanced by
over-eagerness to secure first blood ; as they this
day were. Continuing, the party shortly after-
wards again dismembered ; three of the Indians
going off south-east, and the remaining two and
self heading now more south-west. We sighted
two Caribou standing in an open space, but they
jumped off into the scrub so hurriedly that it
was impossible to shoot. About this time the
two Indians with me (the man who had asked
me to come and another) appeared anxious to go
off by themselves. Until now I had been an
interested spectator, but not without inner ex-
citement and inclination to try my luck, so
suspecting nothing, and assuming we would meet
again at the raft-crossing, I wished them good
luck and struck into the forest alone. I had gone
no great distance before I came on three, or four,
Caribou feeding in low-lying scrub forest. Among
them was a fine buck, and this animal I succeeded
in bringing down, while the others vanished
through the timber. My quarry was not dead,
but it was not difficult to track him to where he
had collapsed in a muskeg bottom a short dis-
tance away, and dispatch him with a fatal shot.
It was then about 10 a.m. It was still snowing,
but less cold — not a bad day to stand about in ;

120 THE BARREN-GROUND CARIBOU

and as the Caribou was a fine animal I decided
that this was a good opportunity to secure a
museum specimen. Therefore I gave up further
idea of hunting, got a good fire going near the
carcass, and set about comfortably skinning the
animal. I got through with my task sometime
about 1 p.m., having then the head, limb-bones,
and skin complete. I then drank a refreshing
brew of tea, for one always carries a pan for that
purpose, and prepared to go back to the raft.
I had brought my camera out, and food for an-
other day : this weight I discarded for the time
and left beside the carcass of the Caribou before
I covered it over with a mass of spruce branches
to frighten off prowling animals, particularly
timber-wolves. The raw hide and limb bones
and antlered head were then made into a pack
and I started for home from a place I had never
seen before and that I had entered with the
guidance of Indians. Had it not been snowing
my return would have been arrived at simply
by following back on my old tracks, but these
were covered an hour or two ago. However
I had no doubt about the main direction, and
about 3 p.m. I was at the narrows. Not knowing
the country, I was at fault in meeting obstacles
which I lost time in getting round, and, indeed,
finally reached the chain of lakes below the narrows,
having to work up-shore until I came to them.
To my astonishment, when I reached the narrows,
I saw that the raft lay across on the opposite
shore. The Indians had gone home ! They had
not waited for me !
Not then, but later I learnt that they had done

WADING THROUGH ICE-WATER 121

so to know if they could trust me in bushcraft-
It was a test — perhaps a stern test — for think
of it if I had been a tenderfoot, and lost, and out
at night in bitter cold ; probably they did not
even know if I had matches to make fire : if one
had not, God help him !

There was nothing for it now but to face the
crossing and endure a cold plunge, so, with my
pack held high, I waded into the icy water, which
I was glad to find came no higher than my chest,
and I was able to cross without swimming, which
would have been an even more unpleasant ex-
perience, with the current and heavy pack to
deal with. Thereafter I passed onward to my
cabin at a hurried pace to keep up circulation,
so that my body and limbs would not be frozen.
I reached my destination about 5.§0 p.m., shortly
after dark — and none too soon, for by that time
the garments that had been under water were
frozen stiff and rasped awkwardly against my
limbs, while alarming cold was getting at my
body.

Later in the evening I tramped through the
woods into Fort Du Brochet and the Indians were
glad to see me. I noticed, though I then knew
not their purpose, that they exchanged furtive
glances, but made no remark that might infer that
my appearance was other than ordinary.1

At the Post the day's experiences were re-

1 I may here say that from that day I went among the Indiana,
and hunted and travelled with them, and knew I was henceforth
accepted as one of themselves, and was given a Chipewyan
name which meant " Caribou Antler " — a thing that was thin,
but hard and strong.

122 THE BARREN-GROUND CARIBOU

counted, and I heard that the total Caribou
killed numbered fifteen.

My observations of the day record : The wind
was from the south and the Caribou were travel-
ling up- wind as is always their custom. . . .
Ravens plentiful, following the Caribou. . . .
Saw one fox, and heard another barking in thick
timber.

Before daylight I was out again next morning
back on my tracks of yesterday to biing in the
fresh meat of the animal I had killed. At the
narrows I took off my clothes before crossing and
carried them over on my head. It was bitterly
cold while undressing and while in the water, and
I was so frightfully numbed and helpless by the
time I was again dressed that I hastily kindled
a log fire and cowered miserably over it until
circulation returned. I had been foolish in un-
dressing, but heated with travelling the trail
from the cabin to the narrows I had under-
estimated the cold, and all but suffered frost-bite
for my folly. After careful travelling over the
ground hunted over yesterday, I got out to the
neighbourhood of yesterday's kill and soon
located my cache, though snow had covered it
since I had left, and it was well I had blazed a
tree or two for guidance. I thereupon made a
pack of my camera and as much meat as I could
carry, and started homewards again.

About midday I threw down my heavy pack,
and made fire for a meal on the margin of a small
lake. It was a good place to see Caribou if any
were near, and before I was half through my meal
I looked up from my seat by the fire to see four

ATTACK BY WOUNDED CARIBOU 123

animals trotting across the ice. These I at once
commenced to approach and succeeded in wound-
ing a young buck. When I came up to him he
was not dead, but I thought he was helpless, and
was carelessly approaching him when, to my
astonishment, he rose and plunged at me. He
had only antlers about the size of an adult doe,
and I managed to avoid them, though his side
brushed heavily against me as he passed. It was
an action of despair, however, for the poor brute
went no distance before he collapsed again, and
I despatched him with a merciful bullet. I killed
many Caribou later, but this is the only case when
I experienced one of those animals attempting
to show fight. It, however, bore out what the
Indians had told me, for they said such a thing
sometimes happened. After returning to my
fire and finishing my meal, I cleaned my kill and
left it lying, after covering the carcass with spruce
branches as before.

It is strange to you, no doubt, but true of
one's ordinary habits in the North, that it was
fully two weeks later ere I trailed with dog-team
to this lake, uncovered the cache and cut up the
frozen carcass with an axe to load it on the sled ;
then, moving on to collect another hidden animal
at another distant point, finally to carry them
back to my cabin for food for my huskies (sled-
dogs).

However, to return to my pack : after caching
the Caribou, I loaded up and continued home-
ward. On the way I encountered three more
lots of Caribou but did not molest them. It is
noteworthy that the wind was from the north

124 THE BARREN-GROUND CARIBOU

this day, and the Caribou seen were all travelling
north, up-wind, though it meant that they were
going opposite to the direction they had been
travelling on the previous day. The big lake
(Reindeer Lake), which strong winds keep in
motion after smaller lakes are ice-bound, was not
yet completely and solidly frozen up, and the
Caribou appeared to be feeding around the north-
eastern shores, possibly waiting to get out to the
extensive surface and reach the rich feeding
grounds on the countless islands. On the other
hand the direction of the wind seemed to have
strong influence on their movements.

Regarding pack- carrying, which I am reminded
of by the burden this day carried, I kept the
meat load intact that I brought in, which I had
packed for five hours — possibly, in that time
covering a distance of some twelve miles — over
hill and muskeg, and through snow; and next
day had it weighed at the Hudson Bay Post.
It was 65 Ibs. This is a fair load — a load that
strained me to carry it the prolonged distance.

I am not physically a strong man, but I had
been all summer on the canoe trail and was
hardened and inured to the toil of portaging over-
land at bad rapids or inland to lakes. Judging
things by the weight of the above pack I would
say an able Indian could comfortably burden
himself with 80 ta 100 Ibs. for a long distance.
To expect him to carry more, if he was in your
service, would be unjust, though I have found
good Indians will attempt carrying excessive
weights rather than admit the smallest sign of
weakness to a white man.

CARRYING PACK-LOAD 125

A pack load is a bundle bound firmly together
after the shape of a flour sack, and a half- circle
of cord, or leather thong, is formed into a carry-
ing strap, so that when the pack is hoisted high
on one's back between the shoulders, this cord
is slipped over to the forehead, and rests there, and
thus sustains the load in position, leaving the
hands free to carry your rifle and assist in easing
the pressure of the load from time to time.
The chief strain you will feel, if you are unused
to the pack trail, will be on the back of the neck,
for the weight of the load is heavily on your
forehead and tends to strain your head back-
ward. Of course if your strap, or " tump-line,"
is of rope, a pad of cloth or grass will be placed
between the rope and your forehead to prevent
its cutting into the flesh. A made leather tump-
line has a broad web where it passes across the
forehead.

Those experiences I have recorded are similar
to many that followed during the winter, too
numerous to describe in detail.

In time I had secured, for museum purposes,
handsome specimens of the Barren- ground
Caribou in winter coat — an adult male, an adult
female, and a yearling fawn (male).

To give an idea of the size of these animals, the
male measured forty- eight inches from hoofs to
the highest part of back (the haunch), the female
forty-two inches, and the fawn thirty-seven
inches. In colour the winter coat of the male
is : Back, sides, legs, and head, medium dark
umber-brown ; fore- shoulders, and entire neck,
above and below, dull white ; tail shows white
10

126 THE BARREN-GROUND CARIBOU

when erected, as it most often is (it is, however,
brown on the upper side) ; breast and belly are
brown like upper parts, but turning to white
toward rear, between hind legs. A grey strip
(a mingling of the white and the brown hairs)
runs horizontally along the middle sides from the
white of the shoulders to within eight inches of
the hind-quarters; ears and upper forehead,
grey. The adult female is, generally, much
lighter in colour than the male ; rear of back,
legs, and nose were in this specimen the only
parts brown ; middle sides, hind-quarters, lower
limbs, forehead, and ears, greyish ; remainder,
white. The fawn was very similar in colour to
the female. Both male and female have antlers,
the males having a great backward, outward-
curving length ; the females short and symmetrical
like those of a young buck. In early winter some
of the bucks still carry antlers, but the greater
number of animals have cast them at that time.

They are graceful animals, particularly grace-
ful when they are in alert motion, and carry
fine suggestion of indomitable pride. They
trot with easy, swinging, far-reaching strides,
with movement lithe and muscular. The fore-
feet are flung high with sharp -angled knee action
(like a well-broken hackney), while the hindlegs
stretch well back before they thrust the body
forward. Cariblm sometimes start off, if fright-
ened suddenly, by rearing in the air with a power-
ful spring of the hindlegs.

The track of Caribou on snow is a line of
single hoof-prints running out one point directly in
front of the other — not any two hoofs together —

THE SOUNDLESS LAND 127

not any hoof-print on the left side or right side.
A typical measurement of the span between
hoof-prints is twenty-five inches, from front of
one hoof to rear of the next in front ; an ordinary
hoof-mark measures four- and- a- half inches by
seven- and- a- quarter inches. The above of course
refers to the track of a single animal. Caribou
are much given to follow in Indian-file one after
the other, and soon tread down a regular path of
footprints in the snow.

During the next two months I travelled
through regions that were wrapped in resolute
Arctic winter, vast regions formidably hushed,
incalculably desolate ; more completely impover-
ished of life and activity than any words can
depict. One moved in a soundless land, a land
that was deaf and dumb and had no organ of ex-
pression ; and one could understand, while living
in this place of dead, why men go mad under the
awful shadow of utter loneliness, and under the
unspoken, fanciful questioning which unmitigated
space will prompt and throw back unanswered,
touched with a sense of discouraging mockery.
In many places there are not even Caribou ;
not one single moving object in a day's trail over
dreary snowfields. In such regions, in deep
winter when the thermometer is anything from
ten to sixty degrees below zero, one's salvation
is companionship. At such a time I have learned
that it is folly to go beyond the last outpost
without a comrade, even if that comrade only
be an Indian — and there is no finer, more unselfish
comrade on a hard trail than just an Indian.
Starvation, sickness, frostbite, madness : any of

128 THE BARREN-GROUND CARIBOU

those might carry one " across the line " in but
an hour or two if one was stricken when out alone
in the all-forsaken land of merciless cold.

However, to return to the Caribou and the
main object of this narrative, during my winter
travels I was fortunate to see thousands upon
thousands of those graceful animals.

Once in particular I witnessed the purposeful
migration of Caribou. This was when returning
in December, short of food and short of sled-
dogs, from the region of the Barren Lands, where
no Caribou had been seen. Indeed, not one
animal was encountered north of the locality I
speak of, a point about sixty miles north of Rein-
deer Lake. Here one morning, after camping over-
night on the edge of a small lake that only
had a range of view of about a mile, from day-
light until I struck camp about 11 a.m., I
witnessed countless herds of Caribou crossing the
lake in a south-easterly direction — one herd
following another, company on company, regi-
ment on regiment : and they were still passing
when I left. It would be impossible to estimate
them. One could not tell where the column
began nor where it ended, nor if similar columns
were passing behind us to the north or beyond
vision in the south. I attempted to count some
herds as they crossed ; one numbered close on one
hundred before it disappeared into the forest and
I could count no further. Many were bands of
between twenty and forty. All appeared intent
on travelling, and were, as far as one could see,
all does and fawns. The Indians assert that the
does and fawns are now moving north again

CARIBOU IN MIGRATION 129

(December 20), and say that this is about their
usual time for doing so. However, the migration
I witnessed was going south-east, as I have said,
though I cannot deny that if the wind veered
to the north they would almost certainly swing
in that direction. I have come to the conclusion
that they always travel up- wind, and that they
only gain distance in whatever determined direc-
tion they are travelling by going forward more
rapidly in a favourable head-wind, and returned
more slowly on an adverse head- wind. It appears
to me something like incoming tide on the sea-
shore ; waves washing forward and drawing back,
but ever reaching further and further up the
beach to the distance they are set to gain. I
believe the strongest motive the animals have in
travelling up-wind is a very simple one, that of
comfort and warmth (as a seabird riding the waves),
since the wind then blows the way the hair lies
on the animals. A further motive is that in
thus travelling they are assured that their keen
scent will warn them if ,they are approaching
danger.

Caribou I also conclude are rather an elusive
quantity. They may be here to-day and gone
to-morrow, and not an animal may be seen in a
certain locality for a week or two weeks. Then one
day you may find they have returned — or is it a
fresh lot arrived ? In December there were no
tracks or signs of Caribou north of latitude 59°.
Southwards, between latitudes 58° and 59°, the
great herds above mentioned were encountered.
Yet when I got into Du Brochet Post again (a little
south of latitude 58°) the Indians complained

130 THE BARREN-GROUND CARIBOU

of the Caribou being very scarce, and all were
anxious about meat. In January I travelled south
on the great sea-like area of ice-bound Reindeer
Lake. At that time Caribou were plentiful on
the lake except toward the south end, where there
were few, and the people at the Hudson Bay
Post then had very little meat. Possibly Caribou
came down after I left, for I believed the bucks
to be still working south.

However, the Indians tell me that when the
Caribou fail to pass their neighbourhood as they
have been accustomed to doing, they are some-
times forced to travel and camp in a favoured
locality so that they may kill their winter store of
meat and not starve.

Whenever I had the opportunity I closely
questioned Indians regarding the numbers of
the Barren-ground Caribou, and every individual
was agreed that in the neighbourhood of Rein-
deer Lake and in the territory north of it, those
animals were more plentiful in 1914 than in former
days. There is one factor which perhaps accounts
largely for this increase of Caribou, and that is
that the Chipewyan Indians who inhabit the
territory directly south of the Eskimo country,
and who are called in their own language " The
Caribou Eaters," are fast dying out, victims
of interbreeding and consumption. It is sad, but
woefully true. Philip Merasty, an old halfbreed,
61 years of age, who, when a child, came with his
people from lie a la Crosse to camp at the north
end of Reindeer Lake, whence plentiful Caribou
meat had drawn them, told me that when he came
there were then three hundred Chipewyans in the

THE CHIPEWYANS DECREASING 131

Du Brochet territory, and in 1914 they num-
bered less than one hundred. If one estimates
the Caribou kill, per male Indian per winter, at
about forty animals (which is a common average
in my experience, though it exceeds by double the
number Thompson Seton estimates in his book
The Arctic Prairies) and takes the adult male popu-
lation as about one third of the whole population,
one arrives at substantial figures which show,
in a broad sense, how much less destruction is
taking place among the Caribou at the present
time owing to the decrease in Indian population.
I arrive at figures in this way : If in 1864 100
Chipewyans killed 40 Caribou per head the total
killwas4,OOOCaribou,andifinl91434Chipewyans
killed 40 Caribou per head, the total kill was 1,360.
Therefore, at a broad estimate, 2,640 fewer were
killed in that area in 1914 than fifty years ago ;
and each year the conditions are improving — for
the Caribou. Moreover, the territory I speak of
is at present far beyond the reach of the white
hunter, and is likely to remain so at least for
another century, so that there is no incoming
race to counterbalance the outgoing Indian.

When first encountered the Caribou were feed-
ing on withered marsh-hay, growing sometimes
with tufts still above the snow, along the edges
of the countless land-locked lakes ; and on moss of
a pale greenish-white colour which grows on sandy
hills, or more luxuriantly in low-lying muskegs.
Later they fed on similar food, but had to dig
through the snow for it — as I have previously
described. In bad snowstorms the Indians say
the Caribou yard together after the manner of

132 THE BARREN-GROUND CARIBOU

frightened sheep, and that a man can walk in
among them at such times ; but this I have not
witnessed. The Caribou invariably feed up-wind,
as I have said, and travel overland through the
woods from lake to lake along chosen paths long
established. It is common about noon, when
the animals are resting after their morning feed,
to find Caribou out in the centre of a lake, lying
down or grouped about resting in the sunlight,
while the watchful old leader scans the open snows
on all sides, and sniffs the drifting wind.

If you have found Caribou country in winter,
and can put up with intense cold, you will find
that the actual shooting of these animals is not
difficult. They are stupid animals once you
have frightened them with a shot, and if you
get within reasonable range of a band on a lake
you are certain to bag more than one of them, if
you are anxious to secure meat or particular
trophies, for if you bring down one with your first
shot, and run on when they run, the others will
almost certainly halt before they have gone far
to look back for their comrade or to make certain
where danger lies, and you will have opportunity
for further shots. To give an instance of this :
on one occasion a band of twelve Caribou came on
to the lake where my cabin stood. This was
bringing dog-feed to my very door if I could effect
a kill — and the distance you have to carry meat
from the point you kill to your camp is no incon-
siderable detail if time and labour and sled-dogs
are to be saved. Therefore I snatched up my
rifle and a handful of cartridges and eagerly gave
chase. Before long, by hard running and quick

SHOOTING CARIBOU 183

shooting, I had six carcasses lying one be-
yond the other in wake of the confused sheep-
silly band, before the Caribou got into the forest
at the north end of the lake ; and if cartridges
had not given out I believe very few would have
got away. This illustrates what I have said,
and what I have often experienced, for each
time I fired the band started away, and I after
them, until they made that fatal halt to look back,
when I would halt also, and pause to fire again—-
and so on, with the above result.

The best range at which to shoot Caribou is, in
my experience, inside one hundred yards, and to
shoot to kill the animal with a clean shot, for a
wounded animal, badly hit, that gets away, is not
pleasant to think of, especially as one may know
that the poor animal will freeze to death once it
ceases travelling. Again, a wounded animal that
you might follow may take you miles off the
course you happen to be travelling, and through
overgrown country that you cannot afterwards
take a dog-sled into, to gather the meat, in the
event of your killing the wounded animal.

I have killed animals outright with -303 Ross
rifle at 312 paces, and 447 paces, when I had no
alternative, but, irrespective of marksmanship,
those distances are too great to make certain of
clean kills. Shooting in intense cold, unless
you have a special-fingered glove and can shoot
with it on, you will almost certainly get the
fingers of your right hand frozen, if you fire
more than one or two shots in succession with the
bared hand which you have taken from the heavily
lined deerskin mitten. I've had all the fingers of

134 THE BARREN-GROUND CARIBOU

my shooting hand frozen, sometimes down to the
second joint, but if attended to at once and
thoroughly chafed with snow there are no serious
consequences — nothing but the sharp pain of
reviving circulation, and, sometimes, the skin
will afterwards blacken and peel off.

I turn now to the Indians, and the extent of
their Caribou hunting. It has been said that
Indians kill less with modern weapons than they
did in the past by primitive methods, but I think
such a statement should be taken with reserva-
tion. I grant that Indians, as a rule, are indif-
ferent marksmen, but it is well to remember that
what they lack in that respect they more than
make up for in bushcraft. They are undoubtedly
skilled hunters, keenly intelligent hunters with
a second sense — a wild sense which is essentially
Indian and which makes it possible for them to
get very close to animals, much in the crafty,
patient manner of prowling wolf or fox that
manoeuvre to outwit and come within striking
distance of their prey.

On October 21, 1913, an Indian of Fort Du
Brochet was returning after dark on the ice
of Reindeer Lake, after setting out a trap-line,
when he heard the muffled thunder of countless
Caribou passing north-east over the ice. No
Caribou had been seen until then. It was the
hour of their coming. This Indian got back
to the Post in great excitement and soon spread
the glad news among the half-dozen cabins on
the lake shore. The following morning at the
first faint light of dawn, the hunters of the settle-
ment went out to kill, while the Caribou con-

SNARING CARIBOU 135

tinued to pass all day over the same route which
herds had been tramping over all night — a route
which was in full view of the Post when day
broke. During the hunt that followed two
Indians killed sixty Caribou, and three others,
forty-four Caribou : a total of one hundred and
four Caribou to five rifles. This was a good kill,
for the conditions were perfect, since the Caribou
had been found --in the full flood of their migra-
tion, and no distance from camp. And is it not
a better bag than five men would obtain by
snare, and spear, and muzzle-loading gun, in
primitive hunting ? for, as I describe below,
it apparently took a much greater number of
men to effect any like large capture in the past.

The method of killing Caribou in numbers in
the past, in the territory immediately south of
the Barren Lands, I here recount as more than
one veteran Indian has described it to me : In
olden days Caribou were largely caught in snares.
The Chipewyan tribe in the whole neighbourhood
combined in one grand hunt at the season of the
Caribou migration. It was their custom to select
a locality in the forest which they knew to be
much favoured by Caribou, and there set snares,
made of stout " babiche " (leather thong), by
hanging them, at a height to form a head noose,
between stout trees wherever old Caribou paths
passed. They would set a hundred or more
snares in this manner before The Trap was
complete ; whereupon the hunters who were
armed with spears and muzzle-loaders took up
their positions so as to watch the trap and encircle
it when the Caribou approached. Thereafter

136 THE BARREN-GROUND CARIBOU

they set themselves to wait and watch for the
approaching herds, and sometimes they had to
keep vigil for days. When Caribou came a large
number were allowed to pass inside the watching
cordon of Indians, who then formed a wide
ring and commenced to humour them onward
into the way of the snares. When the animals
were fairly entrapped the Indians would close
in from all sides, driving the Caribou to their
doom, and shooting them down or spearing those
that tried to escape. Sometimes none of the
herd escaped (asserted to be as many as two
hundred in some instances), all falling prey to
the Indians' skill and active watchfulness. If
one bears in mind the sheep-like tendency of
Caribou to lose their heads when thoroughly
alarmed, it will be understood better how hunting
in this manner was practicable to men with endless
resource in bushcraft.

Caribou, which are strong swimmers, are also
killed in numbers when swimming lakes in their
early Fall migration. Some Indians on the
borders of the Barren Lands make kills in this
way, but they are principally made in the Eskimo
country, where the Eskimos, in their frail, active-
moving kayaks, surround a herd of animals in the
water and spear them to death.

Having cited those large kills of Caribou, past
and present, I might be asked," Why such wasteful
destruction ? In answer, my experience bids
me defend the Indians, for of all the Caribou I
have seen shot by Indians (no inconsiderable
number) I have never known of one being wasted.
In the first place it is well to remember that

MEAT NEEDED FOR MEN AND DOGS 187

the Chipewyans look on the Caribou as a thing
sent solely to them by \The Spirit, to feed
and clothe them through winter. Caribou are
essential to the existence of those people,
for the Chipewyans depend largely, almost com-
pletely, on them for winter food, though other-
wise absolute poverty is relieved by limited stores
of frozen fish, and what few f^h are netted below
the ice. If one hears complaints at all, it is that
not enough Caribou can be found : never that
they have too many and would leave some to
waste. There is greater use for large quantities
of meat than one, at first thought, might imagine.
Indians are voracious eaters at all times, parti-
cularly in the intense cold winter weather, and
they eat Caribou meat extravagantly when they
have it, and eating it, and it solely, three or four
times a day, as they often do, a single animal is
soon devoured. Then, too, and this is the chief
factor to be borne in mind, Caribou are exten-
sively used for dog-feed whenever procurable in
numbers. If an Indian has ten sled-dogs to feed,
one carcass cut into portions will barely feed
them for three nights ; the number of dogs is
more often twenty, sometimes thirty or more,
and the call on the food-supply accordingly
greater. So it will be seen that, though Indians
kill large numbers of Caribou, they have a
definite need for them in a land where food is not
bought ; where red men wrest a livelihood from
rivers and lake-waters, virgin wildernesses, and
dreary snow- wastes ; and where to be without
food is to die.

It is hardly necessary to say that the flesh of

138 THE BARREN-GROUND CARIBOU

the Caribou is splendid food. The choice parts
the Indians select, when opportunity occurs, are
the tongue, the heart, the kidneys, the brisket,
all fat, and the limb-bones (after most of the
meat has been removed) for the [marrow therein.
The tongue is undoubtedly the choicest part of
all, and a delicious delicacy. In past days the
Hudson Bay Company used to send out from
Du Brochet Post many tongues and barrels of
Caribou fat.

