194 



"abandon altogether our hope of reaching the establishment on 

 the Smoking River for this season. We therefore altered 

 our route, keeping outside the mountains, and reached 

 Baptiste River, so named after my hunter, who was in the 

 habit of wintering there occasionally. This river falls into 

 Red-Deer River, but it was the 1st of January, 1826, before 

 we reached the station where we proposed to pass the winter. 

 On the sandstone rocks of Baptiste River, I met with Gfn- 

 nostomum pusillum and Weissia Seligeri. The spot which the 

 hunter had selected was an extensive plain, abounding ^" 

 dwarf Willows and Betula glandulosa ; and the burnt w 

 which covered the country around afforded good grass 

 the horses, of which we had a large band, and sheltered also 



the American Elk or Moose Deer^ and the Wood Buffalo 



for 



J 



which choose those burnt woods as their favourite resort. 

 These animals, if frequently disturbed, will quit the place, 

 and we now found this to be the case; for our hunter, 

 though considered one of the most expert shots in the country, 

 found it difficult to procure enough for our supply, and was 

 often obliged to travel for eight or ten days without seeing one 

 of these creatures. As we were now likely to remain 

 stationary for a short time, I set about building myself a 

 brushwood hut, formed of the boughs of the JVhite Spruce, and 

 soon completed it I had calculated upon being able to 

 procure a good many specimens of birds during the winter 

 but here too I was disappointed, for most of them quit this 

 country during the hard weather, and a very few kinds only 



> 



Corvus, &c. 



Tetrao, Picus, Sn 



pam 



and the Lesser Redpoll. It is difficult to understand ho^ 

 these little creatures can resist the severity of cold in these 

 high latitudes. A slight shower of rain fell about the 10* 

 of January, which is a very rare phenomenon at this timeo 

 year ; and it caused us great inconvenience, by moisten^"S 

 the surface of the snow for a few inches, when the succeeding 

 night's frost formed it into a hard crust, by which travelh"? 

 was rendered very laborious and difficult, and it became 

 almost impossible to get near any animal, owing to the noise 



t 



I 



1^ 