Indians, as I have already said elsewhere, have
an observant and very intelligent knowledge of
wild life. This is borne out in the Chipewyan
manner of speaking of Caribou, when hunting
them. They will not say, " There is a caribou"
but will use a name which describes its indivi-
duality as well, since they have a series of names
which discriminate at once the condition, or
age, or sex, of the animals they encounter. Thus
names mean: "a fat Caribou," "Caribou in
poor condition," "a Caribou doe in fawn," "a
young fawn," " a yearling Caribou," " a three-
year-old Caribou," " a five-year-old Caribou,"
" a doe Caribou," " a buck Caribou " — and so on.

As well as providing the Chipewyans with
great stores of winter food the Caribou supplies
them with skins for clothing. In the past,
Caribou skins furnished them with all their
material for clothing and the covering for their
teepees. Now, when they can, they get white
man's clothing, and canvas for their teepees, in
fur-barter with the Hudson Bay Company and
Revillion Brothers — a change which is decaying
native skill and native beauty. There are

CARIBOU HIDES AND THEIR USE 139

still, however, smoked Caribou-skin teepees in
use, while winter fur clothing, and moccasins
made from Caribou hides, are universally worn.
Summer clothing — top-boot leggings and shirts,
made from flexible native-tanned skins, are now
entirely out of use.

Caribou-skin products are prepared by the
Chipewyans as follows :

Babiche. — Long lengths of tough leather lace,
or thong, made from raw hide. Process of pre-
paration : hair scraped from skin ; skin dried ;
then skin soaked till soft, and cut into long strips
by circular cutting. Skin in nowise prepared by
the lengthy process required when dressing skins
for moccasins, etc.

Skins dressed as Soft Leather. — Lengthy process
requiring, chiefly, industrious hand-working.
Skins soaked, and dried in the open air, and worked
with hands ; process repeated many times, each
time becoming more soft and more white. When
lying out, the clear, fresh air purifies the skins,
as in ordinary bleaching. Skins finally soaked
and rubbed in a solution of Caribou-brain (in
the absence of brain ordinary soap is used) :
brain contains grease, which has the essential
softening quality. The skins, when finished,
are very soft and flexible like Chamois leather,
and are, particularly if they be fawn skins, often
pure white.

Dressed Fur Skins. — Hide dried first by stretch-
ing on the circular inside of teepee — thus drying
by the heat of the fire alight on the ground in
the centre of the interior ; skin then rubbed with
brain (or soap) and worked clean of all flesh, fat,

140 THE BARREN-GROUND CARIBOU

etc. ; a little water is applied during process of
rubbing, but skin never allowed to become very
moist. Inside skin soft and flexible when finished,
and the outside hairs, untouched.

Caribou-hide is best (thickest) in spring, and
no good in mid-winter (being then thin). The
hair, apparently, feeds on, and derives nutriment
from the skin, for when the hair is long in winter
the skin is thin, and in the spring when the hair
is new and short, the skin is thick and at its best.

Before leaving this subject I will endeavour to
tell of a few experiences of photographing Caribou :
experiences that were not very successful, because
of the action of intense cold on the focal-plane
shutter, but which give considerable detail of
Caribou habits and winter hunting.

It was with old Philip Merasty, a halfbreed,
and Eaglefoot, a Chipewyan, that I made my
most determined attempt to photograph Caribou ;
and the last attempt I made, since cold and
unsuitable apparatus completely baulked me from
further effort.

Philip, without knowing it, was, like many
an Indian, an unread wilderness naturalist. The
clouds, the water, the fish, the land — the forests,
the birds, the animals — all in his country he had
studied for a lifetime, and, at ripe old age, he
was full of wisdom of the wild. He had watched
me skin and label specimens, watched my manoeu-
vres to take wild-life photographs, watched my
making pencil sketches ; and in time had proved
himself a staunch confederate in assisting my
researches.

Eaglefoot, perhaps, had equal knowledge, but

START FOR CARIBOU GROUND 141

he was silent, almost, as the snow. Half a dozen
words with Philip in the morning would decide a
day's plans, and half a dozen sentences over the
camp-fire at night record all the day had accom-
plished. But he was a splendid hunter and
traveller, and a hard worker if there was work
to do.

Neither of those Indians had ever seen a
camera before they saw this one of mine, and to
allow them to look through the view-finder or
focusing screen afforded them great astonishment
and delight, when they beheld the miniature
pictures in the glass. It seemed to them witch-
craft. They expressed the same excited astonish-
ment in looking through field-glasses.

With those two Indians, and food, sleeping
bags, and two dog-trains, we one day set out
from my cabin to travel and camp on Caribou
ground. And the days that followed I here
record from the simple pages of my diary — written
at the glowing log-fire o' nights, where comfort
was before one, and cruel, hungry cold a yard
beyond the camp circle. . . .

Philip and Eaglefoot outside my cabin at
daylight (8 o'clock). I joined them in a moment,
and we sped merrily away in a northerly direction
over well-packed lake surface : the dogs fresh,
and the sled-bells tinkling cheerfully.

Soon after starting Philip looked gravely into
the even-toned, grey sky and prophesied that
wind would rise, while to me the sky in that phase
was unreadable. In a few hours wind did rise —
keen north wind.

On the trail outward Philip looked at his trap-
11

142 THE BARREN-GROUND CARIBOU

line ; traps set for Fox, Marten, and Mink, but
none contained quarry. I came on a few Spruce
Grouse, while halted, and while Philip was
examining a Fox set, I, to Eaglefoot's astonish-
ment, shot one with my catapult. He had
never seen my " noiseless gun " before, and
picked up the dead bird to examine it and
reassure himself that I really had struck it to
death.

Proceeding we travelled north up a long inlet
bay to the north-east of Fort Du Brochet, thence
over one long portage, and then through four
small lakes and on to a big irregularly shaped
lake named Sand Lake.

At first fire the sled-bells were removed from
the dog-harness, for they are never used when
serious hunting begins ; obviously because of
the sound.

Soon after first fire (three hours out — the first
rest for dogs, and fire for a drink of hot tea), on
entering Sand Lake, twelve Caribou were sighted,
but they were, a moment later, disturbed by an
Indian, who appeared ahead and gave chase.
Before long, however, they doubled back towards
our party, and Philip shot once without effect.
When nearing the end of the north bay of this
lake, about forty Caribou were sighted. At once
the dogs were run into forest ambush, and we
waited in hiding for the oncoming animals. Ulti-
mately I succeeded in making four exposures
of a few of those Caribou, but the main herd went
away north-east. When there was no longer
prospect of obtaining further photographs of
this lot, Philip and Eaglefoot fired on them at

DECOYING CARIBOU 143

long range, but neither brought any down. A
little later a young buck, which had become
separated from the main herd, came back past
us, and this I shot for the night's dog-feed.

At the narrows between Sand Lake and the
nameless lake beyond it, Philip and Eaglefoot
chose a base camp, and the sleds were run into
cover on a well-timbered low point of land. We
were in good Caribou country, and it was intended
to spend some time here and prepare unobtru-
sively to influence the direction of Caribou travel,
so that they might come to pass before the
camera.

Our procedure was this : to cut from the
forest on the shores armfuls of spruce boughs and
lay them, at widely spaced intervals, on the white
lake surface of the upper lake to form a thin
boundary line. This fence was laid after the
tracks on the forested shores had been examined,
and the wind considered, and Philip and Eagle-
foot had decided that Caribou would possibly
come from the west on the morrow. Where
Caribou were expected to come on to the lake from
the forest a few boughs were placed very close
to shore, so that when our quarry stepped on to
the lake the strange objects would not be observed
until the animals looked back or tried to return
by the path they had come. As will be seen
shortly, Caribou will not pass near any suspicious-
looking object. Along both shores the fence was
carried out, making short cuts across the bays ;
and after the shores were laid the slim enclosure
was completed by running a line of boughs from
shore to shore across the centre of the lake.

144 THE BARREN-GROUND CARIBOU

There then remained open, to any animal that
might enter the enclosure, only the narrows
leading into Sand Lake, where I and the camera
would be hidden.

It was night when we had finished and returned
to camp. Camp was made snug against the
keen wind and bitter frost by building the usual
barricade of spruce boughs and snow in a half-
circle, backing the wind ; and within the circle,
just beyond the length of an outstretched man,
a great log-fire was built to blaze merrily (and to
die out long after the fur-blanketed forms had
gone to sleep). All the ten sled-dogs were tied
up "this night — an unusual proceeding — to keep
them from wandering to the traps on Philip's
line, and from chasing any Caribou that they
might scent in the night. They were then given
the whole of the Caribou that had been killed,
and twenty fish — a repast intended to keep them
drowsily contented and quiet on the morrow.

The following morning we were moving about
camp before daylight, preparing in earnest for
deer-stalking. Any of the dogs that showed
inclination to howl or whimper was securely
muzzled with rope : the morning fire burned low :
the ordinary quiet voices of the Indians sank
to hushed whisperings — those precautions even
although our camp was well back from the shore
and in the shelter of forest where there was but
slight likelihood of smoke or sound reaching the
senses of any animals that might approach.

A hide for the camera and myself was built of
spruce boughs on the outskirts of the point of
land, and commanding the lake at the entrance

PHOTOGRAPHING CARIBOU 145

to the narrows where the Caribou were expected
to pass. The hide was built as small and insigni-
ficant as possible, and the outside — that which
might be apparent from the lake — was sprayed
with snow until it resembled the natural sur-
roundings. The first two hours of daylight
passed uneventfully, and it was not until about
10 a.m. that two Caribou were sighted. These
animals came on to the ice south of the narrows
—they had come off the shore past the camera
—but the cunning Indians had foreseen the
possibility of this, and a few spruce boughs
barred the narrows, some distance beyond my
outlook. At this fence the two Caribou were
turned, and after a long wait they began to ap-
proach the hide. Of the leading buck I obtained
one good exposure, and though slight was the
click of the release the animal heard it, and
swung round as if he had been shot at : there
he paused for a second, proud head up and great
eyes alarmed, while I remained motionless ; but
in a moment more he turned and retraced his
steps, smelling the ground suspiciously, while his
companion followed.

After this there was a long period of patient
waiting — not an easy matter in the numbing
cold — and it was noon when the next Caribou
were seen. It was then that a small herd of a
dozen came on to the lake, and within the en-
closure, from the west shore. They were very
nervous, probably because of the " fence," and
they made one or two short rushes as if they
meant to risk galloping through the barrier that
lay across the lake — only to come to a halt in the

146 THE BARREN-GROUND CARIBOU

end, and to look about wonderingly. The wind
was from the north, hence their inclination was
to get beyond the fence across the lake, but each
time they " funked " crossing between those harm-
less bits of spruce. Twice the buck that was the
leader came half the distance forward to the
narrows only to turn back again to the north-
west, and mingle with the others in frightened
bewilderment. Finally the buck made up his
mind, and came for the narrows at a long-reach-
ing trot, neck outstretched, head up and horns
lying back over the shoulders. Without a halt
he came right on, and I allowed him to pass un-
molested— he was well ahead of the others —
then made some exposures of the following line
of does and fawns that filed past the hide. They
were fine fat deer, Philip decided, after they
were past — he had, in his keenness, come quietly
beside me to watch also — and he ran back to
camp for my rifle to shoot at them, but luckily
they were gone ere he returned and he couldn't
spoil, by the noise of shooting, what chance
there might be of other animals approaching.
However, it was then getting late, and the light
was failing, and we were on the point of leaving off
for the day, when Philip, who had been moving
around the shore a little way, came to tell me
that a single fawn was approaching. This
animal walked all along the fence, smelling the
ground where the others had previously passed,
and uncertain where to go. Finally it got on the
fresh track leading to the narrows and came
ahead quickly. As the animal passed I made
two exposures, though the light was by then very

CAMERA FAILS TO WORK 147

poor. A little beyond me Eaglefoot dropped the
poor brute, for food was wanted for the dogs ;
but one felt one would have been glad if it could
have run on, and found the herd it had strayed
from. It paid the full penalty for loitering
behind.

It was now 3 p.m. and too dark for further
camera work. It had been snowing lightly all
day, and the light was not very good for making
rapid exposures. However, what was really
worrying me was the action of the intense frost
on the focal-plane shutter. Twice it had abso-
lutely stuck in the middle of an exposure, and
twice, also, it had refused to act at all when
beautiful Caribou pictures were possible. I
was beginning to fear the shutter was going to
spoil everything, and that I wanted a very simple
instrument to replace this complicated mechanism,
to which tiny frost particles clung and jammed
the finer workings. Over the evening camp-fire
I spent an hour trying to prevent any recurrence
of a hitch in the shutter- workings. Before the
heat of the fire it worked perfectly, and I laid
it aside in the end with renewed hopes for the
morrow.

The early hours of night were employed
cutting wood, feeding the sled-dogs, and cooking
a large meal of Caribou meat. Then we lay for
an hour or two before turning in, the meditative
Indians smoking, and from time to time piling
fresh logs on the huge fire. Over the fire, in the
upper flames, hung the ghost-like, blackened
head of a Caribou, spiked on to a long green staff
that was stuck back in the snow to hold the head

148 THE BARREN-GROUND CARIBOU

up in position — and this was the manner of roast-
ing our final tit-bit before going to sleep for the
night. They are glorious, those night fires of a
winter camp, not only warmth and light, but
cheerful withal — the home-fire of the trail, where
there is real content in the mind of the wayfarer
as he watches the flames that incessantly shoot
upward in bright spiral lines to wriggle like
snakes into space or snap into tiny floating sparks
which die out in the blackness and chillness of
the surrounding night.

It snowed heavily overnight, and we awoke
in the morning to thrust our heads through the
foot of snow that covered us in our sleeping
bags : the thermometer had dropped also over-
night ; and altogether it was in no way pleasant
in camp before we got a roaring fire kindled.
Fire and tea and breakfast soon warmed us up ;
and about daylight the sky cleared, and the snow,
while a strong biting north wind sprung up.

At breakfast I amused and interested Philip
in telling him of a strange dream I had had in the
night. It was this : He (Philip) was driving his
dog-team in a strange foreign country, when,
while he stopped to shoot at something, his
dogs ran away with the driverless sled, and it was
finally seen careering through the streets of a
great city. At this time, by arrangement of
the strange freak settings with which dreams are
embodied, Eaglefoot and I were coming along a
side street in the same strange city when we saw
Philip's dog-team tearing past on the main
street like animals possessed; both of us gave
chase. At a corner, where the sled slewed

A STRANGE DREAM 149

awkwardly, some bales and blankets were thrown
out, and with those the exhausted Eaglefoot
remained while I careered on. Finally I caught
the dogs, but when I came to drive them they
would not go. The difficulty — in the dream-
seemed to be all because I could not recall the
name of Philip's lead-dog. Think as I might
I could not recall it. Meantime crowds had
collected who had never seen a sled and dog-
train before. They were strange, tall, delicate
people who spoke no words I could understand.
In the end I led the dogs back to where Eagle-
foot waited, and was again loading up the bales
and blankets so that we might go in search of
Philip — when I awoke . . . and my first con-
scious thought was intensely concentrated on
Musquaw — the name of Philip's lead-dog. The
old Indian was intensely interested in this yarn.
In many ways Indians have the naive receptive
intellect of children.

But, to return to the work of the day. The
drifting snow on the lake had, when we looked
out from our hide after breakfast, partly covered
the spruce boughs of the " deer fence," and our
first task was to travel round them all, lifting them,
shaking them, and replacing them. After this
we had a very long wait before any Caribou
came, probably because our movements around
the " fence " had frightened any that chanced
to be in the immediate neighbourhood at the
time. However, about noon, a single male
Caribou came slowly on to the lake from the forest
on the west shore, and then, apparently surprised,
stood long, watchfully alert. Philip, who was

150 THE BARREN-GROUND CARIBOU

with me at the camera, remarked in a whisper,
" Him not alone, that's why he wait," and sure
enough a little later a doe and fawn followed out
of the forest, whereupon the buck lay down to
rest on the lake surface. But when the others
joined him they walked around uncertainly, not
seeming to find the resting place comfortable,
and so, in a little time, the buck rose and led on
across the lake to the east shore, where all lay
down in content. They were now, however, too
comfortable for my liking, for after more than
an hour's wait at the camera hide, the animals
still showed no inclination to move. At last it
was decided that Philip should make a wide
detour through the timber on the east shore with
a view to getting beyond the Caribou, and disturb
and drive them toward the narrows. When
Philip got round into position (he afterwards
gave me the details of his movements) he snapped
a small dry twig. Instantly the buck's head,
which had been resting, turned in toward the
body, flashed sharply upright, and he looked
steadfastly in the direction from whence the
sound had emanated. Again Philip snapped a
twig, and at this the buck rose and faced the
sound, then fully satisfied that danger lurked in
the wood he half-turned and commenced to trot
in my direction. Soon the others rose also and
followed, but not before the buck was well away
in the lead.

The buck passed very close to the camera, and
I repeatedly tried to make exposures, but, alas !
the shutter was frosted and refused to work.
Then followed the doe and fawn, and renewed

COLD SPOILS CAMERA WORK 151

heartbreaking failure on the part of the camera,
while the unalarmed animals even approached
the hide to investigate the click of the shutter
release, a sound which was apparently curious to
them.

This was the end of patience. What use to
continue ? It needed no further trial to teach
me that my focal plane shutter was useless in the
intense cold. For the time I must give up. If I
lived to return in other years I would know what
to bring to overcome the cold.

So the dogs were harnessed into their traces,
and we prepared to leave for Reindeer Lake.
But before vacating camp the wily Philip set
two traps — one for Marten at the foot of a tree,
and one for Fox at the remains of a Caribou
carcass. The observant old native had seen
Marten tracks on the snow near camp, and he
told me " he come seek about camp after we go,
that's their way."

About 3.30, when dusk was falling, we led the
dogs from the forest to the lake and, muffled in
our robes, started grimly homeward over wither-
ing snowfields. No one spoke — it was too cold
— and the dogs laboured on unguided, knowing
the home trail, while their deep breathing blew
back and froze whitely to their shaggy coats.

Caribou and Caribou pictures were soon for-
gotten; indeed, every ambition seemed trifling
— everything ixcept the awful cold and the
boundless, ice-locked land.

CHAPTER VII

SLED-DOGS OF THE NORTH TRAILS

WITHOUT sled- dogs there could be no winter
travel over the great territories of the Far Cana-
dian North, and consequently little or no fur
trade. Possibly you have never had occasion
to think of such a modern thing as commerce
in connection with those great snow-bound wilder-
nesses that lie beyond the white man's country :
possibly it never occurred to you that the winter
life of Indian and Eskimo could concern you in
any way at all. Yet, since to them do we owe
thanks for great stores of fur pelts, they touch
on our lives in an indirect way even as far " back
home " as London, Paris, New York, and in all
cities ; though few people who buy rich furs
over city shop counters picture the drear sur-
roundings in which fur-bearing animals are
captured — interminable wastes of snow ; intense
cold, even blizzard ; and lone men with patient
wolf-dogs battling against bitter, merciless Arctic
winter. Perhaps only Vikings of the ancient
Hudson Bay Company, and others of the like
who have traded in fur for half a century, really
know how much is yearly harvested by the aid
of the sled- dog. Just as civilisation cannot
to-day do without railways, so the Far North

152

SLED-DOG POPULATION 153

cannot subsist in winter without dog- trains ;
dogs which are the means of gathering from
great distances, and long trap-lines, the choicest
furs for the markets of civilisation ; and that
gather also the fuel- wood and winter food that
keep alive the dusky- hued races that hunt through
the dark months of the year for treasures that
are coveted by cultured people.

Let a stranger enter the North ; let him come to
a far-out fur Post, and he will be wonderstruck
at the canine population ; for if a Post contain
ten hunting Indians it is highly probable that
the whole foreground will be dominated by some
120 to 150 sled-dogs. The proportion of man
to dog is usually on such an astonishing scale.

It is certain that the stranger will wonder to
see such numbers of those uncommon beasts of
burden, and possibly he will be somewhat sur-
prised that the natives of the Far North so ex-
tensively rear dogs for utility, with much of the
same purpose as his own people would rear
horses in the civilised South.

And he cannot but remark the striking
presence, and stalwart wolf-build of those dogs :
some half- wild, disdainful, powerful;' beautifully
proportioned, beautifully coated ; others less
handsome cross- strains, rough- coated, unevenly
coloured, but brim-full of courage and strong to
endure.

To find the true type of sled-dogs, or wolf-
dogs, or huskies, or malamoots — call them what
you will out of those names of the country —
one must come to the far-out fur Posts ; for good
dogs, like good Indians, lie nowadays beyond the

y

154 SLED-DOGS OF THE NORTH TRAILS

outposts of the white settler. That the finest
dogs are in the Far North is perhaps due to their
untrammelled surroundings, and to the nature
of their feeding, for, on the fringes of the Frontier,
fish, the chief dog-food, is often scarce, and in
demand for human food, whereas in the Far
North fish are plentiful and little sought in the
clear waters of the countless lakes and rivers 'that
abound in those distant places. Moreover in
Frontier settlements, and such Posts where
white and halfbreed and Indian intermingle,
and are unsettled by more modern enterprises
than the old-world, patient, plodding fur trade,
the sled-dogs are often outcast when their
winter's work is done, and remain through
summer no man's care, little better than thieving
curs, kicked and abused by everyone.

If you are travelling north, particularly in
summer, it is sure to be your misfortune on the
early outward trail to run foul of those thieving
fellows, who instil in you a firm distrust of every
sled- dog in existence long before you have
cleared their unhealthy habitat. All sled-dogs
steal — even the best of them — but the untended
outcasts of the Posts near the edge of civilisa-
tion are particular vagabonds. My most memor-
able losses by dog-thieves — memorable because
they seriously shortened my carefully calculated
food-store on a long outward canoe journey
between two ports — was the loss of a shoulder of
dried moose meat, stolen from over my head at
night, and a week's baking of " bannock "
(sour-dough bread) plundered a few days later
from a grub box in camp during a heavy storm.

CUNNING OF SLED-DOGS 155

It is not uncommon to find an outcast dog, or
a lost dog, living along the shores of lake or river
like a totally wild animal. Living thus they
gather oddments of food from the water's edge,
besides what live prey they catch, such odd-
ments as dead fish that are washed ashore, or
carcass of duck or gull ; sometimes too they
chance on a nest of eggs, while if there are berries
ripening in the woods they will even devour those
in their hunger. It is under such circumstances
that one may observe the full reawakened wild-
natured cunning of those brutes, for their sense
of smell when roaming thus becomes keen and
suspicious as a wolf's, and they will examine
any particle of food with great care before
daring to touch it, as if they feared poison or a
trap with all the dread of a once caught, once
escaped, wild thing. If you want further proof
of how close they are to their wild forefathers,
watch them at dusk, cunning as wolf or fox, and
as naturally stealing through the pine woods
over dry, moss-grown knolls, eyes and ears and
nose alert, treading stealthily with head forward
and tail straight, ready instantly to pounce on
grouse or rabbit or any living thing the high-
strung senses may detect.

There is one thing in the way of food that, as
far as I know, a sled- dog will not touch, and that
is mice. I've seen dead mice lying outside
cabins for days untouched, where ravenous sled-
dogs existed. This is peculiar, because some
domestic dogs will eat mice, though it is true
they are often sick after doing so.

I have said that all sled-dogs will steal. I'm

156 SLED-DOGS OF THE NORTH TRAILS

afraid that is true, and I cannot revoke even
such sweeping judgment, but what I like about
the dogs in the Far North is that they have the
grace to acknowledge themselves rascals, for they
stand aloof from mankind, half- wild, half-afraid,
making no overtures or pretences of friendship
— and they steal whenever they can. On the
other hand, poor-caste mongrels of the Frontier
may sidle up to you in friendly fashion, and you,
in good humour, may treat them kindly — then
turn your back, and they sneak into your tent
and plunder whatever is at hand. This sort of
thing can be very annoying, and "the only thing
to do is to steel one's feelings against all and
treat them as rogues — every one.

I will leave now the ~sled-dogs of the Frontier
and deal entirely with the more pure, more
attractive types of those that are common to the
borders of the Arctic. Perhaps some of the
finest dogs I have seen were at Fort Du Brochet,
at the north end of Reindeer Lake, where the
Hudson Bay Company have stretched a tendril
through inland wilderness almost to the line of
the Eskimo country, and there established a
Trading Post for Chipewyan Indians and those
said Eskimos, so that they be induced to bring out
the fur of a large inland area of the Barren-grounds
and lay it on the rude barter counter of the Fur
Traders' Store and purchase in exchange such
luxuries as flour, and tobacco, and tea, and
ammunition, and beads, and coloured cloths,
and all such sort of things as are eagerly sought
by simple, primitive natives. Once a year a
small band of Eskimos travel south with fur-

HUSKY DOG-.
A fine train-leader, wonderfully intelligent, one of the finest dogs I ever encountered.

156]

PURE HUSKY FEMALE.
General colour, wolf -grey ; eyes, brown ; tip of tail, white.

DOGS OF FORT DU BROCKET 157

loaded sleds to Fort Du B rochet. Thereafter
they are neither seen nor heard of until another
year comes round. They bring with them pelts
of White Wolves, Arctic Foxes, Bears, Wolverine,
and a few Musk-ox skins — the last-named animals
believed to be rare nowadays, but perhaps not
so rare as it is written down to be for it inhabits,
in most cases, country almost totally unknown
to white men, and unapproachable. Sometimes
the Eskimos bring a few Mink skins in their
packs, but never Marten, which are indigenous
to, forested country.

But to return to the subject of sled-dogs ;
there are eight cabins at Fort Du B rochet,
including the fur-traders', and the inhabitants of
those owned twenty-two trains of sled-dogs :
that is to say, 110 adult dogs, while a conserva-
tive estimate of pups — three to six months old —
would add some forty head to the total dog
population of the Post. Remember that only
records the number of dogs within that tiny
settlement, for beyond, on lone lake and river,
at the isolated cabins of the nomad Chipewyans
of the territory, were the dog-trains of each
hunting Indian — perhaps three hundred to four
hundred dogs in all in that district, if one might
guess a broadly approximate estimate.

And there are times, if one camps at Fort Du
B rochet, when one is very forcibly reminded
that there is a mighty congregation of dogs
there, for, on certain nights, without visible
cause, it is the custom of the whole dog tribe to
point their muzzles to the moon, and in one
voluble, blood-curdling chorus to break in on

158 SLED-DOGS OF THE NORTH TRAILS

the unbounded silence of the northern night
with their wolf-like, melancholy dirge — long-
drawn-out howlings, one wow . . .

wow. . . wow. . . cue Abruptly

as the dogs commence, so is the wild call hushed,
after giving but a minute's utterance to the wild
sad spirit that has been handed down to them by
nameless forefathers from generation to genera-
tion. Particularly on stormy nights do those
strange animals show restlessness and their desire
to voice their wolf-howl to the whole world.

They howl also in this same deep, melancholy
way when a permanent camp is broken up and
their masters embark in canoes for fresh hunting-
grounds. Then they will sit and howl their very
souls out before they bid good-bye to their old
haunts and follow the canoes along shore. It
may be that they howl in dread of the unknown
journey before them, or with wish to send their
dog-message of departure through shadowy
forest that holds the secrets of many wanderings
and of many wild things. Be that as it may, in
due course they depart, and commence the hard
task of following the canoes, for to keep in touch
they must at time swim from point to point of
deep bays, and cross wide rivers, and in a day
fall far behind in surmounting the difficulties
in their path. At night they may overtake their
masters, But only the robust and hardy dogs
get through with the canoes, for the weaklings
fall out and are lost, and may only reach camp
in a starved condition a week or two after the
others if they have been persistent and intelli-
gent in following the trail of their fellows.

EXPECTANT, EVER-HUNGRY DOGS.
Harvesting fish for the winter in the late Fall.

DOGS INTERESTED IN THE MORNING CATCH OP PISH.

158]

DOGS WATCH CANOES RETURN 159

It will have been gathered that all sled-dogs
are idlers in summer ; many but little cared for,
since the caring means work ; others are more
fortunate who have masters who consider them
their property summer and winter.

Every summer day, except when storms of
wind prevent them, canoes go out to fishing-
grounds from Fort Du Brochet to lift their gill-
nets and bring in fish for human food and dog-
food. And every day the keen eyes of many
eager dogs watch from the shore-front for the
return of the canoes, which they welcome at the
water's edge, in a body — much in the manner that
hand-fed colts cluster to their grain-trough at
feeding hour. If the catch allows it, each dog
gets one fish per day in summer — Whitefish,
Jackfish (Pike), or Trout, weighing 2j Ibs. up-
wards. Down by the water's edge, when a canoe
runs ashore, there are gathered other dogs besides
those belonging to the two fishermen at the
moment landing. Therefore, when they are
ready to feed the dogs, one Indian steps ashore
armed with a stout stick or pole and stands among
them to preserve order, and guard against the
interlopers, while the other calls the name of a
dog in deep tones as he tosses a fish from the
canoe into the air toward the dog he has selected,
which dog adroitly catches the fish in the air,
rounds his shoulders protectingly over it, and
commences to tear it to pieces while holding it
between sharp-clawed fore-paws. Thus the fish
are distributed to the rightful dogs. There is
seldom any mad rush ; both dogs and men know
their business. The fish, once dealt out, are

160 SLED-DOGS OF THE NORTH TRAILS

devoured in ravenous, hasty gulps, while the
strange dogs pounce in now and again to try and
steal from the rightful owners, the while emit-
ting fierce snarls and teeth-gnashings with
thought to overawe the one assailed. But the
Indians watch with their poles, and lay about
them whenever a row arises ; and growls and
sounds of fierce battle are immediately succeeded
by the sharp yelp of a beaten dog — then peace.
Sometimes a dog carries his fish into shallow
water away from the others and tears it asunder
with head under water ; finally seeking below
the surface to be quite assured that no bits have
been overlooked. In barely a minute the repast is
over, so powerful are the wolf- jaws of those animals,
so great their ravenous haste to devour their prey.
Everywhere in the North native laws of man
and beast are stern, even merciless ; the outcome,
perhaps, of living half the year face to face with
the powerful elements of winter, eternally fight-
ing for an existence within the zone of the
greatest counterforces of life to be met with in
the whole wide world. Thus it appears, at first
sight, brutal to a stranger to witness the Indians
punish their dogs on the slightest provocation,
and it is brutal in a delicate sense, but not so in
the mind of Indian or dog, for both are of a
vigorous outdoor world, and of primitive hardi-
hood. Indians have full experience of sled-dogs.
They are masters of the situation ; were their
dogs allowed to run unchecked all summer, or be
humoured by pampering kindness, they wrould
be useless as sled-dogs when the snows came.
Hard blows teach them always to respect the

BREAKING IN SLED-DOGS 161

power of man, and to stand back at a respectful
distance and in due humility.

Regarding dog punishment, I have only once
witnessed a squaw severely deal with one of
those provoking animals. Her men-folk were
away hunting, and her peculiar method was to
tie the culprit to an alder bush and belabour
him mercilessly with a heavy pole until one
thought that if she did not cease speedily the dog
would be beaten to death. He had stolen some-
thing, poor hungry, wolf-natured brute — and he
would steal next hour, I wager, if the chance
arose, licking or no — only with a little more
caution, a little added resolve that his cunning
would outwit his masters.

At freeze-up I have seen young dogs that have
never before been caught and harnessed prove
so savage when handled that they could not be
put in the traces until stunned with a blow on
the head. For two or three days such dogs are
unmanageable, but in the end they become
tractable and often prove splendid, hard-working,
high-spirited beasts of burden.

You will have gathered from these remarks
that the sled- dog is for ever in the foreground
at the Far North fur Posts — numerous beyond
all other things — and that is true of them.

I will deal in detail with the foods on which
sled-dogs are fed, and then take you to the sled
and the snowfield ; that which is their purpose of
existence, and where their endurance and courage
overcome the bleakest wastes in all God's Universe.

What food the natives subsist on is also the
food of their dogs. The year round the native

162 SLED-DOGS OF THE NORTH TRAILS

and dog community of Fort Du Brochet, and of
many Far North Posts, live almost exclusively
on fish with the addition, in winter, of what
deer-meat the Caribou migrations provide. Raw
fish, fresh from the water in summer, or
frozen in winter, is the chief dog-food the year
round, and on this they thrive. And, in this
respect, it is certain that the fish on which the
dogs of the outermost Posts are fed has played an
important part in retaining, perhaps even develop-
ing, the fine physique which the breed obtain
along the trails of the Hinderland, for the fish
from the pure cold waters of northern lakes are
of surpassing excellence. The dogs themselves,
when occasion occurs, show discriminating taste,
and marked preference for their home fish, for,
in the winter, should any dog-team go south to
the Posts of the Frontier it is noticeable that
while being fed on fish from inferior waters they
will eat without relish and with an air of distaste,
and deteriorate in weight and strength.

Sled-dogs as a rule will eat any of the varieties
of fish that are caught in the North — Whitefish,
Trout, Jackfish (Pike and Pickerel), Black and
Red Suckers, and Dory — but when not ravenously
hungry, and the opportunity offers, they will
show a nicety of taste, and their preference, by
selecting the Whitefish, which is the choicest to
the human palate also.

In a country where food is the one great
problem of existence, providing for the sled-dog
is no small matter, particularly in winter. There-
fore on the eve of the great freeze-up, with pur-
pose to store a large supply of fish for winter dog-

TIMBER STAGE ON WHICH IS HUNG THE AUTUMN CATCH OF FISH FOE, DOG-FOOD.

PURE TIMBER WOLF FEMALE: IN CAPTIVITY, TO IMPROVE BREED OF SLED-DOGS.
162]

I

NETTING WINTER'S FISH SUPPLY 163

feed, Fall fishing on an extensive scale is yearly
undertaken by the Indians. When the weather
turns cold in late September or early October,
all the Indians of a permanent camp depart to
their well-known fishing-grounds — women, chil-
dren, dogs, teepee-covers, cooking-dishes are bun-
dled into canoes by their menfolk, and all set
out for the various river outlets, where fish at
that season congregate in their quest of spawning
grounds. Each Indian will set from three to
four long gill-nets (usually 200 feet x 4 feet, with
2-inch mesh — manufactured, not native made),
and those he visits once a day in the cold grey
autumn dawn before wind rises ; and as a rule
he brings in between one hundred and two hun-
dred fish. When landed the Indians and their
squaws slit the fish through the body some little
distance from the tail, and truss them in tens on
green willow-rods of about two feet length. They
are placed in groups of ten so that one stick
conveniently allots a day's rations to a five-dog
train — the usual number driven in northern terri-
tory. Large stages constructed with the trunks
of trees are erected, and across the stalwart
framework, from side to side, poles are spaced
overhead to form racks that receive the short
rods of trussed fish, which then hang suspended,
head-downwards, well out of reach of dogs or
wild animals. Here the fish are frozen — some-
times completely, sometimes partially, depend-
ing on weather; and keep, on the whole, almost
completely fresh until the hour the thermometer
drops to zero and the great freeze-up sets in.
When heavy snow has fallen, and sleds are out,

164

SLED-DOGS OF THE NORTH TRAILS

the frozen fish are transported from the stages
at the fishing-ground, and stored at the Indians'
cabins.

The total fish caught in this way varies. If
a complete freeze-up does not set in over-rapidly,
one man may have 8,000, another 4,500, another
3,000 — which is sometimes governed by the num-
ber of dogs to feed, and sometimes by the ability
and energy of the fisherman. Also there is good
luck and bad luck.

The following are some carefully kept, strange
old records of the autumn fish-catch at a Far
North Post in 1880 — almost forty years ago !

Fish-catch :

Nov. 2 .

3 .

4 .

5 .

6 .
8 .

Total

833
515

507
501
500
829
3,685

Caught with six nets to each man — four
men fishing. Twenty-four nets in all.1

Nov. 2 — Heavy snow fall ; weather mild, ice still weak.
Fish-catch :
Nov. 9 .
10 .

23

25

Total

480
600
470
780
634
980
660
434
438
606
496
250
194
200
7,222

Caught with eight nets to each man,
four men fishing, thirty-two nets in
all. Nov. 23, Whitefish, finished spawn-
ing and leaving river. Nov. 25, took
nets from river and set at usual winter
fishing-ground. Fishing in river never
failed so early before.

1 Half the total number of nets are set each day. Meanwhile
the other half — that have been lifted with the fish — are l%ing dis-
entangled and dried and prepared for resetting the following day.

TRAILING OVER ICE AND SNOW 165

Nov. 11, 1880 — Ten above zero, north wind.

Nov. 13, 1880 — Ten below zero, waiting news of Caribou.

Nov. 14, 1880 — Strong gale from west, and thawing all day, few
drops of rain — a wonderful occurrence. Next day four below zero.

Nov. 19, 1880 — First real bitter weather this Fall. Twenty-nine
below zero.

Fish-catch :

Nov. 27 . . 200
200
204
210
220
240t

Total .1,274

- Visiting nets every second or third day.

Dec. 13— All nets lifted— no more fishing. Total catch, 12,181 fish.

TRAILING OVER ICE AND SNOW

It was a starlit morning, about an hour from
daybreak, and cold as the very devil. I had got
my five dogs into their harness in the awkward,
persevering fashion of a man with numbed, half-
frozen hands working amongst frozen collars and
traces in the biting cold, while circulation is yet
asleep. And now my team whimpered to be
off on the trail, while they shivered and looked
miserably cowed with cold.

But there was a hitch this morning, one sled
was not ready to start. Mistewgoso was groping
about the tree-bottoms and bushes of the forest,
trying to uncover a lost dog that was buried and
hidden in the snow and not inclined to turn out,
being, no doubt, overtired with the hard travelling
of the past few days and comfortable where he
was. The Indian had circled closely around camp
without success, then set out upon a wider circle,
and that unavailing he tried still another, calling
Natcheleaze — the dog's name — ingreatimpatience,

166 SLED-DOGS OF THE NORTH TRAILS

and voicing the while his disapproval of the dog's
conduct. Suddenly a yelp — Mistewgoso had un-
snowed the culprit ! Fully one hundred yards
from camp the Indian's hawk-eyes had detected
the dog, though he had had to search so widely
to find its snow-lair, and had not overlooked it
in the dark.

We were now ready to go. The dogs stood or
lay, one before the other, in their harness — harness
made up of long, continuous side-traces con-
nected to saddle, and belly-band around their
middles, and to head-collars which rested on the
foreshoulders and received each dog's pulling
weight. But, having been left standing, of
course some of the dogs had got mixed up in their
harness : they invariably do, as that is accom-
plished by merely turning round or getting a
leg or two over the traces. Some mix-ups can be
righted in a second ; others take minutes and the
undoing of many buckles or thongs. However,
traces were soon straightened out this morning,
while impatient dogs gave voice to their wolf-
howls in eagerness to start. Then each driver
called out to the leaders and we were off, while it
was " Mush, Toyfayr ! Mush, Corni ! Tuok !
Tuok ! Tuok ! . . . Ge-kook ! Ge-kook ! " (to
incite them to break into a gallop and warm
up). Then, " Ah ! . . . Peesu ! " in reproachful
tones, as you note the traces of that particular
dog slacken, and how he is not pulling his share.
Again, when it is desired to change your direc-
tion, the cry is " Hu, Corni (leader), Hu ! ': if
the lead- dog is wanted to turn to the right, or
" Chac, Corni, Chac ! " if to the left.

THE POWER OF THE NORTH 167

There were three dog-trains on the trail, for
two Indians were with me — Mistewgoso and
J'Pierre. We had been out a week, and were
still heading north.

North, always north, even against the stirring
warnings of the voices of the vast unknown,
and the threatened overpowenng grip of the
giant elements of heartless Arctic cold. At times
it seemed preposterous that against those forces
such little things as we, mere dust-specks in such
mighty company, should dare to go on, and go on.

Ah ! there is power in the North, an almost
overwhelming strength of surroundings. You
know you are up against it ; within you you are
almost sure it will get you in the end, if you
go just a little too far, or are contemptuous for
an hour of its antagonism.

On this occasion we were travelling far and
travelling fast. Those long, speedy-looking sleds,
running lightly on the surface, contained but a
few " sticks " of fish for dog-feed, our rifles, axes,
snow-shoes, cook-cans, and deerskin sleeping-
bags. We carried no freight, though, if neces-
sary, the sleds could be loaded up to 100 Ibs.
per dog.

Light-fashioned those sleds looked ; narrow,
flat-boarded things with curling, upturned prows,
rear upright back-rest, rope side-rails from back
to front, and thereto attached the coffin-like body
of tough parchment skins which were laced up the
sides and across the bottom. But into such sleds
an astonishing load can be packed. When fully
loaded the bundles of freight are piled to a height
of two feet or thereby, particular care being

168 SLED-DOGS OF THE NORTH TRAILS

taken to have the whole well balanced over the
sled-boards ; then all are laced into final position
with vice-tight ropings to prevent the load from
slipping when the sleds slew at turnings, or
jar as the dogs lead overland, between lakes,
and the sleds dip into hollows, and over hillocks
and fallen tree trunks.

In weather we were fortunate, for there had
been no deep snowfall recently, and the powdery
snow had drifted and packed and the surface
on land or lake was everywhere firm. Snow-
shoes had been discarded. No trail required
breaking. Overland between lakes (for it was
altogether a country of alternating lake and
land) we sped, light-footed in our duffel-lined
moccasins behind ever-nimble dogs, alert to
keep the sled-head from being dashed against
upright stumps or dead logs that lay in our path

The hardest sled-driving is when passing over-
land : guide-rope in hand, at one time urging
the dogs uphill, at another time righting the
sled if a bad canting slope, or a hidden stump,
has overturned it. Then, perhaps, a mad scramble
downhill, guiding the sled, sometimes with some-
what random effort, as it sways from side to
side in its impetuous movement, buffered off the
shallow banks which it encounters on the margins
of the trail. Finally, at sight of a lake ahead,
the dogs break into a gallop at prospect of getting
on to the level again, and the line of sleds debouch
on to the lake from the forest like a veritable
cataract. Breathless, or if not breathless, per-
spiring, we run alongside our sleds, board the
protruding ledge at the rear, and step over into

HALTING BETWEEN CAMPS 169

the body to settle down for a rest while still
watching the dogs and urging them on. But
before long we are out on the ice again, trotting
patiently behind the dogs, encouraging them,
and using the whip on any caught slacking (if
not foot-sore, and slacking with a cause), glad
of exercise to keep up warmth against the cutting
cold wind we faced, and that swept over lake ice
with the freedom of wind on the sea.

Travelling light, and on packed snow, with
no trail to break, neither hunting en route nor
trapping, it was estimated that the dogs were
travelling from four to five miles an hour. We
were travelling in three stages each day : that
is, we halted to make two " fires " between
morning start and night camp. In each stage
the dogs ran between two and a half hours and
three hours. Therefore the minimum distance
of travel per day was thirty miles, and the
maximum forty-five miles.

When it was time to make " first fire," a well
timbered, sheltered place was selected and the
dogs run in to the lake edge. Straightway a few
spruce trees were felled on to the lake ice, their
branches lobbed off and spread mat-fashion on
the snow to accomodate the dogs, whereupon the
teams, still harnessed to their sleds, were led on
to those " carpets " to there lie down, panting
and tired, to cool off while their feet and bodies
were safeguarded from contact with ice and snow.
Back a little way in the shelter of the woods we
then kindled a camp-fire, filled the cans with
water from a hole cut with an axe through two
feet of lake ice, and soon each one of us was enjoy-

170 SLED-DOGS OF THE NORTH TRAILS

ing fragrant hot tea and pemmican, or lumps
of cold Caribou meat saved from the previous
night's -cooking. Afterwards pipes and laughter
while we stood, first back, then front, basking
in the luxurious warmth of the log-fire.

The time of making " fires " of course varies.
There is really no mechanical measurement of
Time in the Far North ; only are the spans of
daylight measured by the sun, or by unfailing
instinct if there is no sun. However, a fair
guide to halts on the winter trail are : Morning
Fire, 6.30 a.m. (about an hour and a half before
daylight) ; First Fire Halt, 9.30 a.m. — 10 a.m. ;
Second Fire Halt, 2 p.m. — 2.30 p.m. Night
Camp, 5.30 p.m. (about an hour and a half after
dark). It is on account of those customary halts
that Indians always answer questions as to how
long a journey will take by giving you the num-
ber of times they sleep or make fire. Thus they
say : "To go Eskimo camp, we sleep ten times "
(twelve days' travel) ; or again, " To go Gull-
foot's wigwam, we make two small fires " (about
six hours' travel) ; or " two long fires " would
mean about nine hours' travel.

Throughout the day we kept trailing into the
North over river and lake and land that ever
changed in line and aspect yet never lost the
dead white countenance of frigid snow. The
" first fire " we left behind, and the second, as
we had done on the days before — each marking so
much gained on the scale of man's ambition to
explore, yet piling up the leagues of snow that lay
behind, lengthening the gulf between solitude
and the voices of fellow-mankind.

MAKING NIGHT CAMP 171

Even after the short winter's day had ended we
were still calling to the dogs and urging them
onward as they flagged at the end of a hard day's
work. The wind had dropped, it was some de-
grees more intensely cold, and, outside our small
activities, the whole vast land was deadly still
with silentness. On, ever on, like a shaft of black
shadow, the line of sleds crept toward the head of
the large lake we were crossing, until our moving
forms were brushed from the level white surface
and engulfed in the darkness of the dwarf forest
on shore.

Among the trees we made camp. The sleds
were drawn into position to barricade our sleeping
ground against the dogs and the cold ; and then
the dogs were released from their harness. Boughs
were cut and laid for the dogs to rest on, and
then all hands turned toward making the night's
camp. Space was cleared sufficient to accommo-
date a large log-fire and our outstretched forms.
The fire was kindled at the edge of the space
down-wind ; up-wind, the full length of our
bodies from the fire, the back of a two to three
foot barricade was built, while similar sides en-
closed our camping space to the fire, which counted
the fourth side of our enclosure. This three-
sided barricade before the fire was partly formed
with sleds, and completed with felled trees and
snow-banking.

As soon as the fire was well ablaze the " sticks "
of fish were ranged before it to partially thaw
out before being fed to the dogs. While this was
being done the camp was laid with a thick mat-
tress of boughs so that we would not sleep

172 SLED-DOGS OF THE NORTH TRAILS

directly on the snow. Also a great pile of dead
timber was gathered for the night fire.

Those things were completed and the dogs fed
(two fish each) before any attention was given to
our own wants. Thereafter pots of meat were
boiled over the blazing fire, and tea, and we ate
with the deep content of lean and hungry men.

In time the camp was ready to sleep. Beyond
the fire glare most of the dogs had ceased to move
and had dug themselves holes beneath the snow%
Mistewgoso made a final round outside the barri-
cade to make sure the sleds were thoroughly
protected from ravaging dogs — some of whom
would prowl stealthily round camp like wolves
after we slept — then, when he returned satisfied,
clad as we were in our heavy fur clothes, we curled
into our fur-lined sleeping-bags — feet to fire,
and sheltered by the barricade from wind — and
forgot the cold and the trail in dreamless sleep.

I have endeavoured to describe a day on the
north trail, particularly the mode of travel, r
have known many such days — their food-shor-
tage : no Caribou : dogs weakening, dogs foot-
sore, dogs dying : and Indian companions losing
faith. Travelling north is not free of risk at any
time, it is far from pleasant then. But when
without food in bitter weather those dogs of
endurance will gamely do their best for three or
four days and may save an anxious situation in
the end. It is then that one learns the greatness
of their strength, and the spirit that resists to the
last blood-drop, unmurmuring, Big as the stern-
disciplined North that has mothered them.

CHAPTER VIII

THE TRAPPER

DAY was breaking, and cold mist, less white
than the virgin snow, hung over the land ; slowly
it was lifting now that the long winter night was
over.

Gullfoot came to the door of his cabin, fumbled
a moment to release the wooden peg-latch,
coughed heavily, and looked out in grave con-
templation of the dreary scene while chill air
searched like deadly serpent in through the open
door. The clearing, the great expanse of frozen
lake to North and South, the dark forest back-
ground : all were familiar and dear to his heart.
But to-day he saw them not in appreciation, for
his thoughts were with the weather and its over-
night effect on his long trap-line.

A little fresh snow had fallen ; enough to spoil
Fox-traps on the lakes if wind should arise and
drift it : but, wind or not, other traps, set in
the shelter of the forest for Marten, and Mink,
and Wolverine were safe from being smothered,
and the better disguised from human scent, now
that they lay beneath this light, fresh covering
of snow. . . . Hud! there was no need for anxiety
this day : traps were not buried in two or three
feet of fresh snow ; and there was no indication of
storm.

13 ns

174 THE TRAPPER

Gullfoot did not stand long at the door : a
moment was enough to idle there in zero weather
when warmth was within ; and enough time, too,
for him to read the weather and make deductions.
But even in those moments in the morning air
that racking lung cough of his broke out again
and shook the very foundation of his frame
as he closed the door behind him. Alas! it
was often so with him in those bleak winter
mornings, for this strong, athletic figure of a man,
whom you might think could not know sickness,
was touched with the Indian plague and had in
him the seeds of consumption, though no hectic
flush could ever mantle his copper-bronzed face
to betray in that its presence.

Gullfoot's winter cabin was of logs, built with
care with the stunted scrub pine of the surround-
ing country. It was a small low building of sturdy
appearance ; the four corners were notched
together with the accurate skill of a practised
axeman ; the walls were straight, and grey as stone
with the clay*mud which filled the cracks between
the timbers ; the roof, which was thickly thatched
with marsh-hay, pitched steeply and threw
deep shadows at the eaves — a simple, primitive
dwelling, but true to its purpose to withstand the
rigour of Arctic winter and afford full shelter for
its inmates.

Indoors there was warmth and comfort, and
pleasant scene of native homeliness. The low
room, to which Gullfoot returned from his survey
at the door, was dimly lit from a single small
window opening in the south wall, across which
was stretched a sheet of clear skin parchment

AN INDIAN CABIN 1T5

to serve as " glass." The walls were ornamented
with beadwork, some old bows and arrows,
a powder-horn, and a muzzle-loading, lead-
ball, flint-lock rifle hung from wooden pegs in
rare disorder. The bed, which nestled close to
one wall, was framed with boughs from the forest
and filled in across with light branches to form
the " spring," while, over this, laced hay -grass
furnished a mattress : the whole was abundantly
covered with thick warm Caribou rugs. A crude
table and three chairs occupied the centre of the
floor, articles hewn smooth with axe and knife,
and much labour, from the woods of the forest,
and grained naturally with constant use. In
the far corner a log-fire blazed brightly in a
hooded, stone-built fireplace, and threw its light
in dancing wavelets along the darkly smoke-
fumed timber of the rude-cut ceiling beams. A
black iron pot hung over the fire, hooked to a rod ;
a dwarf wooden stool was by the hearth. On
the wall close to the fire, pots and pans filled a
shelf close to the floor. Overhead a string of dry
medicine roots and a fire-bag hung from a i after.
At the fire an Indian woman was preparing
food, and, as was her habit, she but glanced up
as the man came in and continued her duties
without a word. Her face was set and grave as
became her age, for the countless withered wrinkles
told that she was in the autumn of life Hers was
a shrunken face rather than full, and the skin
was bronzed as with a deep sunburn. In the
profile lay character, for the outline was straight
and refined, and firmly chiselled with the im-
pression of endurance and patient strength. En-

176 THE TRAPPER

hanced by jet-black hair and deep dark eyes
there lurked still in this face the shadow of
bygone comeliness and of proud native woman-
hood. The figure, which was clothed in black
European clothing, excepting the tanned moceas-
ined feet, was tall and erect, unbent with the
weight of years, and hers was a bearing that
bespoke activity unusual to one of her years,
even among the tribes of her own enduring people.

Her name was Nokum, the squaw of Gullfoot.

There were no children in the cabin. Two sons
and a daughter there had been, who had married
and gone to hunting-grounds of their own.

Gullfoot himself was a pure Chipewyan Indian :
chief of hunting people in manhood, child all his
life of the waste places near to the edge of the
Barren Grounds where the Eskimo is neighbour
over the marches to the north. He was a hand-
some man even at fifty ; a very handsome man.
He had beautiful, even features throughout :
a broad forehead — typical of the Chipewyan
race — high cheek-bones, a finely shaped nose,
a strong, square chin and a firm, clear-lipped
mouth. In stature he was tall for an Indian,
being not much under six feet, perfectly set up,
active in every movement ; lean ; an athlete,
every inch of him ; and at times this man's
bearing and reserve was that of a monarch, a man
whom you instinctively felt had pride of race,
and on whom you could never look as an inferior.
But he was no monarch, and made no pretence
to be. The days of the Great Chiefs were over,
though drops of their blood remained. Gullfoot
was Indian, and therefore a hunter and wanderer

THE DEAD OF WINTER 177

by instinct, and to know him at heart you had
to look in his eyes, eyes that were dark almost to
blackness yet alive with light and activity ; to
know him still better you had to go with him out
on the trail and marvel at the skill and resource
of this primitive man, while realising how far
his education and intelligence were ahead of your
own in reading every mood of the wilderness — the
elements and the creature things — on which the
welfare of white man or red wholly depend if
they are to exist in his country. . . .

About noon on the previous day I had landed
at Gullfoot's cabin greeted by the fierce barking
of his dozen sled-dogs, whose clamour he came
out to quell while welcoming me in. It was then
bitterly cold — zero weather, with a strong wind
blowing from the north-west. Sun-dogs, or par-
helion, a bright mark of short perpendicular
lines of softly hazed, luminous rainbow tints of
almost similar radiance to the sun, had been
showing in the morning sky on either side of the
low winter sun at wide but equal intervals from
it ; phenomenon peculiar to the dead of winter.
And it was indeed that season — the Dead of
Winter : Gullfoot, the following morning, quaintly
showed me his record that it was so, in pointing
to the rising sun where it struck through the
window into the very corner in the north-east
interior of his cabin. It was thus in his home
that he measured the shortest days, and the
longest days : in the height of summer, he told,
" it reaches away to that axe-notch in the centre
of the north wall."

Gullfoot made me welcome, and I was glad of

178 THE TRAPPER

the luxury of shelter of a house-roof, and to
obtain food for my far-spent dogs. Do not
ask me where I slept in this single-room cabin.
I did not turn the good people from their couch,
and I was comfortable nevertheless, and thought
it considerable good fortune to be indoors.

In the meantime I had arranged that I would
accompany Gullfoot on his next round on his
trap-line.

He would go to-morrow, he told me on his
return from his morning weather survey through
the door, for he thought the wind would rise
later in the day, and if so his traps on the lakes
in exposed positions would require resetting. He
had been out six days ago, to-morrow would be
the seventh day, and the weather in the interval
had been particularly good and promised some
pelts.

So I had a day to wait at the cabin.

Gullfoot employed part of his time on the
construction of a new sled — a sled with runners
on either side of about a foot depth below the
sled-board bottom ; not the flat-bottom, runner-
less sled of the type common to the Indians a
few degrees further south, where larger wood for
broad boards is obtainable. The runners he
made were peculiar, for they had no frame, no
iron " keel " ; just layer after layer of wet
moss laid on and frozen stiff until the runners
were fully formed and shaped, when they were
then axe-pared, and planed to smoothness, and
iced over by applications of coatings of water.
They were, on completion, veritable planks of
rigid ice, with stout adhesion, and latitude for

GULLFOOT'S DOG-TEAM 179

expansion and contraction secured by the admix-
ture of fibrous moss. A sled so made serves well ;
verily " necessity is the mother of invention."

While thus working, outside the cabin door
Gullfoot's dogs, and my own, prowled about ;
but to those he paid no visible heed. An Indian
has no warm affection for animals, and Gullfoot
was no exception. However, in reply to my
questions, he pointed out his best team, and
named them in Chipewyan — which names were
in English translation Day Star, Raven, Smoke,
Evil Eye, Lynx 1

Those dogs were typical of an Indian's team
in the north, and therefore, perhaps, worth brief
description : RAVEN : A very big husky, larger
than the common, and with longer, almost shaggy
hair. He was black in colour except for a fawn
mark on the eyebrow over each eye. Gullfoot
used him in his team as the sled-dog — the dog
next to the prow of the sled — where his weight
served well to steady the slew, or buffeting, of
the sled when in motion.

SMOKE : A dog of striking colour, and purity
of breed. A splendid-looking husky in form;
and white throughout with just a tinge of buff.
He was such a dog as everyone in a city would
turn to look at in admiration and wonder, did
you transport him there. He was a good worker
and well broken.

EVIL EYE : This unfortunate dog was blind in
the right eye, which shone glassy green. Other-
wise he was without blemish and a fine, powerful,
active-looking dog. He was grey- wolf colour
except for an old white left-shoulder mark.

180 THE TRAPPER

Gullfoot reports him bad to harness, being restless
and excitable, and always twisting himself in the
traces at a halt ; but he was a good dog otherwise.

LYNX : A little short-limbed active dog, about
the size of a highland collie, with a much-scarred
nose and a reputation for fighting. He was a cross-
bred dog with drooping ears, and was chiefly
black in colour, with brown belly and paws.
A dog one would not look at twice, but worth
his weight in gold. " My best dog," said Gull-
foot ; " pulls hard, has a great heart for work,
and doesn't know when to quit." He looked it :
game through and through.

DAY STAR : Neither a husky nor a cross-bred
sled-dog ; just a mustard-yellow terrier-hound
mongrel with scant, close-set coat of hair to with-
stand cold. She had a white star-mark on her
forehead, but she was well named on a second
score, for she it was who guided the team at Gull-
foot's bidding. This was Gullfoot's leader ; an
animal of wonderful intelligence, he told me,
in following snow-covered trails, and with a
memory almost more acute than that of a human
being for places she has once passed. Gullfoot
showed his appreciation of her in covering her
short-haired body with a blanket-rug to help
keep her warm when on the trail ; a considerable,
and rare, condescension on the part of an Indian
toward a dog.

After discussing dogs, we talked foxes. Every-
one in the North talked foxes in 1914. With the
floating of Fox Farms in the Eastern Provinces
the demand had gone up for live fox cubs of all
kinds, and hunters were tremendously stimulated

DIGGING OUT YOUNG FOXES 181

by the enormous prices given for silver or black
cubs, which to the fortunate captors represented
a veritable gold-mine.

In April and May, when the fox-dens are
located and the cubs dug out, places such as
Big River and lie a la Crosse were " fox-crazy,"
and the whole territory within reach was being
scoured for Reynard.

This wholesale capture of foxes serves the
mood of the moment, but I fear there are yet
to be many regrets when both trapper and fox-
merchant come to realise that they have killed
" the goose that laid the golden egg."

If wild-fox fur is to remain a valuable asset
to Canada, digging out the young in the early
spring should be made illegal by law, or limited
by law to a very stringent degree. The export of
live foxes is governed in a degree by the issue of
permits, but these permits in 1914 were generously
given, it seemed to me, and, moreover were often
evaded ; nor was it possible in out-of-the-way
places to follow the movements of keen buyers or
the extent of their purchases.

Again, in 1914, by a recent revision of the
Game Act, it was unlawful to take foxes before
May 15. This restriction was seldom observed
north of the frontier, cubs were dug just when
the dens contained them, and kept until they were
wanted by the buyer. Such a state of affairs
would cease if it was unlawful to dig out foxes
and unlawful to buy foxes, except, perhaps, in
a very limited degree, and only under Govern-
ment supervision. Obviously, if it is desired
to preserve a declining species of any kind, man-

182 THE TRAPPER

kind must protect it at the time it is bringing
forth young. And it should be borne in mind
also that many of the foxes are dug out of their
dens when but a few days old, and a large per-
centage totally lost during early captivity, when
artificially mothered and artificially fed.

Moreover, it may be doubtful if Fox Farms,
the booming of which has been a means of enter-
taining public speculation, will have any great
success beyond a temporary one. Foxes roam
far, and are very restless in their wild state, and
it seems idle to expect other than an inferior
race from production in confinement, even though
the farms succeed in increasing the number of
Black and Silver Foxes, which is their object.
Temperament, freedom, food and temperature —
for the further north the better the fur — all
seem to point to this. Thus trapping the adult
fox in its wild and natural haunts, in the few
months when the fur is at its prime, is conceiv-
ably the fairest way, and the best, to encourage
lasting fur trade, while, at the same time, such
trapping does not reduce the stock unduly.
Furthermore, trapping the fox in its native
haunts worthily helps the Indians to a means of
obtaining what little luxuries they have ; and
those of them that remain of the race of peoples
whose country we have overwhelmed deserve
every consideration that can be given. It would
be surely a pity to take away from them a part of
the trade which they have always had since
their first meetings with the white man.

The fur of those foxes under discussion is that
which eventually finds its way in great bales

LISTENING ATTITUDES.

IS ALL CLEAR?

182]

FOX PELTS AND THEIR VALUE 188

to London and Paris and New York, to be even-
tually made up and marketed in costly robes.
And it may be of interest to here set forth some
description of their definitions in the country of
their birth.

There is, as there is a wide range of colour, a
wide range of values in fox fur in the raw state.
A prime black fox pelt may fetch, in accordance
to size, £100 to £55, and the all-silver fox £30 to
£16. Between those prices are graded the three-
quarter-black (three-quarter-neck is the term of
the traders), half-black and quarter-black, whose
definition of colour I will describe further on.
But those are the rare skins ; the typical red,
and ordinary Cross fox, are worth about £l 6s.,
the good Cross about £2 8s.

Pelts are bartered by the Indians for tea, sugar,
tobacco, ammunition, clothes, etc., etc., though
sometimes a small percentage of the transaction
is in cash. All goods that pass in barter are
highly priced, for the heavy cost of man-transport
over the long difficult trail to the post has to be
added, as also have losses en route, and various
percentage margins. So that stores that might
be bought for £30 at Prince Albert might be valued
at say £50 at Fort Du Brochet at the end of a
summer's transportation.

Dealing now with the range of colours : if one
said that one Black or Silver Fox was caught in
every fifty foxes trapped, one would be some-
where near the proportion of their rarity. I have
arrived at such a proportion from actual figures
of catches in 1913. Estimates many years ago,
from one Hudson Bay district, of foxes caught

184 THE TRAPPER

over twelve years — from 1848 to 1860 — stated
that -^ were silver or black, and of the remainder
i2^ cross, and -^ red.1 Since then the black and
silver foxes have become more rare.

All foxes in the north of Canada, excepting the
Arctic or White Fox, are of the same species,
though separated in trade, on account of the
varieties of colour, into four classes : Black,
Silver, Cross, and Red. There are grades of
shade between the pure Black Fox and the pure
Red, but the above are well-defined limits to
work on. Only in two places is the colour
unchanging, for the tip of the brush and a
small mark on the forebreast remain always
white.

Regarding the actual production of the different
varieties : the offspring of two Silver Foxes might
be silver ; on the other hand, such mating might
throw back to Cross or Red ancestors. But
in any event foxes, in their wild state, do not
cohabit strictly in pairs. At the season of pro-
pagation a number of males accompany a female
much in the manner of dogs, and fight violently
for possession of her ; and as those males may
vary in colour, so may they give rise to the
varieties which may be found in a single litter.

The perfect Black Fox is glossy jet-black
throughout, excepting the small white mark on
the forebreast and tail-tip, while there may be a
very few silver hairs on the back over the rump.

The Silver Fox is similar to the Black Fox,
but may have a greater or lesser area interposed

1 Through the Mackenzie Basin, notes on mammals by Roderick
MacFarlane.

VARIETY OF COLOUR IN FOXES 185

with silver hairs, and those areas are usually
designated in the Fur Posts by the terms, " three-
quarter-neck," "half-neck," and "quarter-neck."
A three-quarter-neck Silver Fox is all black except
over the rump and hindquarters, which area is
lightly interspersed with silver-grey hairs ; a half-
neck Silver Fox is the same, except that the
silver hairs extend to the middle-back ; while a
quarter-neck has the whole black body inter-
spersed with silver hairs excepting the head and
neck, which are all black.

The handsome Cross Fox has many variations
of colour, brought about by a greater or lesser
amount of greys and a corresponding variance of
the extent of red. However, a typical Cross
Fox has the entire back and hindquarters thick-
speckled stone-grey, and the forehead and sides
of head the same colour ; the rear of the hind-
quarters and the root of the tail, underneath,
show pale whitish buff ; the tail is black on the
upper side, excepting the white tip, and paler
buffish black below ; the under-jaw, throat,
breast, belly, and all limbs are black; the sides
behind the foreshoulders, and the neck behind
the ears, are reddish buff ; the back of the neck
is reddish-tinged grey with more black showing
than on the back ; the back of the ears is
velvet black ; the nose to the eyes is black with
a few silver hairs.

Lastly, a typical Red Fox has a general body
colour of medium yellowish -red buff, with the
belly and legs and the back of the ears black.
But it must be borne in mind that the Red Fox
has degrees of variation from this colour leading

186 THE TRAPPER

out toward the most reddish-grey varieties of
the Cross Fox. . . .

By night Gullfoot and I had exhausted our
fox-talk, which had been sustained by my interest
in his collection of freshly trapped pelts; which
he took some trouble to show me.

As full night came on, accompanied by inevit-
able increase in low temperature, and Arctic
array of Northern Lights, we turned in to sleep
with thoughts of an early start on the morrow.

Two hours before daybreak next morning we
were astir in the cabin, and, aided by a glimmering,
fitful light from a vessel containing liquid grease
rendered from wolf fat, which fed a piece of
twisted rag to which light had been applied, we
robed in our outdoor clothing of Eskimo Caribou
suits, and prepared and partook of food.

An hour before daylight, out in the bitter cold,
our dogs were harnessed and ready to start.

All day we travelled on Gullfoot's trap-line
through forest and over lakes and rivers. By
night we must have covered some thirty to forty
miles, and had visited forty traps, from which
had been taken one Cross Fox, one Red Fox, one
Wolf, four Marten, and three Mink : which
Gullfoot assured me was a successful and gratify-
ing result.

From this it may be gathered that trapping
is not a simple task, and animals not to be
picked up in any abundance even on a wide range.
Broadly speaking, Gullfoot had one trap set to
every mile, and those sets resulted in one animal
captured to every four miles. If one assumes
that Gullfoot trapped with equal vigour during

AREA OF TRAP SETTING 187

the best three months for fur, viz. November,
December, and January, and visited his trap-
line every week with equal success, his total
catch (thirteen weeks x ten animals) taken in a
season would represent practically three animals
to every mile of territory. One hundred and
thirty animals, the total thus arrived at, is,
however, a much larger catch than is common,
and would in all probability, on an average, be
much reduced by spells of bad trapping weather
lasting over a week or two, and consequent less
productive days than the one I write of, which
was in any case, apparently, a particularly suc-
cessful one. Then, too, traps are sometimes
changed to fresh localities, often as far afield as
three days from the trapper's cabin, which
vastly increases the area covered ; so that, all
things considered, it may even be doubtful if
one mile can produce to the trapper one fur-
bearing animal in a season in the Far North
country immediately south of the Barren Grounds.

All fur-bearing animals, whose kind have been
hunted and trapped for generations, are exceed-
ingly wary, and it is a revelation to a novice
to watch an Indian gravely make his sets with
superb cunning, sufficient, in some instances,
to outwit the most wily of quarry.

I will endeavour to describe how Gullfoot's
traps were set, which are the usual Indian
methods.

His fox-traps, without exception, were always
set in the open snow on the ice near some promi-
nent shore point of an expansive lake, or near an
island ; or in the narrows which sometimes con-

188 THE TRAPPER

nect two or more lakes. He had twelve traps
set in such locations, strong double-spring traps
of the size known as No. 2. Those traps were
chained to a pole about six feet long and of calcu-
lated weight to prevent an animal from travel-
ling far, while at the same time it would give if
severe strain was put upon it ; this latter to pre-
vent the fox from obtaining sufficient direct
purchase on the trap in endeavour to break its
foot clear when caught. When a favourable spot
had been chosen, the log was carefully buried
beneath the surface of the snow, and the trap
set, with a fine sheet of tissue paper — carried
for the purpose, and obtained at the Fur Post —
laid over the pan and jaws to prevent snow
filling below, where it would choke the drop, and
the whole then covered with a light powdering
of snow until every sign of human disturbance
was erased. A few morsels of meat or frozen
fish were then spread near, but not necessarily
directly at, the trap, for it often allays suspicion
of a trap's actual presence to allow the animal
to find food in safety during its first timid ap-
proach, when it naturally then becomes more
bold. The situation of the trap was usually
near the top of a small mound of snow, natural,
or made up with snow, and somewhat resem-
bling a buried stone, for it is known that foxes are
prone to investigate such objects, probably in
the hope that it is a snowed-over carcass of
some kind, or retains the scent of a comrade who
has passed before.

Twice Gullfoot's fox-traps were set in the
neighbourhood of a Caribou carcass, and one of

HOW TRAPS ARE SET 189

the foxes taken was there caught. In those
cases the traps were not set at the carcass, but
some distance away, where the foxes would circle
suspiciously before daring to approach this quarry.

Traps for Marten were set in the forest at the
foot of dark spruce and pine trees. Gullfoot's
method was to make there a tiny enclosure which
in plan was like a U lying on its side, the bottom
of the U being the tree trunk, and two little
palisades forming the sides made with closely
set upright stakes stuck into the snow. As
in the top of a U, there then remained an opening :
and there the trap — a single-spring No. 0 — was
set just within the entrance, while beyond the
trap, inside, next the tree trunk, was placed a
fish head pegged down with a stick : to reach
this bait any animal desiring it must pass over
the trap. Over the top of the palisade ; to
shelter the trap from snow, and the bait from the
eyes of the thieving Canada Jay, a number of
spruce boughs were laid, and covered with snow
to resemble the surroundings. Footprints were
then carefully obliterated for some distance as we
retraced our steps, and the set was then complete.

Mink-traps were often set in much the same
manner, but in very different surroundings ;
the chosen situations being about the overhang-
ing banks of narrows between lakes, or of frozen
streams, for those animals frequent the neighbour-
hood of water. In some cases Mink-traps were
set in naturally formed narrow runways at the
bottom of a bank, along which a small animal
was almost sure to pass if it came that way.
Such sets were unbaited.
14

190 THE TRAPPER

At one point in the forest Gullfoot had a cache
of Caribou meat, and below this he had set two
powerful traps on the chance of the store attract-
ing a Wolverine. The cache was constructed
with three triangularly placed upright poles of
length a little more than man-height ; the tops
of those uprights carried horizontal poles, which
formed a V, and across this was laid a platform
of branches, upon which the frozen meat was
stored. The three upright poles were dressed
free of bark, and thus smoothed to prevent
Wolverine from securing claw-hold, if any
should endeavour to climb to the platform over-
head ; and there, on the snow below the cache,
the traps were placed, so as to ensnare any such
thief at his foul work — two traps required to
hold this gluttonous animal, which has a tremen-
dous reputation among the Indians for strength
and capacity to break free after being caught.

By late afternoon we had reached the far end
of Gullfoot's trap-line, and there encamped for a
few hours to rest the dogs before resuming on
our way back to the cabin on a wide detour so
as not to further disturb the neighbourhood.

^About 6 p.m. we started back through the
bleak silent land of snow, lit on the way by the
whiteness underfoot and a clear sky overhead,
sparkling, in the crystal-clear atmosphere, with
more stars than one will see anywhere else in
the world, unless it be at the North Pole. Gull-
foot and his dogs leading, with unerring intui-
tion finding their way through this land of awful
greatness and sameness without apparent trouble,
as I might at home travel a road familiar to me.

RETURN TO INDIAN CABIN

191

At midnight we reached his cabin.

There was Nokum sitting by the fire, and the
pot, filled with Caribou meat, simmering slowly,
awaiting our return.

Frozen sticks of fish were brought in from out-
side, and set before the blaze to thaw out for
food for the tired dogs . . . the teams were
unharnessed and fed . . . and their snarling
ceased while we gathered indoors to our well-
earned repast and repose.

CHAPTER IX

LEAVING THE LONE LAND

" The winter ! the brightness that blinds you,

The white land locked tight as a drum,
The cold fear that follows and finds you,
The silence that bludgeons you dumb.
The snows that are older than history,

The woods where the weird shadows slant ;
The Stillness, the moonlight, the mystery —
I've bade 'em good-bye — but I can't."

ROBERT W. SERVICE.'

IT was with many such feelings that I turned
finally into the South to depart from the strange
North land that was so desperately stern in its
character of wild overwhelming vastness and
rigour of elements, although forever alluringly
attractive withal.

Unsettled in my ambition to go on by the news
of my country involved in war — which had,
perchance, come to me through a trapper about
a month before — and by food problems con-
fronting me at the edge of the Barren Grounds —
which would take months, if not longer, to
overcome — I had, on November 29, when I
and my two Indian companions were out of food
and losing our dogs and our courage, turned
at the edge of the Barren Grounds, and regret-
fully abandoned the fond hope that I had enter-

1 In The Songs of a Sour-Dough, by Robert W. Service.

192

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DOGS GIVE OUT 193

tained of spending the following summer right
over on the Arctic coast.

Two entries in my diary at this date refer to
the condition of my dogs :

" November 28. — Snowstorm all day drift-
ing wickedly on a strong east-wind blizzard.
Onward throughout the day, crouching like dis-
tressed animals, we fought our way ahead over
shelterless lakes. Peesu, one of my dogs, will
not eat to-night, so utterly done-up is the poor
brute. He lies in his lair in the snow, unwilling
even to raise his head. I finally coaxed him to
swallow a few tit-bits of dried meat ere turning
in to sleep.

" November 30. — Off on the trail at daylight.
Meadowsteuce — my lead-dog — dying, and had to
be destroyed before leaving. Peesu somewhat
recovered, but he, and Musquaw, and Whisky
are all lame. I have but one sound dog. Travel-
ling in yesterday's blizzard was too much for
them. Some of the Indians' dogs are exhausted
also."

I fancy no one cares to give up and admit a
total, or certain amount of, defeat in the midst
of furthering a big enterprise ; it is indeed heart-
breaking to do so : and yet one can be so over-
whelmed by circumstances that it becomes foolish
to go on, and wise to bow to the grim hand of
Fate.

Though there were difficulties lying before me
on the foodless, snow-covered wastes of the
Barren Grounds, these were possible to surmount
in time, but I could in no way, in this land where

194 LEAVING THE LONE LAND

one has plenty of opportunity to think, and
where one's thoughts are prone to probe one's
conscience, justify the continuance of a personal
ambition while I knew my country had need
for my service, and kinsfolk expected my home-
coming to rally to the Flag.

Therefore, abandoning further-north travel as
I have said, I returned reluctantly to my base-
cabin north of Fort Du Brochet and stayed in
that neighbourhood until Christmas in the forlorn
hope that the yearly Christmas packet, due from
the south at that date, might contain some more
favourable news of the War ; hoping even that
the astonishing storm of arms which had so
quickly risen, had as quickly subsided — perhaps
even ceased.

Vain, unnoticed hope ! — doomed to be utterly
wrecked as wave upon wave grew upon the
rising tide of warfare, and engulfed every other
thought or desire ; its vast upheaval searching
even to the far-distant doorstep of my log-cabin
to find therein a victim.

Christmas came, but with it no packet ; strange,
unheard of delinquency that bore gravity to the
hearts of the trader and the mission priest at
the Fort. " There must be something seriously
wrong," they thought, and, most dreadful thought
of all, " Could war possibly be going ill with our
country ? "

We gathered in grave consultation hour after
hour, and our one topic was war ; trapping, fur-
trading, religion, had ruthlessly gone by the
board. Hours were spent in conjecture ; ideas
constructed from our slim store of early war

START ON RETURN JOURNEY 195

news ; hopes and forebodings voiced of sheer
imagination ; but from all it was not in our
power to raise one single conviction of comforting
reliable substance — we were beyond the voice
of our kind ; conjecture as we might, there could
be no answer, unless the vast snow waste was
pierced, and jingling, joyful sled-bells should
herald the packet from the south.

Each day we watched over the sea of lake ice
to the south, each night sealed down the envelope
of another span of expectancy and disappoint-
ment.

From the 23rd to the 27th I had waited at the
Fort ; on the night of December 27, which was
a Sunday, I made final preparations to go — no
hope of the packet remained, no gladsome trans-
formation to justify my staying on and a renewal
of north travel.

On the morning of the 28th a group of natives
gathered about the sleds as we harnessed up.

JTierre and Mistewgoso were to accompany
me to Pelican Narrows, which was a post in
touch with Cumberland House on the Sturgeon-
weir River Route, which, in turn, was not very
far from The Pas, which terminated the newly
projected Hudson Bay Railway. They were to
drive two dog-sleds loaded with specimens:
chiefly Caribou, Barren-ground Wolves, and Foxes,
for most of the bird-skins collected had previously
been sent south by arrangement with the Fur-
trader.

With warm hand-shake I bade good-bye to
the untrammelled, upright redskin children of
the wild who were standing almost shyly about

196 LEAVING THE LONE LAND

on the snow to wish me bon voyage and au revoir,
for all had told me they hoped I would some day
come again amongst them. It was a somewhat
touching farewell to me, for it bore the final
goodwill of rude men, not easy of approach, who
had come to acknowledge me their friend, and
theirs was friendship I valued. Only a day or
two before the priest at the Fort had taken upon
himself the task of telling me of the feeling of
the Indians toward the white stranger. He had
summed up his kindly meant remarks with : " If
at any time you come back to this territory, you
will have many friends among the natives ready
to help you in your work, and glad to go with you
on the trail, for they feel you are as one of them,
and they understand and trust you — all say the
same, and they are quick to distinguish." Who
would not feel, who had lived among a strange
race, touched and deeply grateful for such acknow-
ledgment of comradeship ?

Thus warm hand-shakes, which had nothing
of conventionality about them, sent me on my
way, while a parting volley of rifle shots followed
from the shore as we mushed the dogs and sped
out over the frozen lake on the trail into the
South.

As we drew away I looked back on that diminu-
tive settlement of cabins, husbanded together
and wholly human in that vastly desolate land,
and loving the strange wild North and its freedom,
and its people, was disposed to repeat : " I've
bade 'em good-bye—but I can't."

Gewgewsh and Napisis, who had also harnessed
their dogs, ran with us till we camped at our first

FRIENDSHIP OF NATIVES 197

" fire," breaking the trail thus far, and making
the going for our sleds easier ; a final act of good-
fellowship arranged by the people at the Fort.
Gewgewsh had trailed with me to the edge of the
Barren Grounds and had taken upon himself
this delicate manner of showing friendship which
is typical of the refinement and chivalry of the
best of the Indians, who are sometimes, at heart,
true men.

With a purpose I have dwelt at some length
on the friendship of natives, for I believe that
anyone who wishes to enjoy travel or sport far
afield in any land should always try to accept
the native as a well-meaning character, no
matter how strange their lives and manners may
be in contrast to our own ; they are, after all, but
children of circumstance, with colour, character,
environment, irrevocably inherited. Their seem-
ing stupidity, or sullen nonchalance, especially
if confused by overbearing command or reproach,
does often, it seems to me, come about through
lack of full understanding, particularly in lan-
guage, for one may not be able, in their native
tongue, to say explicitly that which one means,
and they, on their part, may not be capable
of phrasing their own language to convey to the
stranger addressed the full significance of their
reply.

In any case, if early contact with natives prove
difficult and trying, it is well not to be disheartened
and suspicious of them, but to persevere while
accepting them as strange, rude people. In the
end, if this is done, there will result at least
a measure of mutual understanding, and the

198 LEAVING THE LONE LAND

stranger will find in the native many good points
to counterbalance the bad. And much really
good service can thereby be gained, to further
the enjoyment and results of any undertaking,
for undoubtedly the natives can give one valuable
information of their country, which is open as a
book to them, if they are anxious to be friendly,
and to serve.

I have on rare occasions heard impatient people
express the opinion that natives are fools ; and
in such cases I have been prompted to think that
they have taken the natives, for the most part,
in the wrong way ; and that such an opinion can
seldom be altogether justified. It is surely much
more fair to begin with the idea that they are not
fools, but just simple and untutored people, and I
feel sure that if that is done in the right spirit
the result in the end will bring its reward, and
at the same time full appreciation be gained
from the native of the standard the true white
man upholds of fair play ; which is also the
standard he will attribute to our country.

Furthermore, dealing now with native ability,
as far as the North American Indian is con-
cerned, few white men, unless they are bred on the
edge of civilisation or long accustomed to life
beyond the frontiers, in my humble opinion,
can compare with the red man in travelling
great tracts of unmapped territory when they
enter country they themselves have not known
before. The speed at which they can cover
rough country, and their instinctive sense of true
direction, are incomparable and little short of
miraculous ; and often leave the white man's

CREATURES OF THE WILD 199

prowess far in rear. Nor is this logically to be
wondered at, for the nomad primitive Indian
is born and brought up to bush travel ; it is to
him second nature, while to our more gently
cultured race it often carries the experience of an
unexpected robust education.

Creatures of the wild, and akin to animals in
their adaptability to their surroundings, Indians
have from their beginning been a race of able
hunters and wanderers ; lithe of sinew, sound of
lung — enduring, and, most highly developed
characteristic of all, endowed with peculiar,
unerring, intuitive scent for trail or direction.

One could not wish for better henchmen on the
trail, but, at the same time, it is difficult to enlist
their service, particularly if the journey proposed
is to be a long one. There are two prominent
reasons why the red man, on most occasions,
hesitates to accompany a white stranger on a
long trail. Firstly, it is seldom the red man's
custom to leave his lodge of women and children
for any lengthy period, for they are largely
dependent on him for food and management of
camp life ; while, at the same time, the man's
presence is to his women-folk a safeguard against
danger of any kind. Secondly, they are dubious
that the white man may possess strange ideas
in his pursuit of his objective, and that he may
not foresee the dangers and hardships ahead as
clearly as they do in their fuller experience ;
which prompts the fear that the white man
might lead them into a tight corner and needless
dangers, against which they, when by themselves,
would accurately forecast and avoid. All of

200 LEAVING THE LONE LAND

which is of course reasonable from the Indian's
point of view, and should be understood and
considered if one meets with rebuffs when setting
out to look for guides. They are, however,
individually open to the persuasion of a stranger,
and it is nearly always possible to find the right
man in the end. And once this initial step is
accomplished toward mutual understanding,
and the stranger becomes known and trusted on a
territory, his difficulties in that direction largely
cease. . . .

And now, to return from this brief digression
to the south- bound sleds that had left Fort Du
Brochet, we were soon far out on Reindeer Lake
beyond all sight of dwelling or fellow- mortal ;
we might have entered a land of the dead, so
soon had all vestige of that tiny, closely infested
settlement been overwhelmed by vast surround-
ings.

This journey undertaken, so far as I was con-
cerned, was now simply a question of straight
trailing. Four hundred miles away, following a
route almost due south, lay the Pas and the
Hudson Bay Railway : for that point I was
heading. The first stage on the way was Pelican
Narrows ; thus far were J'Pierre and Mistewgoso
to transport the sled-loads of specimens, and thence
return on their back trail.

But from day to day I will briefly deal with
my onward-hurrying journey to the south over
frozen lakes and forests lain deep with snow.

December 29. — Travelled all day on Reindeer
Lake, Frozen-over ice floes were very bad all along

FINGER FROST-BITTEN 201

the north shore of Porcupine Point, where wind-
pressure, before the ice was very thick, had
broken through the weak areas and piled up
angular blocks on the resisting lake surface.
There, accordingly, progress for the sleds was for
some considerable distance awkward and slow,
and some time was lost.

The day was bitterly cold, so cold that when
I took a photograph in an exposed position on the
lake, and removed my right-hand mitten to do
so, I had my finger frozen in but a brief time.
Application of snow rubbed on vigorously soon
restored circulation.

Ten Caribou were sighted between our second
fire and night camp, and we gave chase to
secure dog-food. Both Indians (one of whom
used my rifle) brought down a buck apiece, and
at long range I, later, dropped a third from the
same herd. Each then hoisted a dead animal
on the top of the sled-loads, and roped them
securely ; and when this was done we resumed
our way until it was time to camp for the night.
At camp the Caribou were off-loaded and cut up,
and the dogs well fed, while the remainder,
excepting that which was required for our per-
sonal needs, was cached by the Indians for use on
their return journey.

In camp we slept on spruce boughs on the snow,
snug in our Caribou-skin sleeping-bags before a
great log-fire, as was ordinary custom on the
winter trails.

December 30. — Left our night camp about an
hour before daylight, and made good progress
throughout the day. There had been no snow-

202 LEAVING THE LONE LAND

storm so far, but the air to-day was heavy, and
fog hung over the lake in the distance, while
it remained bitingly cold, and the dogs, as usual,
were white with the back-flung frozen moisture
of their breathing.

A few Caribou were sighted far off at dusk, but
we did not attempt to follow them. At no
other time this day did we see a single living
creature on the great motionless wastes of snow.

December 31. — To-day heavy white fog en-
wrapped Reindeer Lake until late afternoon, and
all landmarks were hidden. After our first fire
the Indians lost their true direction and were for
a time at a loss. Soon, however, they doubled
back on their tracks, and eventually picked up old
signs to eastward.

This night we camped at a Cree's wigwam on
the east shore of Reindeer Lake, about half a
day's journey from the south end. Here we
partook of the Indian's hospitality within the
crowded smoke-filled confines of his primitive
dwelling. Food was soon forthcoming from the
large black pot which hung in the centre of the
teepee over a good fire from which the wood-smoke
leisurely ascended, to finally percolate through the
opening at the peak overhead or sneak through
the seams of the small door-flap. When food was
ready, we strangers were first served, with vessels
piled to mountainous heights, with Caribou
meat, which was placed on the ground before us
by the women-folk. Soon the two men of the
Cree family also commenced their meal, after
withdrawing a little apart ; and I passed on to
them a portion of my sugar store and bannock, as

ENTERTAINED BY CREE INDIANS 208

was customary, and they in their turn, as they
invariably do, reserved some of these dearly
loved delicacies for their women and children, to
whom the leavings of the men's repast is always
finally passed.

The full meal over, pipes were brought out and
filled from my store of tobacco, and we sat and
talked in low Indian voice in an atmosphere that
was thick, and hot, and stifling, and decidedly
uncomfortable to a European, though unremarked
by the Indians, to whom it is habitual — small
wonder they breed consumption ! The meanwhile
the two elderly women squatted cross-legged on
the floor in the Indian fashion and patiently
laced with sinews the snow-shoes they were
making, much as a white woman employs herself
with knitting ; also one of the men whittled wood
for sled-pieces, while three girls amused them-
selves over the ornamentations which one of
them was sewing on a pair of moccasins for a
lover.

Exchanging stories to pass the evening, the
eldest Indian of this camp told the following :
" There was once an Indian on Jack Fish Lake
who successively married six wives, each of whom
died within a year after marriage. When the
sixth wife died he despaired, and said : ' Is there
a Great Spirit ? ' Furthermore, in his distrac-
tion, he told his kinsfolk that he would go in his
canoe down the Cochrane River, avoiding not
the awful rapids down which no man had been
known to pass ; "for if there is a Great Spirit, as
people say, he must be strong enough to protect
me from the hungry waters." Launching his

204 LEAVING THE LONE LAND

canoe, caring for nothing in the world, he set off
on his hazardous journey. Miraculously — so the
story goes — he made the voyage, and reached
Reindeer Lake in safety, and thereafter firmly
believed that there was a Great Spirit. More-
over, he married a seventh wife, who did not die
as the others had done."

January 1, 1915. — In the afternoon we reached
the Fur Post at the south end of Reindeer Lake,
after having been almost five successive days in
travelling down the great lake.

At the Post we took on sufficient frozen fish
to feed our dogs to Pelican Narrows ; then pulled
out again and trailed onward until an hour after
dark, when we camped for the night at the first
rapid on the upper reaches of the Reindeer
River.

January 2. — Travelled hard all day overland
through rough, hilly country west of Reindeer
River, while it snowed incessantly.

Reindeer River course is not used as a winter
route by the Indians, a more direct and un-
twisting course being chosen in preference to
the west of it.

January 3. — In the dark of early morning, as
was customary, we moved out to take up the
trail again. When day broke the sky was dull
and despondently grey, but the snowstorm had
ceased. The trail to-day was like that of yester-
day : hard and difficult when traversing the
country overland between the lakes, seven of
which we travelled through before making con-
nection to Reindeer River, which we reached
about noon.

NEARING PELICAN NARROWS 205

Toward evening we passed out of Reindeer
River on to the Churchill River, and thence
through an overland route east of Frog Portage,
on to the Lake of the Woods ; where we camped
for the night within one day's journey of Pelican
Narrows.

The inland country which we passed through
to-day was irregular and mountainous, necessi-
tating steep climbing and awkward descents for
our sleds. Poplar trees are now encountered
in plenty, which trees were rarely seen in Fort
Du Brochet territory.

January 4. — Pushing onward, we kept the
sleds going steadly all day, often over long and
bad overland bush- trails.

This day was dull in the morning, but the after-
noon broke particularly fine ; bright sunshine
shone in a soft, wistful sky, and there was no
bitter wind ; fresh-fallen snow lay unruffled
on the lakes, white as the finest linen ; sunbeams
glittered ; and to add to this, we were passing
through particularly picturesque country — narrow
lakes lying peacefully between high, forest- covered
hills. '

About twelve miles north of Pelican Narrows
we crossed fresh tracks of Woodland Caribou,
which was the first and only retreat of this animal
encountered throughout the expedition.

About 5 p.m., considerably excited at the
prospect of reaching a settlement, we neared
Pelican Narrows, and soon afterwards drew up
before the Hudson Bay trading store, to be made
cordially welcome by the Factor.

Before reaching the Post, J'Pierre had pointed
15

206 LEAVING THE LONE LAND

to some horse-tracks in the snow ; in some
excitement, and with a broad smile, saying :
" Not dog, not deer — what you call it ? ' Mean-
ing that here was something closely associated
with the white man, and therefore drawing my
attention to that which he thought must be dear
to me. At Du Brochet horses were unknown,
but in full winter they travel over the ice to the
post we had now reached with substantial loads
of such stores as once a year recuperate the Far
North Trading Posts.

It is 230 miles from Fort Du Brochet to Pelican
Narrows on the map ; possibly it is 250 miles,
or more, by the trail we followed. 'We had
trailed the distance in one straight run in eight
days, thereby averaging thirty-one miles a day ;
accomplishing under thirty miles a day when the
country or weather conditions were distracting,
and over thirty miles when the trail was favour-
able. Such steady travelling, with formidable
loads, is tribute to the endurance of sled-dogs, and
to Indian skill in keeping, unguided by map or
mechanical record, on a direct course to a far-
off destination.

January 5 and 6 I spent at Pelican Nar-
rows ; resting the first day, and delayed on the
second on account of the Indians who I had
arranged were to go with me to transport my
specimens, for here my Du Brochet Indians had
completed their task, and would return home.

At Pelican Narrows I found letters from home
— those that should ordinarily have travelled
by the Christmas packet to Du Brochet. The
delay of the packet was here solved : the war

INDIAN GUIDES GO HOME 207

had dislocated the fur trade, and the Hudson Bay
Company were not anxious to continue buying
until the world-wide confusion in commerce
steadied, and pointed to some definite stability.
Prices of furs were away down, which the Fur
Posts already knew. There was no change at
Christmas, and thus the officials in authority
were waiting and hoping for change in the pros-
pects of the trade ; if that came, then would
they send forth their sled-packets to carry news
that their Posts would welcome.

My letters were enlightening in regard to the
war, and brought relief in that all was well at
home ; but they left me more restless than before
to hurry on to the south.

At daylight on the 6th I bade good-bye to
J'Pierre and Mistewgoso, and watched those
sturdy travellers and their splendid dogs start
back north on their long trail home. Should they
go back as quickly as they came (and they would
probably now go faster without loads) they
would have covered five hundred miles in sixteen
days, with but one day's rest.

John and Philip, two half-bred Indians, have
here taken over my sled-loads of specimens, and
so I resume my journey, to-morrow, with strangers.

I passed the day very agreeably with the
Hudson Bay Factor at Pelican Narrows, and
greatly enjoyed conversing with a fellow-country-
man. He was a man who fully came up to one's
pictured ideal of the fine old type of Hudson
Bay servant ; strong and of the outdoors, yet
gentlemanly without the telling or prompting of
neighbourly society. He was one of the fine

208 LEAVING THE LONE LAND

old school of pioneers, for he had served all his
life with the Company, as had his father before
him. He had had one break in his life, when he
had as a boy been sent to Scotland to be educated.
A point which proved the Factor's worth was the
fact that he was popular among the Indians,
not only at his own Post, but far out on the trails :
indeed, in this way I had heard of him long
before I met him. And Indians are sure in their
judgment, for they are gifted with extraordinarily
keen penetration, and are, moreover, very exact-
ing critics.

In the early morning of January 7, with strange
companions and fresh dogs, I resumed my journey
south on Heron Lake.

We travelled hard all day and camped at night
at a settlement of Cree Indians, a little above
Birch Portage on the Sturgeonweir River. Here,
at this settlement, one could surely tell, in the
manners of the Indians, of nearer approach to
civilisation, for in small but essential ways they
differed from the natives in the Far North ; their
reserve and inherent culture — if I may use the
word — were less.

Especially were the children more bold. In
the Far North they were wont to retire, at a white
man's approach, to hiding within their teepees,
like frightened rabbits to their warrens ; here,
however, they ventured outdoors to stand in
awed groups some distance in the background,
gazing in wonderment at the white man and his
belongings, the while their eyes, and downcast
glances at each other, plainly told their full
curiosity.

APPROACHING CIVILISATION 209

January 8. — Two hours before daylight we left
the Cree settlement and travelled overland the
greater part of the day, thus avoiding the indirect
course of the Sturgeonweir River, which we did
not again come out on, until late afternoon,
when we followed its course until after dark,
to camp finally on the north shore of Beaver
Lake.

I might here note, since we are travelling longer
hours to accomplish a full day's run, that the
dog-trains of the Indians now with me are a very
mixed lot in breed, and of diminutive size ; and
far below the standard of the stalwart Du Brochet
huskies. It is but another omen of approaching
civilisation ; and, had I wanted further evidence,
I saw to-day, on passing some cabins, a cow—
which, without mistake, brings one near to the old
familiar world.

January 9. — We passed through Beaver Lake
when setting out this morning ; a lake where
gold was discovered late last Fall, but which, I
learned at Pelican Narrows, had not so far realised
the great things that were hoped for by those who
rushed to the claims. Nevertheless shacks had
sprung into being, and those and other signs of
human occupation invested the lake, even in the
dead of winter. And it was here that a husky
in John's train, the only pure looking dog in the
lot, grew wildly excited as we passed a horse-sled,
and strained on the traces to give chase, apparently
mistaking the horses for deer. I asked John
where the dog had come from, and he replied
" Patatawogan," a post on the Lower Churchill
River, where Caribou frequent. The dog was a

210 LEAVING THE LONE LAND

beast of the wild places and yet untamed to
civilisation.

Before trailing far to-day, Philip's dogs began
to give out, and consequently the loads had to
be altered and his sled much lightened.

After leaving Beaver Lake we crossed over-
land for twenty miles through forest country to
Cumberland Lake, which lake we crossed before
finally drawing up at Cumberland House. It
was then so far into the night that all the inmates
of the Fur Post were in bed, but necessity of food
and desire for shelter forced me to awake the
inmates, who in due course, in spite of my rude
intrusion, bid me welcome in by the light of
flickering candles.

We had trailed forty-five miles this day and,
moreover, had run incessantly behind the sleds
on account of the played-out dogs — truly we were
ready for food and rest.

Here ended, in memorable fashion, my travels
with dogs, 350 miles south of Fort Du Brochet,
or 550 miles south of the edge of the Barren
Grounds.

January 10. — I remained at Cumberland House
during the day, while arrangements were made
for a sled drawn by horses to carry myself and
my specimens to the Pas on the morrow.

Cumberland House had lost much of the old
character of a Fur Post, and had the appearance
of fast becoming a white man's frontier station :
a change no doubt aggravated by the discovery
of Gold at Beaver Lake, and the consequent
invasion of miners and prospectors ; while also
it is influenced to change by the advent of the

AMUSING INCIDENTS 211

new Hudson Bay Railway to the Pas, which
brings a measure of civilisation in proximity.

Nevertheless I spent a very pleasant day there,
conversing with people of my own kind in my
own tongue ; even though I missed the rarer
atmosphere of the wilds, and the wild man's ways,
that appertain in the Further North.

January 11. — The remainder of my journey
south was of little account and may be briefly
told.

Leaving Cumberland House, I travelled all day
by horse-sled, and camped for the night in the
Saskatchewan Valley about fifteen miles west of
the Pas ; and next day completed the distance
to the railway terminus.

The following day I boarded the train and,
via Prince Albert, reached Regina, my destina-
tion, at midnight on January 14.

One or two peculiar and amusing incidents
occurred in those first days of my return to
civilisation.

I had, of necessity, no European clothing, and
was therefore, to my embarrassment, clad in my
rude Eskimo costume. I will not readily forget
the steward on the dining-car on the train when,
in this garb, I first entered for a meal ; nor his
subsequent astonishment when I requested him
to bring me vegetables only — first one course ;
then another ; and yet another, while his face
lengthened in perplexity ; and he finally told
me there were no more vegetables on the train.
I probably looked a grim customer, but by the
time he had finished serving me I felt satisfied
that he thought I was mad. Nor dicl he look

212 LEAVING THE LONE LAND

altogether credulous when I told him at the
end of the meal that I had not tasted vegetables
for nine months, and that prolonged fish and meat
diet had given me a tremendous craving for
them ; and that therefore he had given me the
finest meal I had ever enjoyed.

At Prince Albert my clothing afforded me
further embarrassment, for I was an odd figure
among the city population, but particularly were
the dogs in the streets disconcerting, for they
scented the strange smell of the Caribou skins
(for they retain a peculiar, ineradicable scent of
the type one associates with Harris tweed) and
would circle behind me to follow curiously, and
sometimes to bark alarmingly. At times as
many as half a dozen dogs had gathered
about me in this way, until I found it ex-
pedient to turn down a side street and chase
them away.

Still further, my home and worldly belongings
of the previous year were at Craven, twenty
miles away from Regina, so when I reached the
latter city, I had to spend the day in Arctic garb.
In the evening I dined with some old friends,
who were amused and kind enough to take my
Eskimo clothing in good part. Moreover there
was a fancy-dress Carnival at the skating-rink
that night, and they persisted in persuading me
to accompany them there. This, in the end, I
consented to do, and on reaching the rink skated
on the ice until the costumes were judged, where-
upon I was awarded the first prize — and I had
not changed an article of my everyday Far North
Caribou clothing. . . .

END OF THE LONG TRAIL 213

So had I come off the long trail to my own
people. Soon was I speeding east, and to Eng-
land, and to war, but carrying memories that
nothing could erase of the wonderful country I
had seen in a virgin land of the Wild.

The years of war have passed since then, yet
so great is the attraction of that vast lone land
that sleeps in the lap of a mighty Destiny, through
endless summers of lovely garbing, and winters
of drear snow wastes, that I still can repeat,
" I've bade * it ' good-bye— but I can't."

Some day, if I live, I will go back.

CHAPTER X

ANIMALS AND BIRDS COLLECTED AND
OBSERVED

LIST OF MAMMALS, AND WHERE COLLECTED
AND NOTED DURING THIS EXPEDITION OF 1914.1

MOOSE. — Observed Crooked River, May 13. Two
observed above Pelican Rapids, Churchill River,
June 2. Had fresh meat from Indians on
Sandy Lake on the Churchill River, June 9.
Many tracks of moose on the clean, soft river-
bottom in neighbourhood of White Sand Rapid,
Reindeer River, June 30. Few in neighbourhood
of south end of Reindeer Lake ; report of Solomon
Cook, July 1. Willows on shores of lower
reaches of the Cochrane River much eaten by
those animals, July 19. Many signs of moose on
inland lake shores west of Cochrane River,
July 23. Some skins of both adult and young
moose at Fort du Brochet, August 21. Few
tracks in the snow encountered west of Reindeer
River, on return journey, January 2, 1915.

WOODLAND CARIBOU. — In two instances the
tracks of this species were seen in the snow about
twelve miles north of Pelican Narrows, January 4,
1915. Some nice heads of this species in Hudson

1 See also Report of Chief Game Guardian, 1914, pp. 33-4,
Regina, 1915.

214

ANIMALS 215

Bay Factor's cabin at Pelican Narrows,
January 15.

BARREN-GROUND CARIBOU. — See Chapter VI.

MUSK-OX. — A number of skins were seen east
of White Partridge Lake, twenty miles south of
the Barren Grounds, November 26. They had
been taken by Eskimos in territory further north.

WOODCHUCK. — One trapped Beaver River,
May 19.

CHIPMUNK. — Observed on an island on Sandy
Lake on the Churchill River, June 11. The first
specimen seen for a long time ; and the only
one noted during the remainder of the expedition.

RED SQUIRREL. — Heard chattering in spruce
forest on shores of Black Bear Island Lake on
the Churchill River, June 14. Observed on
shore of Rapid River Lake, Churchill River,
June 24. One taken on shore of Sucker Bay,
south end Reindeer Lake, July 5. Observed
Cochrane River, July 24. One taken north of
Fort Du Brochet, October 31.

MUSK-RAT. — Observed on Sandy Lake,
Churchill River, June 9, and in marsh in neigh-
bourhood of Fort Du Brochet in August.

CANADIAN BEAVER. — Few dams observed north
of Fort Du Brochet in September.

PORCUPINE. — Observed lie a la Crosse Lake,
May 27. Observed swimming in water Sandy
Lake, on the Churchill River, June 11. Again
observed this species swimming on Island Lake,
Churchill River, 'June 26. Later the animal
climbed a poplar tree.

VARYING HARE, or White Rabbit. — One male
taken inland west of Du Brochet Lake : this the

216 ANIMALS AND BIRDS COLLECTED

first " rabbit " seen since leaving Lake lie a la
Crosse. Many signs of " rabbits " on shores of
Du Brocket Lake, August 2, but not a single
one seen. One shot north 'of Fort Du Brochet,
October 1, but this territory, at least for the
present, appears almost barren of this species.
It is highly probable that rabbit plague has
recently devastated the territory of this species,
for there remain everywhere old signs of great
numbers.

LYNX. — Observed tracks of this species in the
snow when journeying south, which tracks were
the first encountered. No tracks or pelts noted
in the Far North — my position, when tracks
encountered, was in very broken, rough country
west of Reindeer River, January 2, 1915.

TIMBER WOLF, GREY WOLF. — Few stated to be
in neighbourhood of south end of Reindeer
Lake by Solomon Cook, halfbreed servant,
July 1. Found den at edge of small mossy
swamp in large muskeg, Du Brochet Lake,
August 3. There was a great gathering of small
twigs, grass, moss, etc., at entrance to den, and
inside ; tracks of wolf in many places on the lake
shore, which was not far distant. Meat cache
plundered near Thanout-Tua Lake, latitude
59-5°, on November 24, by Wolves, Wolverine,
and Foxes, whose tracks were numerous in the
snow. Few skins seen east of White Partridge
Lake, twenty miles from the Barren Grounds,
November 26. Two specimens taken east of
the north end of Reindeer Lake, December 22,
in same locality as White Wolves — all being
attracted by the carcass of a Caribou. Two

ANIMALS 217

Wolves, which appeared to have run amok, were
shot at the cabin doors of Fort Du Brochet on
December 19, 23, after causing much fear and
excitement among the natives. I examined
the second animal which was killed, and found
it mangy and lean and frothed at the mouth ;
it was quite evidently insane. One blackish-
brown specimen observed on Beaver Lake,
January 9, 1915.

BARREN-GROUND WOLF, WHITE WOLF. — Many
skins seen in trapper's cabin east of White
Partridge Lake, twenty miles south of the edge
of the Barren Grounds, November 26. Speci-
mens, all white except for small black mark on
the upper side of the tail near the base, were
taken east of the north end of Reindeer Lake on
December 22 ; they were male and female, and
are now mounted in the Provincial Museum,
Regina, Saskatchewan.

COYOTE. — Single one observed at Big River,
May 10, and many heard howling at night. None
seen or heard at lie a la Crosse Lake. Note
on Sandy Lake, Churchill River, on June 10,
that I have not seen or heard this species since
reaching lie a la Crosse Post. Solomon Cook,
half breed servant, tells me there are none in
neighbourhood of south end of Reindeer Lake.

FOXES — RED, CROSS, BLACK. — Red foxes ob-
served Sandy Lake, Churchill River, June 8 ;
Dead Lake, Churchill River, June 17. One
observed north of Fort Du Brochet November 5
(see " Timber Wolf," November 24). A good speci-
men of Cross Fox taken near Fort Du Brochet
on December 17. One Red Fox seen feeding at

218 ANIMALS AND BIRDS COLLECTED

remains of Caribou carcass, Reindeer Lake,
December 20. Measured great fox-jumps in the
snow — they were 9 ft. 9 in. apart from fore-
paws to fore-paws. West of Reindeer Lake,
January 2, 1915.

A beautiful male Black Fox trapped by
Jaumeri Merasty, jet-black except for few silver
hairs over rump, and white tail-tip. Taken
south of Fort Du Brochet, December 9 : even-
tually purchased by Revillon Brothers, Factors,
for $200 = £40.

ARCTIC Fox, WHITE Fox. — Many skins were
seen east of White Partridge Lake, twenty miles
south of the Barren Grounds, November 26,
and this species was known to be common in the
neighbourhood. One taken north-east of Rein-
deer Lake, December 22.

BLACK BEAR. — Observed below Knee Rapid,
Churchill River, June 5.

BROWN BEAR. — Very large specimen observed
below Key Falls, Churchill River, June 25.

OTTER. — Observed on Crooked Lake, May 12.
Skin seen in trapper's cabin on island at north
end of Reindeer Lake, December 29.

SKUNK. — One trapped on Beaver River,
May 20.

MINK. — Observed carrying an eel in the water,
Island Lake, Churchill River, June 26. Two
Mink skins seen east of White Partridge Lake,
near the edge of the Barren Grounds, November
26. Tracks in snow noted near Pelican Narrows,
January 4, 1915.

WEASEL. — Secured specimen in summer fur near
Fort Du Brochet, July 16. Observed Cochrane

BIRDS 219

River, July 24. One taken north of Fort Du
Brochet, December 5.

MARTEN. — Observed on Theitaga-Tua (Lake)
near latitude 60°, November 25. Many skins
looked over east of White Partridge Lake, twenty
miles south of the Barren Grounds, but no Marten
among them, November 26. One taken north of
Du Brochet Lake, November 29.

WOLVERINE. — See " Timber Wolf," Novem-
ber 24. Skins seen east of White Partridge Lake
in latitude 60*5°, twenty miles south of the edge
of the Barren Grounds, November 26.

LIST or BIRDS, AND WHERE COLLECTED AND
NOTED DURING THIS EXPEDITION OF 1914 l

Note. — Where name of species is not within square
brackets, specimens have been carefully examined
and identified by Mr. J. H. Fleming, C.M.Z.S.,
C.M.B.O.U., and the references to actual skins,
which are made in the following list, are those
which he has kindly made in writing a paper on
the collection.

A few more species might have been added to
the list of those observed, but their identities
were not positively established and they are
omitted for the present. The data below con-
tains the names of a great many species, but
owing to limited time, and to the virgin nature of
the North country, its vast extent, and the
unlimited cover it affords to bird or beast, it is
not possible that all birds common to the territory
have yet been noted.

1 See also Report of Chief Game Guardians, 1914, pp. 33-4,
37-9, Regina, 1915.

220 ANIMALS AND BIRDS COLLECTED

Bird life was found most plentiful in the terri-
tory west of Stanley Post, on the Churchill
River, and south to the point of starting on Lake
lie a la Crosse, and the various other water-
ways. Along that part of the route the land
and vegetation and forest were of a richer, more
attractive nature than further north, and no
doubt that accounted for the greater presence of
bird life.

In travelling through the somewhat barren-
looking territory of the Far North, birds, with
few exceptions, were encountered at rarer inter-
vals and in fewer numbers. Ducks were notably
very scarce, while, on the other hand, some of the
sparrows were numerous and had their first en-
countered breeding-grounds north of latitude 58°.

[HOLBCELL'S GREBE (Colymbus holboelli)]. — Set
of five eggs taken on Churchill River, June 6 ;
bird seen at close range. Nest a pile of rotten
weeds, in open water among scant floating raft
of dead weeds. Nest elevated two or three
inches above water limit, but the whole water-
soaked. Nest close to marsh shore in narrow
inlet in Churchill River, some ten or fifteen miles
below mouth of Haultain River.

Observed Beaver River, May 19, 20, and in
marsh above Sandy Lake on the Churchill River,
June 8.

[HORNED GREBE (Colymbus auritus)].—One
pair observed on inland lake east shore He a la
Crosse Lake, May 30 ; female taken.

[EARED GREBE (Colymbus nigricollis calif or-
nicus)].— Observed Crooked Lake, May 12, 13 ;
Beaver River, May 19.

BIRDS 221

LOON, GREAT NORTHERN DIVER (Gavia im-
mer). — An adult takenl on Reindeer Lake,
July 8.

Observed Crooked Lake, May 12. A few
observed Sandy Lake on the Churchill River,
June 10. Two observed on Black Bear Island
Lake on the Churchill River, June 14. Ob-
served Otter Lake, Churchill River, June 20.
Two observed in neighbourhood of the mouth of
Reindeer River, June 27 ; heard calling at night
now, or before high wind rises : a solitary drawn-
out call, cool . . . ou . . . ; a most striking call
of the northern wilderness. Many observed at
south end of Reindeer Lake, July 3, 4. Ob-
served Reindeer Lake, July 7, noted to be not
so numerous on July 9. Few observed Rein-
deer Lake, July 10 : when in flight the feet
project conspicuously behind, like a tail. One
observed Reindeer Lake, July 13. Observed
Cochrane River, July 21. One male taken on the
Cochrane River, July 23, length 30*5 in ; bones
of small fish in stomach. Observed July 24,
26, 27 on Cochrane River ; Du Brochet Lake,
August 5 ; calling before onset of a storm, and
flighting restlessly. Observed north end Du
Brochet Lake, August 10, 12 ; Cochrane River,
on return journey, August 14, 15.

[RED-THROATED LOON (Gavia stellata)]. — Ob-
served for first time in Sucker Bay, south end
Reindeer Lake, July 6. Observed one pair on
Reindeer Lake, July 8 : birds wild, and difficult
to get within gunshot. One observed Cochrane
River, July 19. Few observed on inland lakes
west of Cochrane River, July 23, 24, 26. One
16

222 ANIMALS AND BIRDS COLLECTED

observed Cochrane River, July 27 : these birds
seem impossible to secure, so wild are they. Four
observed Du Brochet Lake, August 7, warned
of their presence by their cat-like Awe-Awe
call ; a cry very different from the harsh, rumbling
quack which they utter when flying. Observed
north end Du Brochet Lake, August 10, 12 ;
fairly numerous on this lake, but all very wary.
Observed on Cochrane River, on return journey
downstream, August 13, 14, 15.

[JAEGAR ? (Ster cor anus parasiticus ?)]. — Single
bird observed on Sandfly Lake on the Churchill
River, June 12. Specimen dark above, white
below from bill down, with dark ring circling
under neck. This was the only Jaegar observed
throughout the expedition.

[CALIFORNIA GULL? (Larus californicus ?)].—
Three observed over the Saskatchewan River,
Prince Albert, May 5. One taken Shagwenaw
Lake, Churchill River, June 1. Nesting on
island on Sandfly Lake, Churchill River, in com-
pany with common Terns, but the nests of this
species were all together among tufts of grass
growing on the higher parts of the island. Nests
contained generally three eggs, one contained
four, June 11. Observed Otter Lake, Churchill
River, June 20, and Key Lake, June 24. Few
observed Island Lake, Churchill River, June 26 ;
Reindeer Lake, June 28. Half breed, Solomon
Cook, tells me that Indians eat Gulls, particularly
this Gull; south end Reindeer River, July 1.
Observed at south end Reindeer Lake, July 6 ;
Reindeer Lake, July 7, 9. Few nests found
on an island where many common Terns were

BIRDS 228

nesting, one nest contained young newly hatched,
Reindeer Lake, July 12. Observed lower reaches
Cochrane River, July 18, 21 ; west of Cochrane
River, July 24 ; Cochrane River, July 25,
26, 28, 30, 31 ; Du Brochet Lake, August
1, 5, 6 ; north end Du Brochet Lake, August
10 ; Cochrane River, on return journey,
August 14, 15.

SHORT-BILLED GULL (Larus brachyrhynchus). —
An adult female taken on Reindeer Lake, July 9,
one more seen on same date ; this is very far
east for this gull. " Iris clear blackish-grey ;
edge of eyelid surrounding eye deep orange-
chrome ; corners of mouth pure orange-chrome ;
bill evenly coloured dead yellow ; feet pale
whitish-yellow." Dr. Oberholser regards this
gull as a subspecies of Larus canus.1

RING-BILLED GULL (Larus delawarensis). — A
male taken on lie a la Crosse Lake, May 23 ;
adult except for the black primaries and terminal
band of the tail ; probably a non-breeding bird.
" Bill medium dark greenish-yellow, with strong
black ring around bill a short distance from tip ;
eyelids, and corners of mouth, deep orange-
chrome ; feet pale greenish-yellow." Seventeen
others seen with this bird.

An occasional Ring-billed Gull observed Ile-
a la Crosse Lake, May 25.

BONAPARTE'S GULL (Larus Philadelphia). — Four
specimens, an adult male (thought by the col-
lector to be a non-breeding bird), taken on the
Cochrane River, July 20. " Iris dark ; bill
black ; legs and feet, orange-chrome." An adult

1 Auk, xxxvi, 1919, pp. 83-4.

224 ANIMALS AND BIRDS COLLECTED

female, taken on Cochrane River, July 25.
" Iris dark ; eye-ring dark crimson ; bill black ;
corners of mouth reddish-flesh colour ; legs
whitish orange-chrome ; feet more rich chrome."
Two juvenile birds taken on Lake Du Brochet,
Cochrane River, August 1 : one of these, a
female, is marked " Iris dark ; bill medium dull
blackish grey ; both mandibles dark from nostril
out ; legs, feet, and webs whitish skin colour with
pale brown joints." This species is believed to
breed in trees, and it is unfortunate in view of the
young birds taken, that the nesting site was not
found.

One pair observed Crooked Lake, May 12 ;
small colony seen on inland lake off the Beaver
River, May 19 ; birds commonly perched on
limbs of dead trees on the edge of the forest which
surrounded the lake on three sides. An occasional
bird of this species observed lie a la Crosse Lake,
May 25. One observed Cochrane River, July 26 :
three observed Cochrane River, July 27.

SABINE'S GULL (Xema sabini). — Three seen,
and a pair of adults taken, on Sandy Lake,
Churchill River, June 9 ; the female is marked —
"iris black; pure red eye-ring; bill, black to
one-eighth beyond nostril, remainder of tip
medium dull lemon-yellow ; feet black."

COMMON TERN (Sterna hirundo). — A juvenile
female with pinions not fully grown, taken on
Cochrane River, August 14. Seen in company
with parents and another young bird.

Few observed Beaver River, May 21, and lie
a la Crosse Lake, May 25. Breeding haunts
observed on Pelican Lake, June 8, 4.

BIRDS 225

Breeding on small low stony island at last
bend on the Churchill River above Sandy Lake,
June 8. Nest, small hollows crowded together ;
grass-lined (.sometimes. They contained gener-
ally two eggs and three eggs each, a few held a
single egg. Estimated there were some three
hundred eggs on this island. Observed Sandy
Lake, June 9. Nesting as above on islands on
Sandfly Lake, Churchill River, June 11.

Nesting on two small islands in Island Lake.
Few nests contained two eggs, but the general
rule was three. All eggs were well incubated,
but in no case had young hatched ; Churchill
River, June 26. Nesting on island above Kettle
Falls, Churchill River, June 27 ; observed Rein-
deer River, June 29 ; Reindeer Lake, July 3.
Visited island where those birds were nesting ;
no young hatched out yet, south end Reindeer
Lake, July 4. Observed numerously in Sucker
Bay, Reindeer Lake, July 6. Observed Reindeer
Lake, July 7. Visited island where colony
nesting, and there saw first young birds, which
were just hatching out, chipped eggs and moist
chicklets being numerous, Reindeer Lake, July 12.
Observed Cochrane River, July 18, 24, 25, 26, 29,
Du Brochet Lake, August 1,6; Cochrane River,
on return journey, August 15.

[BLACK TERN (Hydrochelidon nigra surina-
mensis)].— Observed Beaver River, May 19, 20.
So far no birds of this species observed on lie
a la Crosse Lake, May 25. Numerous on inland
lake on east shore at north end of lie a la Crosse
Lake, May 30. Colony of birds found just com-
mencing to lay in same locality, May 31. Single

226 ANIMALS AND BIRDS COLLECTED

eggs in the few nests that contained any. Hun-
dreds of birds nesting on the water surface at the
outer edge of the weeds. Breeding haunts
found Pelican Lake, Churchill River, June 3.
Observed Knee Lake, Churchill River, June 6 ;
Sandy Lake, Churchill River, June 9.

[WHITE PELICAN (Pelicanus erythrorhynchos)].—
None seen on Pelican Lake, Churchill River,
June 3, 4. About thirty observed at rapids
between Sandfly Lake and Black Bear Island
Lake on the Churchill River, June 12.

MERGANSER (Mergus americanus). — A male
in very worn immature plumage taken below
lie a la Crosse Lake, on the Churchill River,
June 1. " Iris dark ; bill medium deep crimson,
crown of upper mandible black ; feet bright
orange-chrome.

Observed Pelican Lake, Churchill River,
June 4 ; Trout Lake, Churchill River, June 15 ;
Reindeer Lake, June 28 ; numbers at south end
of Reindeer Lake, July 3. Few observed
Reindeer Lake, July 10.

RED-BREASTED MERGANSER (Mergus sena-
tor}.— An adult female taken on lie a la Crosse,
May 23. " Iris clear deep umber brown ; bill
all red except along crown of upper mandible,
which is dark horn-brown ; legs and feet rich
reddish orange-chrome."

A downy young female, length 14-75 in., taken
on the Cochrane River, August 15. " Iris pale
clear brownish sage-green ; bill blackish brown
over crown of upper mandible for entire length
except tip, sides of upper mandible and entire
lower mandible pale dull buffish yellow; legs

BIRDS 227

and feet dull brownish grey; neck dull umber
brown. Bird in company with mother and about
a dozen young."

Set of twelve eggs taken on rocky island in
Reindeer Lake, July 12. " Nest found on ground
concealed beneath ledge of rock, eggs almost hard
on rock, and rim of nest composed of small
leaves and twigs profusely mixed with blackish-
grey down."

Two pairs observed south end of lie a la
Crosse Lake, May 22. Large numbers observed
on Black Bear Island Lake on the Churchill
River, June 14, and above Trout Lake on the same
river on June 15. One observed Otter Lake,
Churchill River, June 20. Few observed at
rapid above Key Lake, Churchill River, June 24.
Numbers at south end of Reindeer Lake, July
3. 4. Numerous in Sucker Bay, Reindeer Lake,
July 6. Observed Reindeer Lake, July 7, 9.
Numerous Reindeer Lake, July 10. Observed
Reindeer Lake, July 12. Observed Cochrane
River, July 24, 28, 29, 30, 31 ; Du Brochet Lake,
August 1, 2, 6 ; north end Du Brochet Lake,
August 12.

[MALLARD (Anas platyrhynchos)] . — Observed
Polwarth, Sask., May 6 ; Big River, May 9 ;
Crooked Lake, May 12. Nest containing three eggs
found on May 13. Observed Beaver River, May
19, 21. Few observed on He a la Crosse Lake,
May 25. Five observed inland from He a la Crosse
Lake, May 30. Numerous on Shagwenaw Lake,
Churchill River, June 1. Nest containing nine
eggs found in dry grass marsh ; nest composed of
blackish down and a few dry pale-yellow grasses,

228 ANIMALS AND BIRDS COLLECTED

situated beneath a tussock of grass, Churchill
River, June 2. Numerous Pelican Lake,
Churchill River, June 2,4; observed below mouth
of Haultain River on Churchill River, June 6.

Found nest with eight eggs in damp dead weeds
at the very edge of marsh shore ; site more in
swamp than is usual. Mallard very numerous
in marsh above Sandy Lake on Churchill River,
June 8. Observed on Sandy Lake, Churchill
River, June 9. Few observed on Black Bear
Island Lake on the Churchill River, June 13.
Few observed Dead Lake, Churchill River, June
17. Duck, on this lake, very scarce. Duck
most plentiful, so far, in neighbourhood of Pelican
Lake. One or two observed on Island Lake,
Churchill River, June 26 ; still remark that ducks
are very scarce.

On island above Kettle Falls found three
mallards' nests containing respectively nine-
nine — and eight eggs, all in early stage of in-
cubation, Churchill River, June 27.

One or two observed Reindeer River, June
28, 30 ; south end Reindeer Lake, July 4.

Observed female with nine young in water,
but this species appears very scarce here, as those
are the only ones seen during the last few days,
Reindeer Lake, July 8. Female observed on
lower reaches of the Cochrane River, July 18.
Female with few young observed Cochrane River,
July 21 ; another with young on July 23. Two
observed, Cochrane River, July 27. Observed
with young almost fully grown, Cochrane River,
July 28. One observed north end Du Brochet
Lake, August 10. Observed family of full-grown

BIRDS 229

young chased by falcon-like hawk, which I was
unable to positively identify, Cochrane River,
lower reaches, August 15. Hunted duck for
food north of Fort Du Brochet on September
23, 24. Noted duck very scarce. After searching
far for them during two days, secured six mallard,
one wigeon, one Golden-eye, and only saw two
others. Searched for duck north of Fort Du
Brochet on October 6, but saw none. Have con-
cluded during last few days that all duck species
from the Far North have now migrated south.
First heavy fall of snow on October 3, again on
October 17.

[AMERICAN WIGEON (Mareca americana)]. —
Observed at Big River, May 9; above Sandy
Lake on the Churchill River, June 8, and on
Sandy Lake, June 9. One taken north of Fort
Du Brochet, September 24, and observed in same
locality on September 26.

GREEN- WINGED TEAL (Nettion carolinense). —
A pair taken on the Beaver River, May 18.

Fairly common on Beaver River, May 21. One
pair observed lie a la Crosse Lake, May 25 ;
numerous on Shagwenaw Lake, Churchill River,
June 1, observed on marsh above Sandy Lake on
the Churchill River, June 8.

[BLUE-WINGED TEAL (Querguedula discors)]. —
Observed Big River, May 9 ; Beaver River, May
19, 21. Drake Blue- winged Teal shows large
cobalt-blue mark on shoulder when flying ; drake
Gra?n-winged Teal shows red head prominently.
One pair observed near mouth of Haultain River
on the Churchill River, June 6. Few observed
in marsh above Sandy Lake on the Churchill

230 ANIMALS AND BIRDS COLLECTED

River, June 9. One pair observed below Du
Brochet Lake, Cochrane River, July 31.

[SHOVELLER (Spatula ctyplata)]. — Pair observed
Crooked River, May 15. Numerous Shagwenaw
Lake, Churchill River, June 1, and Pelican Lake,
June 3. Observed on Knee Lake, Churchill
River, June 6.

[PINTAIL (Dafila acuta)]. — Observed Big River,
May 9 ; Beaver River, May 19. One pair
observed He a la Crosse Lake, May 25. Numer-
ous Pelican Lake, Churchill River, June 3. Ob-
served adult with brood of young about eight
days old on island above Kettle Falls, Churchill
River, June 27. Caught two of the young. One
adult and three full-grown young taken for food
on Du Brochet Lake, August 6 ; eighteen in
flock altogether.

[SCAUP DUCK (Marila marila)].— Observed Big
River, May 9 ; Crooked Lake, May 12. Beaver
River, May 19, 21. Three pair observed on in-
land lake on east shore at north end of He a la
Crosse Lake, May 30.

[GoLDEN-EYEj(C7angwZ# clangula americana)}. —
Observed Big River, May 9. Very numerous
Crooked Lake, May 12, 13, and Beaver River,
May 19. Numerous, in flocks, Shagwenaw Lake,
Churchill River, June 1. Observed below Knee
Lake, Churchill River, June 6. Observed number
of duck on Cochrane River, August 13, which
I think were this species in winter plumage ;
remarked that birds flocked and probably begin-
ning to move slowly south in migration. One
taken north of Fort Du Brochet, September 24.

[WHITE- WINGED SCOTER (Oidemia deglandi)]. —

BIRDS 231

Observed Crooked Lake, May 13. Single bird
observed on Black Bear Island Lake on the
Churchill River, June 14. Three observed on
Dead Lake, Churchill River, June 17. One pair
observed with small flock of Surf Scoters on lake
expansion on Reindeer River, June 30. Three
observed Reindeer Lake, July 10.

SURF SCOTER (Oidemia perspicillata). — Three
specimens, one adult male taken on He a la
Crosse Lake, May 31 ; two adult females taken
on the Reindeer River, June 30. " Flock of
about twelve Scoters together, all in pairs."

One specimen observed on inland lake on
east shore at north end of He a la Crosse Lake,
May 31. One pair observed in false bay above
Sandfly Lake on the Churchill River, June 11.
Those birds appear to prefer dead-water lakes
(lakes without current). Four specimens observed
on Black Bear Island Lake on the Churchill
River, June 14. Six birds observed below Frog
Portage on the Churchill River, June 27. Flock
observed on inland lake north of Fort Du Brochet
as late as September 30, passing in migration ;
they remained only one day on this lake,
which was under constant observation at the
time.

[SNOW GOOSE (Chen hyperboreus hyperboreus)].
—Flock passed westward over Ladder Lake, Big
River, May 9, in spring migration.

[CANADA GOOSE (Branta canadensis canadensis)].
— Observed one pair south end lie a la Crosse
Lake, May 24. One adult male taken on the
Cochrane River, July 27. Stomach contained
grasses and grit. Female with brood of young

232 ANIMALS AND BIRDS COLLECTED

also seen in marsh at river-bend. Those were the
only geese found in their breeding haunts.

[BITTERN (Botaurus kntiginosus)]. — Observed at
Polwarth, Sask., May 6 ; Beaver River, in marshy
lower reaches, May 20. One observed below the
mouth of Haultain River on the Churchill River
on June 6. One observed at the mouth of Rein-
deer River, June 27. Two observed Reindeer
River, June 29.

[SANDHILL CRANE? (Grus mificana)]. — Flock
observed settled on prairie grass, Craven, Sask.,
May 4, north-bound migration.

Nest containing two eggs found on inland
lake on east shore at north end of lie a la Crosse
Lake, May 30. Only one pair breeding ; locality
completely isolated from mankind. On no other
occasion were the breeding haunts of this species
found. The eggs were medium sienna-buffish
and had dark spots and splashes of darker colour.
(See further description in Chapter III.)

Observed flock of this species passing south
over mouth of Cochrane River, September 23.
Birds giving voice to their unmistakable call as
they planed overhead in easy view of my field-
glasses.

[SoRA RAIL (Porzana Carolina)]. — Observed four
in marsh off Beaver River, May 20. Observed on
inland lake on east shore of lie a la Crosse Lake,
May 30. Nest with two eggs found in reeds in
locality above noted, May 31.

[CooT (Fulica americana)]. — Observed Beaver
River, May 19. A number observed in marshes
above Sandy Lake on Churchill River, June 8—
the first seen for some time.

BIRDS 233

RED PHALAROPE (Phalaropus fulicarius).--A
male taken on Sandfly Lake, Churchill River,
June 11. On no other occasion was this species
observed throughout the expedition.

WILSON'S PHALAROPE (Steganopus tricolor). —
Two specimens : an adult female taken on Crooked
Lake, May 13. " Bird alone, resting as if tired
out, perhaps migrating." The other an adult
male taken on the Beaver River, May 19. " Male
and female together on floating weeds, on edge
of small lake off Beaver River ; birds in company
with pair of Dowitchers, and a lesser Yellow-
leg."

Six pairs observed on inland lake on east shore,
five miles from north end of lie a la Crosse Lake ;
all birds breeding on south side of inland lake on
limited area of swampy, mossy ground, but failed
to find eggs, though birds flew and fluttered
closely in great distress, May 30.

WILSON'S SNIPE (Gallinago delicata). — Nest
taken near Lake lie a la Crosse, May 31. " Four
eggs, slightly incubated, nest of damp grasses on
ground among low snowberry bushes. Flushed
bird off nest three or four times to-day and
yesterday."

Three observed, May 30. Few observed over
marsh drumming high in the air near mouth of
Haultain River on the Churchill River, June 6 ;
the first birds seen drumming. Two observed,
flushed from marsh inland from Du Brochet
Lake, August 9 ; noted that this species had
not previously been seen for a long time.

DOWITCHER (Macrorhamphus griseus griseus).—
Five specimens : a pair taken on Crooked Lake,

234 ANIMALS AND BIRDS COLLECTED

May 13, have been compared with a series of
this form and of M. g. scolopaceus. Another pair
taken on the Beaver River, May 19, and a male
on Lake lie a la Crosse, on May 23.

WHITE-BUMPED SANDPIPER (Pisobia fuscicollis).
— A female taken on Sandy Lake, Churchill River,
June 10, and a male taken on Sandfly Lake,
Churchill River, June 11.

BAIRD'S SANDPIPER (Pisobia bairdi). — Four
specimens : a female taken near Fort Du Brochet,
Reindeer Lake, on July 17 ; and a male and two
females taken on the Cochrane River, July 23.

Two observed below Du Brochet Lake, July 30.

LEAST SANDPIPER (Pisobia minutilla). — Four
specimens : a female, Reindeer Lake, July 13.
" Bird alone breeding on island, apparently had
nest." A female taken July 29, and a pair
taken July 30 on the Cochrane River.

Two others observed on the Cochrane River,
July 28.

RED-BACKED SANDPIPER (Pelidna alpina sak-
halina). — A female, Churchill River, June 8,
above Sandy Lake, " shot on small stony island,
in company with seven semipalmated Sandpipers."

SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPER (Ereunetes pusillus).
— Two pairs taken on the Churchill River below
Pelican Rapids, June 2, from a flock.

Observed on Sandy Lake on the Churchill River,
June 9, 10.

[LESSER YELLOWLEGS (Totanus flavipes)]. — Few
observed Crooked Lake, May 12. Observed
Beaver River, May 9. Numerous on inland lake
on east shore at north end of lie a la Crosse Lake,
May 30. Observed on lower reaches of the

BIRDS 235

Cochrane River, July 18 : not seen for a long time.
Bird calling, in alarm for nest or young, from the
very top of a spruce tree, which seemed a ridicu-
lous perch for a shore bird — yet it is one this
species quite often chooses. Observed Cochrane
River, July 20. One taken Cochrane River,
July 26. Observed Cochrane River, July 28;
Du Brochet Lake, August 2.

SANDERLING (Calidris leucophcea). — Three speci-
mens taken from a flock of four, Cochrane River,
July 21, " probably non-breeding birds."

SOLITARY SANDPIPER (Helodromus solitarius
solitarius). — " A female with large egg in oviduct,"
Beaver River, May 18. Observed Cochrane River,
July 20.

SPOTTED SANDPIPER (Actitis macularia). — Two
adults : a male, Crooked River, May 15, and a
female, Lake He a la Crosse, May 23. Two sets
of four eggs each, taken on Snake Lake and above
Black Bear Island Lake, Churchill River, June
10, 13, also a downy young taken on the Cochrane
River, July 29.

Observed Shagwenaw Lake, Churchill River,
June 1 ; Sandy Lake on the Churchill River,
June 9, 10 ; Sandfly Lake on the Churchill River,
June 12. Trout Lake Churchill River, June 15.
Have come to know this species as the most
common shore bird in the territory. Saw one of
this species being chased by a Red-tailed Hawk,
Island Lake, Churchill River, June 26. Found
nest with four eggs on island above Kettle Falls,
Churchill River, June 27. Observed Reindeer
River, June 29; south end Reindeer Lake,
July 4. Noted on Reindeer Lake on July 9,

236 ANIMALS AND BIRDS COLLECTED

and remark that very few seen at that date, though
previously quite common. One observed Fort
Du Brochet, July 17 ; nest containing four eggs
found on dry, moss-covered hillside, near the foot
of a pine tree. Observed Cochrane River, July
19, 26. Observed below Du Brochet Lake,
Cochrane River, July 30.

AMERICAN GOLDEN PLOVER (Charadrius domi-
nions dominions) . — An adult female taken when
in company with Kildeer Plover at the mouth of
Mudjatick River on the Churchill River, June 2.
" Eye, bill, and feet black."

KILDEER (Oxeyechus vociferns). — Seen in com-
pany with the Golden Plover, but no specimens
taken. Observed at Polwarth, Sask., May 6 ;
Big River, May 7, 9.

SEMIPALMATED PLOVER( J£g£07ift's semipalmata).

—Four specimens : a male, lie a la Crosse Lake,

May 23 ; a pair Cochrane River, July 23 ; and

a female taken 29 July, also on the Cochrane

River.

RUDDY TURNSTONE (Arenaria interpres mori-
nella). — Four specimens : a female found alone
on Lake lie a la Crosse, on May 22 ; a male also
found alone on the same lake on the 23rd ; and
two females taken from large flock on June 9
on Sandy Lake on the Churchill River.

Observed on Sandfly Lake on the Churchill
River, June 12.

HUDSONIAN SPRUCE PARTRIDGE (Canachites
canadensis canadensis). — Eight specimens : six
adults, and two downy young. A pair with
nest and eggs taken at Lake lie a la Crosse, May
25 ; male not preserved. " Eggs six in number,

BIRDS 237

fresh ; nest on ground close in at foot of alder
bush ; site dry open poplar knoll, surrounded by
dense spruce and tamarack swamp ; nest of dry
leaves, same as carpet of surrounding ground,
a few feathers lining nest." A male same loca-
lity, May 29. A female in moult, and a downy
young, Reindeer Lake, July 10 ; the female has
pin feathers on the sides of the head, and new tail
feathers are appearing. A downy young, Coch-
rane River, July 20 ; was with other young and
female parent when taken. A male taken,
August 3 ; a female, August 4 ; and a male,
August 7 — all adults, Lake Du Brochet. The
young could fly, though the first was only five
inches in length.

Male observed below Frog Portage, Churchill
River, July 27. Two shot north of Fort Du
Brochet, October 9, and one on October 13,
16. Four shot near mouth of Cochrane River,
October 19. One shot, October 30, in same
locality. Note that there are a few north of
Fort Du Brochet, November 7. One taken in
same locality on December 10 ; this species
evidently winter as far north as this point, but
none seen any further north than latitude 58*5°.
Two taken Fort Du Brochet, December 14.
Flushed one at night on December 16 and noted
bird had apparently no trouble to see in the dark.

[RUFFED GROUSE (Bonasa umbellus togata?)}. —
Observed Crooked River, May 13 ; secured
very reddish-brown female at head of Reindeer
River, July 14. One taken north of Fort Du
Brochet, October 1. This species appears rare
in the Far North.
IT

238 ANIMALS AND BIRDS COLLECTED

WILLOW PTARMIGAN (Lagopus lagopus lagopus}.
— One specimen, Fort Du Brochet, Reindeer Lake,
November 4. " Same day first Barren-ground
Caribou of the season were shot."

Natives at Fort Du Brochet say that this species
arrives there about mid-October. " Diary of
halfbreed, Philip Merasty, records : ' White Par-
tridge seen at Fort on October 6, 1913, snow
having fallen ere that date.' " Four specimens
observed north of Fort Du Brochet, October 27 ;
the first noted to arrive this winter. An Indian
reported two seen on October 30.

Note on November 7 that this species is now
common north of Fort Du Brochet ; birds rise
with a startling flutter of wings out of the snow
at the foot of the Scrub Pines. This species
plentiful in neighbourhood of Thanout-Tua (Lake),
Thlewiaza Or River, November 23 ; noted that
those birds sometimes call exactly like Red
Grouse when startled to flight.

There is a lake named " White Partridge
Lake," or Kasba Lake, twenty miles south of the
Barren Grounds, near neighbourhood where this
species noted as plentiful.

Two observed north of Fort Du Brochet,
December 12, and large pack seen on December 13.
Observed December 15. On December 18,
after searching three days without observing
single bird of this species, I note : It is strange
how those birds appear to come and go ; it may
be because the food-supply of willow-shoots, and
Labrador Tea-buds, on which they now feed, is
so scant above the snow that they are soon picked
bare, and then the birds move on to fresh feeding-

BIRDS 239

ground. One taken on Reindeer Lake thirty
miles south of Fort Du Brochet, December 30.

[MARSH HAWK (Circus hudsonicus)]. — Observed
Beaver River, May 20. First one seen since
leaving the prairies. Apparently not numerous
in this territory. One observed Sandfly Lake on
the Churchill River, June 11. One observed Du
Brochet Lake, Cochrane River, August 11 ;
a female or young bird in brown plumage. This
was the only specimen of this species seen to date
in the Far North. Two young birds observed
Cochrane River, on return journey, August 14.

SHARP-SKINNED HAWK (Accipiter velox). — An
adult male, taken at Otter Lake, Churchill River,
June 20.

AMERICAN GOSHAWK (Astur atricapillus atri-
capillus). — A female, and set of three eggs, taken
on Beaver River, May 16. Nest described in
Chapter II.

[WESTERN RED-TAILED HAWK ? (Butes borealis
calurus)]. — Observed single bird, Beaver River,
May 16, 21 ; Black Bear Island Lake on the
Churchill River, June 13. One observed chasing
a Spotted Sandpiper, Island Lake, Churchill
River, June 26.

BROAD- WINGED HAWK (Butes platypterus). —
Three specimens : a melanotic male, Crooked
River, May 14, is chocolate brown except for the
tail-bars, which are normal ; a male taken in
same locality on May 15, and a female taken on
Beaver River, May 16.

[GOLDEN EAGLE? (Aquila chrysaetos ?)]. — Ob-
served two dark eagles (?), which appeared to
be this species, over Black Bear Island Lake,

240 ANIMALS AND BIRDS COLLECTED

Churchill River, June 13. One observed Trout
Lake, Churchill River, June 16. One observed
Island Lake, Churchill River, June 25. One also
at mouth of Reindeer River, June 27, 28.

NORTHERN BALD EAGLE (Haliceetus leucoce-
phalus alascanus). — An adult and three downy
young taken : the first a male taken on the
Churchill River, June 12 ; the downy young
taken on Reindeer Lake, two on July 7 and one
on July 10 ; these are marked : " Iris dark
umber -brown ; bill dark horn colour ; cere slightly
more light brown ; corner of mouth pale whitish
yellow ; legs and feet pale whitish yellow." Nest
of the first young was at the top of a spruce tree,
which stood about twenty-five feet high in thick
forest on an island of high, rocky elevation. The
large nest was constructed with dead twigs of
many sorts and sizes, and was lined with moss,
grass, and feathers.

Nest found containing one young bird, six to
ten days old. Shell of egg was white. Nest on
top of dead spruce tree on a prominent point of
land on shore, Knee Lake, Churchill River,
June 5.

Three observed Black Bear Island Lake on the
Churchill River, June 13. One observed lower
reaches Cochrane River, July 18. One observed
Fort Du Brochet, September 4.

HAWK ? Duck Hawk, or possibly [GYRFALCON ?
(Falco rusticolus subsp. ?)] . — I' was greatly surprised
in full winter to observe a fairly large Hawk (?)
giving chase to Spruce Grouse near Fort Du
Brochet, December 15. Again observed same
species of Hawk (?) flying across a lake in same

BIRDS 241

locality, December 24. On December 28, on
Reindeer Lake, I noted : " Saw hawk again
to-day and almost got within gunshot ; believe
it to be Gyrfalcon." On Cumberland Lake
observed two winter -hawks : greyish white under-
parts, speckled probably lightly ; clear black
spot on ear coverts ; upper parts dark ; tail
longish ; bird large, would say about twenty
inches, January 9, 1915. Possibly those latter
were Goshawks ?

PIGEON HAWK(Falco columbarius columbarius).
— Seven specimens. An adult female (two
other birds seen), Reindeer Lake, July 13. A
female in company with four or five almost fully
fledged young, three of which were taken, Lake
Du Brochet, August 3 ; the young have the wings
and tail not fully grown, and traces of down on
the head ; the old bird is in very worn plumage
with one fresh blue tail feather, but showing no
other sign of the blue plumage. Two fully fledged
young birds (two others seen), Lake Du Brochet,
August 7.

Observed on Lake Du Brochet on August 8, 11.

[SPARROW HAWK (Falco sparverius sparve-
rius)]. — Female observed Big River, May 10.

AMERICAN OSPREY (Pandion halliaetus caroli-
nensis). — Three specimens. A female, Crooked
Lake, May 13. A male taken at nest,
Lake He a la Crosse, May 25 ; " nest containing
single egg on very top of broken-off dead Jack
Pine, nest mainly built of dry twigs, inside thickly
lined with damp mud, grass, and moss ; fish
scales on edge of nest ; the male bird was bring-
ing both talons full of damp moss to nest when

242 ANIMALS AND BIRDS COLLECTED

shot." A female taken with nest and two eggs,
Knee Lake, Churchill River, June 6.

Found nest of this species on Sandy Lake, on
the Churchill River, June 10. Female on nest,
but did not disturb her.

One observed at narrows entering into Key
Lake, Churchill River, June 24. Observed south
end, Reindeer Lake, July 4. Single bird observed
Cochrane River, July 20, 21. One observed
carrying a fish lengthwise, parallel to the body
and head facing onwards, Du Brochet Lake,
Cochrane River, August 11. One observed near
Fort Du Brochet, September 2.

[GREAT HORNED OWL (Bubo virginianus
subsp. ?)]. — Nest found on Crooked River, May 15,
containing two downy half-grown young ; one a
beautiful buff-cream colour, the other more grey.
Adult female on nest when found. Nest not
large in comparison with size of bird, and situated
in strong fork of Black Poplar tree ; tree not
yet in leaf. Nest composed of dead poplar and
lichen-grown spruce twigs, and lined with rabbits'
hair. Noted on lie a la Crosse Lake on May 25,
that have not heard any Great Horned Owls
calling at night in this locality. Previously had
heard them every night. On reaching north end
of this lake this species was again heard on May 29.

AMERICAN HAWK OWL (Surnia ulula capa-
roch). — A male taken on Lake Bu Brochet,
August 1.

[BELTED KINGFISHER (Ceryle alcyon)]. — First
pair observed on Beaver River, May 16 ; few pair
Beaver River, May 19. Observed Churchill River,
June 1, in neighbourhood of Shagwenaw Lake.

BIRDS 243

One observed Pelican Lake, Churchill River,
June 3. Few observed below Knee Lake on
the Churchill River, June 6 ; also above Sandy
Lake on the Churchill River, June 8.

Nest found in hole at the top of a rocky bank of
about twelve feet elevation. Nest situated about
ten feet above shore. Straight tunnel in, then
the nest in a slight hollow 2 ft. 6 in. from the
entrance ; nest unlined, except with a few small
fish-bones, and contained six young about eight
days old. Foot of Grand Rapids, Churchill
River, June 25. Note on Cochrane River on
July 23 that none of this species now seen.
Single specimen observed near Fort Du Brochet
on September 22.

[NORTHERN HAIRY WOODPECKER (Dryvbates
villosus subsp.?)]. — Found nest containing three
young almost fully fledged on green poplar tree
on island above last rapid, above Black Bear
Island Lake on the Churchill River, June 12.

ARCTIC THREE-TOED WOODPECKER (Picoides
arcticus). — An adult male taken on the Cochrane
River, July 31 ; yellow crest much worn, exposing
the white bases of the feathers.

ALASKAN THREE-TOED WOODPECKER (Picoides
americanus fasciatus). — An adult female, Fort
Du Brochet, October 22.

YELLOW-BELLIED SAPSUCKER (Sphyrapicus va-
rius varius). — Two males taken at Big River on
May 7, 11.

Nest found containing young in hole in green
poplar tree. Hole about eight feet up, and
facing south-east. Did not disturb nest ; below
Key Falls, Churchill River, June 25. Believe

244 ANIMALS AND BIRDS COLLECTED

one specimen seen Cochrane River, July 23 ;
but identity not absolutely certain.

BOREAL FLICKER (Colaptes auratus borealis). —
One female Cochrane River, July 31, the male
seen. There is another adult female in the W. S.
National Museum, taken at Lake Du Brochet,
September 26, 1890. This form is included in
the range of luteus in the A. O. W. Check List.

[FLICKER. GOLDEN- WINGED WOODPECKER (Co-
laptes auratus subsp. ?)]. — Observed at Big River,
May 7. Pair mating, Big River, May 9. Manner
of courtship : they sit side by side on tree-trunk
and at intervals gesticulate with their heads,
thrusting them up and down, and softly emitting
" Thuca, Thuca, Thuca," Then they pause for
an interval and are motionless except that their
eyes roll rapidly and show white by the glint of
the overhead sun. The male Flicker shows more
golden yellow under the wings when in flight.

Species numerous, Beaver River, May 19.

Observed Pelican Lake, Churchill River, June 4.
Numerous Sandy Lake neighbourhood, Churchill
River, June 10.

Found nest containing ten eggs in green poplar
tree, nest about ten feet up tree-trunk, Churchill
River, June 11.

Nest found on top of dead birch-stump, at
elevation of about fifteen feet, on Trout Lake,
Churchill River, June 17 ; nest not disturbed.
Observed below Frog Portage on the Churchill
River, June 27 ; Reindeer River, June 29 ;
south end Reindeer Lake, July 4.

Found nest containing well-fledged young on
shore of Reindeer Lake, July 10. Did not dis-

BIRDS 245

turb nest. Not many Flickers observed in this
neighbourhood.

Observed Fort Du Brochet, July 17 ; Cochrane
River, July 18, 25 ; Du Brochet Lake, August 2.

Possibly some of the birds observed north of
the Churchill River were the Boreal Flicker
(Colaptes auratus borealis), but this I could not
decide merely by observation.

[NIGHTHAWK (Chordeiles virginianus subsp.?}}. —
Observed at Stanley Mission, June 23, where I
noted that they had been commonly seen along
the entire route to that point on the Churchill.
Observed mouth of Reindeer River, June 27, 28.
Single bird observed Reindeer Lake, July 9 —
previously a most common bird. Observed Fort
Du Brochet, July 16. About a dozen seen,
Cochrane River, July 18. Observed Cochrane
River, July 24, 25, 26, 28 ; Du Brochet Lake,
August 6, 8. Note that this species feed through
the day after a bad storm, probably through said
storm hindering them from feeding properly at
evening and morning as usual ; also they feed
in the daytime when the atmosphere is very close
and still before rain. Observed Cochrane River,
on return journey, August 13, 15.

[KINGBIRD ( Tyrannus tyrannus}} . — Observed
above Island Lake on the Churchill River, June 25.

PHCEBE (Sayornis phcebe). — A male taken on
Reindeer River, June 30.

Nest containing five eggs well incubated found
in false bay above Sandfly Lake on the Churchill
River, June 11. One observed Reindeer River,
June 27.

OLIVE- SIDEP FLYCATCHER (Nuttallornis bore-

246 ANIMALS AND BIRDS COLLECTED

I. — Two males taken on Lake lie a la Crosse,
May 27, 28.

Observed on Sandy Lake on the Churchill
River, June 9.

ALDER FLYCATCHER (Empidonax trailli alno-
rum). — Three specimens : a male, Churchill
River, June 6 ; two from the Cochrane River,
July 27, 28, the latter a female ; all taken in
willows at edge of marsh.

Observed below Du Brochet Lake, Cochrane
River, July 29.

LEAST FLYCATCHER (Empidonax minimus). —
A female taken on Lake lie a la Crosse, May 29,
and a male, Reindeer River, June 28.

Identified certainly on Reindeer River, June 29,
but have heard those birds singing in the forests
for the past month, and now know to whom the
sweet, clear song belongs.

[HORNED LARK (Otoeoris alpestris subsp.?)]. —
Observed Big River, May 10 ; south end He a la
Crosse Lake, May 23. Noted at Fort Eu Brochet
on September 18 that numbers have passed
south during the stormy broken weather of the
last three days. Flocks observed, restlessly cheep-
ing and flighting close to the ground, near Fort
Du Brochet, September 22. Observed north of
Fort Du Brochet, September 25.

CANADA jAY(Perisoreus canadensis canadensis).
— One immature bird, taken in Reindeer Lake,
July 11, is somewhat difficult to place. It
compares well with one of about the same age
from forty miles south-west of Calgary, Alberta,
August 4, 1895 ; and is not so dark above as a
younger bird from near Latchford, Ontario,

BIRDS 247

June 10, 1906. Preble refers to a breeding bird
from Pelican Narrows, Churchill River, in the
W. S. National Museum,1 and in fact Reindeer
Lake is well within the known range of cana-
densis.

Observed south end Reindeer Lake, July 4 ;
Sucker Bay, Reindeer Lake, July 6 ; Fort Du
Brochet, July 17 ; lower reaches of the Cochrane
River, July 20, 21, 23, 24. Observed Cochrane
River, July 27, 29, 30, 31 . There is an inland lake,
some twenty to twenty-five miles long, west of
Cochrane River, named by the Indians Wiskajon *
Lake. This neighbourhood appears to be their
regular habitat. Observed Du Brochet Lake,
August 6, 8 ; north end Du Brochet Lake,
August 11 ; north of Fort Du Brochet, September
26 and November 5.

The Northern Shrike is called by the Indians
the " White Wiskajon," and certainly its light
flight among thickets resembles that of the true
Wiskajon.

NORTHERN RAVEN (Corvus cor ax principalis). —
Five specimens : three from Churchill River, a
young bird taken when just fledged and flown
from the nest above Pelican Rapids, June 2;
an adult female below Great Devil Rapids,
June 18 ; and a young bird fledged and in company
with parent and two other young, Otter Lake,
June 20 ; two adult males taken December 15,
one on Lake Du Brochet, the other on Reindeer
Lake.

Found nest in cleft of low rock cliffs on shore of

1 North American Fauna, No. 27, 1908, p. 402.

2 Canada Jay.

248 ANIMALS AND BIRDS COLLECTED

Pelican Lake. Six partly fledged young perched
on ledge adjoining ; a nest found two days ago
was in fairly high poplar tree, Churchill River,
June 4. One observed below Knee Lake on the
Churchill River, June 6. One pair observed
Black Bear Island Lake on the Churchill River,
June 13. One observed Island Lake, Churchill
River, June 26. Observed south end Reindeer
Lake, July 4. Four observed Reindeer Lake,
July 8. Two observed lower reaches Cochrane
River, July 18. One observed Cochrane River,
July 21, 23 ; observed July 24. Few observed
below Du Brochet Lake, Cochrane River,
July 30, 31. Observed Du Brochet Lake,
August 2, 5 ; Cochrane River, below Du
Brochet Lake, August 14. Two observed Fort
Du Brochet, September 4. Number of Ravens
observed following the southward migration of
Caribou north of Fort Du Brochet, November 5, 8,
after the manner of Vultures. They sometimes
voice brief musical calls from the depth of their
throat : p-r-r-o-o uttered singly, and repeated
at longish intervals ; and err . . . err.

One observed Theitaga Lake near latitude 60°
on November 28, probably following Caribou.
One taken near Fort Du Brochet, December 14.
Those birds appear to remain in vicinity of the
Caribou herds all though winter.

CROW (Corvus brachyrhynchos subsp. ?). — An
immature female taken on the Reindeer River,
June 29 ; this bird compares well with a breeding
female from Craven, Saskatchewan, much better
than it does with Ontario birds, and may better
be placed with the Western Crow (C. b. hesperis),

BIRDS 249

but owing to lack of material of comparable age
I hesitate to do so.

Observed Big River, Sask., May 7, 9. Large
number nesting in wood at back of lie a la Crosse
Post, May 22. Noted June 2 that I see crows
every day : at that date entering Churchill River
from lie a la Crosse Lake. Numerous in neighbour-
hood of mouth of Haultain River on the Churchill
River, June 6.

Observed above Sandy Lake on the Churchill
River, June 8. Numerous Sandy Lake on the
Churchill River, June 10. Observed Sandfly
Lake, Churchill River, June 12. Few observed
Otter Lake, Churchill River, June 20. Crows at
Stanley Mission, June 23. Observed neighbour-
hood Island Lake on the Churchill River, June 25 ;
Reindeer River, June 29, 30, but not so commonly
seen during the last two days. Observed Rein-
deer Lake, July 11. Observed in neighbourhood
of deserted teepees on the Cochrane River,
July 27: this species not seen for some time.
Observed Du Brochet Lake, August 8.

YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRD (Xanthocephalus
xanthocephalus). — Specimen taken at mouth of
Mudjatick River, Churchill River, June 2. First
of this species seen this year.

Breeding haunts encountered in marsh at
entrance to Pelican Lake, Churchill River,
June 3.

[RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD (Agelaius phceniceus
subsp. ?)]. — Observed Big River, May 9 ; Beaver
River, May 21 ; inland lake on east shore at
north end of He a la Crosse Lake, May 30 ; Pelican
Lake, Churchill River, June 2. Nest with three

250 ANIMALS AND BIRDS COLLECTED

eggs found on Churchill River, below mouth of
Haultain River, June 6. Observed in marsh
above Sandy Lake on the Churchill River, June 8.
Number observed neighbourhood Island Lake,
Churchill River, June 25.

RUSTY BLACKBIRD (Euphagus carolinus). —
Three specimens from Lake Du Brochet, August 7 :
an adult male, " iris clear yellowish white " ;
an immature (female ?), " iris medium clear umber-
brown " ; and an immature male, " iris pale
sage-green."

Observed Cochrane River, July 21 ; Du Brochet
Lake, August 6. Observed during first two
weeks in September at Fort Du Brochet, feeding
apparently chiefly on ground cranberries and
bilberries.

[BREWER'S BLACKBIRD (Euphagus cyanoce-
phalus)]. — Numerous at Big River, May 7. Two pair
observed Cochrane River, July 19, 20. Observed
Cochrane River, July 26. Observed a bird with
food in bill for young, July 27. Observed July
28, 29, 30, below Du Brochet Lake.

[BRONZED CRACKLE (Quiscalus guiscula ceneus)}.
— Numerous at Big River, May 7. Observed
Beaver River, May 21. One pair observed on
inland lake east shore lie a la Crosse Lake,
May 30 ; Pelican Lake, Churchill River, June 3.
Observed on Sandy Lake on the Churchill River,
June 9, 10 ; Sandfly Lake, Churchill River, June 12.
Number observed neighbourhood Island Lake,
Churchill River, June 25, 26.

[PiNE GROSBEAK ? (Pinicola enucleator subsp. ? )].
— Observed bird which I thought was this species
on the Cochrane River, July 25.

BIRDS 251

PURPLE FINCH (Carpodacus purpureus pur-
pureus). — Two adult males taken on Big River,
May 9 ; a female seen with them.

(Observed some wild flocks of finches flying
over the forest which I think were this species,
Cochrane River, July 21. There is just a possi-
bility of confusing them with Grosbeaks or Cross-
bills, so this note is given with reservation).

REDPOLL (Acanihis linaria linaria). — Three
specimens :l an adult male with rosy breast, Coch-
rane River, July 21, " bird in company with one
young, bill dark brownish," two males, an adult
and young, Lake Du Brochet, August 10, " bill
flat, black " in the young.

Observed Cochrane River, July 23, 24, 28,
29, 30, below Du Brochet Lake. Great many
observed in flocks feeding on birch catkins,
Cochrane River, below Du Brochet Lake, August
13, 14. Observed north of Fort Du Brochet,
October 25, those birds feed on small shoots of
the tamarack tree (American larch) in late Fall,
though at earlier date birch catkins appear to be
their general and favourite food. This species
still commonly seen, and heard giving voice to
their small companionable twitter, north of Fort
Du Brochet, November 7. Observed Theitaga-
Tua (Lake) near latitude 60°, November 25.
No specimens secured, as shot-gun behind at
Du Brochet.

SNOW BUNTING (Pkctrophinax nivalisnivalis). —
One specimen Reindeer Lake, October 23. " Large
flocks of these birds for the past fortnight."

Single bird — the first appearance of their
migration into the south — observed Fort Du

252 ANIMALS AND BIRDS COLLECTED

Brochet, September 2. Plentiful north of Fort
Du Brochet on October 18, 19 ; birds migrating.

Very large flocks about on October 23 : recorded
still plentiful October 26 ; noted October 29.
Three observed south of Cumberland Lake,
January 11, and noted that those the first
observed since leaving the Far North.

[LAPLAND LONGSPUR (Calcarius lapponicus lap-
ponicus)]. — Observed single specimen south end
lie a la Crosse Lake, May 22. Large numbers of
Longspurs passing in migration ; Lapland, only
species certainly identified, Fort Du Brochet,
September 18.

[CHESTNUT- COLLARED LONGSPUR (Calcarius or-
natus)]. — Observed Crooked Lake, May 12.

SAVANNAH SPARROW (Passerculus sandwichensis
subsp.). — Three specimens : one from Lake lie a
la Crosse, May 27 ; an adult male from Fort Du
Brochet, July 17 ; and a juvenile female, Cochrane
River, July 28. These are very dark birds, much
more so than alaudinus should be, and very
different from the light race that breeds in Southern
Saskatchewan, which is no doubt nevadensis.

Observed east shore lie a la Crosse Lake,
May 30. Observed at Stanley Mission on the
Churchill River, June 23. One taken from talons
of Pigeon Hawk on Du Brochet Lake, August 7.
Observed during autumn migration at Fort
Du Brochet, September 18.

LECONTE'S SPARROW (Passerherbulus lecontei).
• — Two specimens : one of a pair, Churchill River,
June 2 ; a male, Haultain River, June 6 ; " birds
breeding here."

HARRIS'S SPARROW (Zonotrichia querula). —

BIRDS 253

Seven specimens. An adult female and a juvenile
male, Cochrane River, July 26 ; an adult male,
Cochrane River, July 30. " Male and female with
fledged young," a female, and young bird, Coch-
rane River, July 31 ; a female, Cochrane River,
August 3, " bird in company with others, pro-
bably her fully fledged young " ; an adult female,
Lake Du Brochet, August 6 — adult's " bill dull
sienna-brown," juveniles' " bill blackish brown,
yellow along edges of mandibles and at corners of
mouth." So little is known of the early plumage
of this sparrow that a description of the young
of July 31 may not be out of place : " Length
3*75 in. ; pileum with feathers brownish black,
indistinctly edged with greyish buff, producing
a dark crown with a few greyish-buff spots ;
throat and chin greyish buff, throat with a few
blackish-brown spots; chest brownish buff streaked
with brownish black ; flanks buff with brown
streaks ; rest of under parts buffy white. Above
brown streaked with black, upper tail coverts
brownish buff, tail darker than in adult ; wing
coverts tipped with buff.

Three observed south end lie a la Crosse Lake,
May 24. Their first encountered breeding haunts
were found on the Cochrane River about latitude
58°. Country fairly mountainous, and the hillside,
which the birds frequented, was bare of tall
growth, and bouldered and thickly strewn with
dead timber — for at some past date the country-
side had been swept by forest-fire. Small spruce
and scrub pine, of a height of two feet to six feet,
grew here and there, while willows, tamarack,
and small spruce grew somewhat more densely
18

254 ANIMALS AND BIRDS COLLECTED

along the margin of the river ; thus appeared
the breeding haunt of the Harris's Sparrow,
Cochrane River, July 26. Observed Du Brochet
Lake, August 2 : note that I have not heard this
species sing : they have a loud, sharp alarm chirp
when disturbed near young. Adult and fledged
young observed Du Brochet Lake, August 9.
Observed north end Du Brochet Lake, August 10.

GAMBEL'S SPARROW (Zonotrichia leucophrys
Gambelii). — Three specimens : an adult male and
a juvenile male, Reindeer Lake, July 16 ; and a
young male, Cochrane River, July 26.

Observed lie a la Crosse Lake, May 24. Ob-
served Fort Du Brochet, July 14 ; and noted that
birds appear to be nesting there. On July 17
noted that this species plentiful in neighbourhood
of Fort Du Brochet, but that they had been
nowhere seen in their breeding haunts until
this post was reached. Observed Cochrane River,
July 21, 28. Observed below Du Brochet
Lake, July 31.

[WHITE-THROATED SPARROW (Zonotrichia albi-
collis)] . — Observed Big River, May 10 ; Crooked
Lake, May 13 ; inland, on east shore, at north
end of lie a la Crosse Lake, May 30. Noted on
June 2 that this species are encountered every
day, at that date had entered the Churchill
River. Observed below Dead Lake, Churchill
River, June 18, and noted that this species had
not been seen for some days. Number singing
at daybreak at Stanley Mission, June 24. Ob-
served south end Reindeer Lake, July 4 ; and
on Reindeer Lake, July 7.

TREE SPARROW (Spizella monticola monticold).

BIRDS 255

— A male taken on Reindeer Lake, July 11 ;
" two pairs breeding on an island, first of this
species seen on this expedition." A female, Fort
Du Brochet, July 17 ; " bird had young almost
fully fledged."

Observed Cochrane River, July 20, 21, 23 ;
and again on July 26. Noted that this species
appears to breed numerously below Du Brochet
Lake, Cochrane River, July 29, 31. Du Brochet
Lake, August 1, 2, 6, 9. Observed as late as
September 26 north of Tort Du Brochet.

CHIPPING SPARROW (Spizella passerina passe-
rind). — A male taken on Lake lie a la Crosse,
May 27.

Observed on inland lake on east shore lie a
la Crosse Lake, May 30. Nest with four eggs
found on shore of inland lake, May 31 ; bird
secured. Observed Pelican Lake, Churchill River,
June 4. Nest containing one egg found on island
on Sandy Lake on the Churchill River, June 11.
Single specimen observed above Trout Lake on
the Churchill River, June 15, also on Dead Lake
Churchill River, June 13. Those birds always
seen in neighbourhood of, or on, spruce trees.

Few observed on Rapid River Lake on the
Churchill River, June 24. Observed below Frog
Portage, Churchill River, June 27. Very plenti-
ful, Reindeer River, June 30, and at south end
of Reindeer Lake, July 3. Observed Sucker Bay,
Reindeer Lake, July 6 ; Reindeer Lake, July 7.
Observed Du Brochet Lake, August 3 ; previously
this species not seen for some time.

[SLATE COLOURED JUNCO (Junco hyemalis hye-
malis)]. — Observed at Canford, Sask., May 6. Nu-

256 ANIMALS AND BIRDS COLLECTED

merous at Big River, May 7. Observed one pair
Otter Lake, Churchill River, June 20. Observed
Reindeer L^ke, June 29, and at south end of
Reindeer Lake, July 3. Observed Reindeer Lake,
July 6, 7, 9. Common on Reindeer Lake, July 10.
Observed Cochrane River, July 19, 21, 24, 28 ;
Du Brochet Lake, August 3, 6, 8. Number
observed, as if beginning migration south, at
Fort Du Brochet, September 2. Few still near
the Fort on September 18, 22. Observed as
late as September 30 north of Fort Du Brochet.

SONG SPARROW (Melospiza melodia melodia). —
A pair taken on Reindeer River, June 28.

Observed Big River, May 10. Fairly plentiful
on lower reaches Beaver River, May 21. Singing
at midnight north-east shore lie & la Crosse
Lake. Noted June 2, when entering Churchill
River, that this species seen every day. Nest
containing five eggs found in tall dry hay-grass
where willows grew at wide intervals. Nest
lined with very fine grasses, Churchill River
below mouth of Mudjatick River, June 2. Ob-
served Pelican Lake, Churchill River, June 4.
Nest containing six eggs found on shore of
Sandfly Lake on the Churchill River, June 12.
Nest containing three eggs and two newly hatched
young found on ground among grass near trees
on wooded island above Trout Lake, Churchill
River, June 15. Nest containing six eggs found
in grass among dead tree-stumps in country
burnt by forest fire, Trout Lake, Churchill River,
June 17. A number observed at Stanley Mission,
June 23. Song Sparrows often heard singing on
small almost bare islands, and they are the only

BIRDS 257

small birds that appear to inhabit such a place,
Churchill River, June 25. Observed below Frog
Portage, Churchill River, June 27 ; south end of
Reindeer Lake, July 3, 4 ; Reindeer Lake, July 7,
11. Note that no Song Sparrows Cochrane River,
July 23.

LINCOLN'S SPARROW (Melospiza lincolni lin-
colni). — A male taken on Reindeer River, June 29.

SWAMP SPARROW (Melospiza georgiana). — A
male taken below mouth of Haultain River,
Churchill River, June 6. " Small colony of these
birds breeding in this place."

Observed at Big River, May 7.

Fox SPARROW (Passerella iliqca iliaca). — Four
specimens ; all males : one Reindeer Lake, July
11 ; three Cochrane River, July 18, 24 and
August 3 ; the first bird seen was carrying food
to its fledged young. Fledged young taken, but
specimen too much damaged to make a skin of.

Observed Reindeer Lake, July 13 ; Fort Du
Brochet, July 17 ; Cochrane River, July 19, 20,
21, 28 ; Du Brochet Lake, August 1 ; north end
Du Brochet Lake, August 10.

[HOUSE SPARROW (Passer domesticus)]. — Those
were at Big River Town-site, and even as far
afield as lie a la Crosse Post. To an extraordinary
extent those birds have spread since first im-
ported to America.

CLIFF SWALLOW (Petrochelidon lunifrons luni-
frons). — Two females taken on Sandy Lake,
Churchill River, June 9 ; a pair, Cochrane River,
August 6 ; fully fledged young in company with
these last. Those latter were the first of this
species to be observed since leaving Sandy Lake.

258 ANIMALS AND BIRDS COLLECTED

TREE SWALLOW (Iridoprocne bicolor). — Two
specimens : a female, Crooked River, May 15 ; a
young male, Du Brochet Lake, August 6. Two
sets of eggs taken on Sandy Lake on the
Churchill River, June 11, nests in old woodpecker-
holes in dead poplars.

Observed Crooked Lake, May 12 ; Pelican Lake,
Churchill River, June 4. Numerous in Knee
Lake neighbourhood on the Churchill River,
June 6. Observed on Sandy Lake on the Churchill
River, June 9, 10, 11. Numerous at Stanley
Mission on the Churchill River, June 23. Ob-
served one near south end of Reindeer Lake,
July 7 ; the first of this species encountered for
some time. One pair observed Fort Du Brochet,
July 17.

BANK SWALLOW (Riparia riparia). — A male
taken on Sandy Lake, Churchill River, June 9.

Colony of this species nesting on sand-bank at
the river-edge. Many young flown from nests,
and in the air with their parents. The nesting-
holes were at both high and low elevation in a
steep sloping bank of some twenty feet. Opened
one cavity, from which a swallow flew out, and
found the nest at the end of a 2 ft. 6 in. tunnel,
containing three eggs — all of which were addled.
Birds flew out of many holes, and therein were
probably nests of young or a second comple-
ment of eggs.

BOHEMIAN WAXWING (Bombycilla garrula). —
Two specimens from Cochrane River : a juvenile
male taken July 28, " iris dark — not reddish
brown like adult " ; an adult female, July 30.

Observed Cochrane River, July 18, 19, and

BIRDS 259

noted that they appear to be breeding here.
Numbers observed Cochrane River below Du
Brochet Lake, July 29.

CEDAR WAXWING (Bombycilla cedrorum). — A
male taken on Key Lake, Churchill River, June
25. Female taken also, and dissection proved
it to be in breeding condition.

Adult bird was taken from stomach of a
pike weighing 3| Ibs., caught on Island Lake,
Churchill River, June 25.

NORTHERN SHRIKE (Lanius borealis). — A male
taken on the Cochrane River, October 19.

A young bird observed below Du Brochet Lake,
Cochrane River, July 31. This species is called
the "White Wiskajon " by the Indians, and in
light flight through thickets the bird certainly
closely resembles the Canada Jay at times.

RED-EYED VIREO (Vireosylva olivacea). — A male
taken at Dead Lake, Churchill River, June 17.

Secured one specimen above Sandy Lake on
the Churchill River, June 8. Observed above
Island Lake on the Churchill River, June 25, 26.
Observed below Frog Portage on the Churchill
River, June 27, and at south end of Reindeer
Lake, July 3.

BLUE-HEADED VIREO (Lanivireo solitarius soli-
tarius). — A male taken at Lake He a la Crosse,
May 28.

BLACK AND WHITE WARBLER (Mniotilta varid).
— A male taken on Beaver River, May 17.

TENNESSEE WARBLER (Vermivora peregrina). —
Three males taken : two from Lake He a la Crosse,
May 27 and June 2 ; one from Dead Lake,
Churchill River, June 17.

260 ANIMALS AND BIRDS COLLECTED

Observed on Rapid River Lake, Churchill River,
June 24. Note that at this point bird-life is
disappointingly scarce. Observed below Frog
Portage on the Churchill River, June 27, and on
Reindeer River, June 28, 29. Noted as being
very plentiful, Reindeer River, June 30.

YELLOW WARBLER (Dendroica cestiva cestiva).
— Two males taken: one Lake lie a la Crosse,
May 27 ; the other Reindeer Lake, July 4 ; this
latter is only a little more worn than the May bird.

Observed Sandfly Lake on the Churchill River,
June 11. One specimen observed above Trout
Lake on the Churchill River, June 15 ; also on
Dead Lake, Churchill River, June 17. Few
observed Island Lake, Churchill River, June 25,
26. Observed Churchill River, June 27 ; Rein-
deer River, June 28 ; south end of Reindeer Lake,
July 3 ; Reindeer Lake, July 11 ; Fort Du Bro-
chet, July 17 ; Cochrane River, July 28 ; Du
Brochet Lake, August 1 ; when noted that this
species is very scarce now. Observed north end
Du Brochet Lake, August 10.

MYRTLE WARBLER (Dendroica coronata). —
Three specimens : two adult males from Big
River, May 7, 8 ; a juvenile, Cochrane River,
July 27. Hoover's Warbler (D. c. hooveri), has
recently been revived by Dr. Oberholster, and
the range of this western race of the Myrtle
Warbler is given as reaching east to Central
Mackenzie, but the adult taken May 8, which I
have been able to compare with series of both
the supposed races, is nearer to coronata.

Observed female in neighbourhood of her nest,
but prolonged search failed to find its hiding-

BIRDS 261

place in the spruce trees, Churchill River, June 27.
Nest found in spruce tree situated against main
trunk about 12 feet above the ground and con-
tained five young about two weeks old, Reindeer
River, June 29. Observed commonly south end
Reindeer Lake, July 3, 4. Observed Sucker Bay,
Reindeer Lake, July 6. Reindeer Lake, July 7.
Commonly seen on Reindeer Lake, July 10.
Observed July 11, 13. Observed Cochrane
River, July 19, 21, 28; Du Brochet Lake,
August 1, 3 ; north end Du Brochet Lake,
August 12.

BLACK-POLL WARBLER (Dendroica striata).—
A male taken on Beaver River, May 18.

One observed south end Reindeer Lake, July 4,
and on Cochrane River, July 26. One observed
Du Brochet Lake, August 3, carrying insects in
bill for young. Observed inland from Du Brochet
Lake, August 5.

PALM WARBLER (Dendroica palmar um palm-
arum). — A male taken on Beaver River, May 18.

WATER-THRUSH (Seiurus noveboracensis nove-
boracensis). — Three specimens : a female, Beaver
River, May 20; a male, Knee Lake, Churchill
River, June 6 ; and a female, Reindeer River,
June 28 ; these are close to Grinnell's Water-
Thrush (S. n. notabilis), in colour.

Observed Reindeer River, June 29. One taken
Reindeer Lake, July 10. Observed Cochrane
River, July 23, 24, 26, 27, and on July 29, 31,
below Du Brochet Lake ; observed Du Brochet
Lake, August 1, 6, 8. Note that this species is
common on Cochrane River, and that they feed
along the water's edge like a j^Pipit or Wagtail

262 ANIMALS AND BIRDS COLLECTED

— sometimes they make short rising flights, of
some 10 to 15 feet, into the air in pursuit of insects.
Observed north end Du Brochet Lake, August 11.

WILSON'S WARBLER (Wilsonia pusilla pusilla).
— A male taken at Lake lie a la Crosse, May 26.

[REDSTART (Setophaga ruticilla)]. — One ob-
served Beaver River, May 19.

[TREE CREEPER (Certhia, familiaris americana)].
— Observed Big River, May 10.

RED-BREASTED NUTHATCH (Sitta canadensis).
— A male taken at Lake lie a la Crosse, May 25.

One observed in winter south of Cumberland
Lake on January 11.

[CHICKADEE (Penthestes atricapillus subsp. ?)]. —
Observed below Dead Lake, Churchill River,
June 18. Observed a pair with a family of fully
fledged young on Rapid River Lake, Churchill
River, June 24. Observed south end of Reindeer
Lake, July 3.

HUDSONIAN CHICKADEE (Penthestes hudsonicus
hudsonicus). — Three specimens : a pair taken at
Big River, May 8 ; and a young bird, Cochrane
River, July 24. This last is interesting, though
full grown (length 5 inches) the pileum instead of
being soft greyish brown, is blackish brown, form-
ing a distinct cap, while the hind neck and back
are brownish grey.

Observed south end of Reindeer Lake, July 3 ;
few observed, Du Brochet Lake, August 3.

RUBY- CROWNED KINGLET (Regulus calendula
calendula). — Three specimens : a male, Lake
He a la Crosse, May 28 ; a female taken with
nest containing young, Churchill River, July 3 ;
and a male taken Reindeer Lake, July 9. The

BIRDS 263

nest taken July 3 is described as follows : " nest
in young spruce tree about ten feet high, nest
against limb and about eight feet up. Nest con-
tained seven young about fourteen days old."

One singing in spruce tree on island in Trout
Lake, Churchill River, June 16. Observed
Sucker Bay, Reindeer Lake, July 6 ; Reindeer
Lake, July 7. Commonly seen, Reindeer Lake,
July 10, 11. Observed Fort Du Brochet, July
17 ; Cochrane River, July 9, 24, 26 ; Du Brochet
Lake, I August 2, 3; Cochrane River, on return
journey, August 15 ; Fort Du Brochet, Sep-
tember 18.

GREY-CHEEKED THRUSH (Hylocichla alicice
alicice). — Two males taken : Big River, May 11 ;
Churchill River, June 18 — this latter is in very
worn plumage, " bird in company with mate."

OLIVE-BACKED THRUSH (Hylocichla ustulata
swainsoni). — Two males taken lie a la Crosse,
May 25 ; and Black Bear Island Lake, Churchill
River, June 14.

One observed near mouth of Reindeer
River, June 23. One taken on Cochrane River,
July 26.

HERMIT THRUSH (Hylocichla guttata pallasi).
— A male taken on Beaver River, May 18.

[AMERICAN ROBIN (Planesticus migratorius mi-
gratorius)]. — Numerous Big River, May 7. Ob-
served above Sandy Lake on the Churchill River,
June 8, singing sweetly near camp. Observed
Sandy Lake, Churchill River, June 10 ; not
numerous. One or two on Black Bear Island
Lake, Churchill River, June 15. Single bird
observed Otter Lake, Churchill River, June 20.

264 ANIMALS AND BIRDS COLLECTED

Three or four pairs observed nesting in grove
of poplars, Churchill River, above Island Lake,
June 25. Observed one pair, Reindeer Lake,
July 10 ; none previously seen for some days.
Observed Fort Du Brochet, July 16 ; Cochrane
River, July 18 ; Cochrane River, July 21.
This species is by no means numerous in the Far
North in this territory. Observed on Cochrane
River, July 26. Observed a number of Robins
below Du Brochet Lake on the Cochrane River,
July 28.

Numbers appearing about Fort Du Brochet,
September 2, the commencement of migrations
south. At same locality, on September 18, I
state : Many robins passed about two weeks ago ;
a few seen here still.

Observed near Fort Du Brochet, September
22, 26, 30.

Printed by Hazell, Watson <& Viney, Ld., London and Aylesbury, England.

JUL11

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B9185w Wild life in, Canada.