194 



abandon altogether our hope of reaching the estabhshment 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 Gym- 

 nostomum pusilliim and JVeissia Seligeri. The spot which the 

 hunter had selected was an extensive plain, abounding in 

 dicarf Willows and Betula glandtdosa ; and the burnt woods 

 which covered the coimtry around afforded good grass for 

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

 the American Elk or Moose Deer, and the Wood Buffalo, 

 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 

 remain, chiefly belonging to the genera Tetrao, Picus, Stryx, 

 Corvus, &c. Among them I remarked two species of Parus, 

 and the Lesser Redpoll. It is difficult to understand how 

 these little creatures can resist the severity of cold in these 

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

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

 year; and it caused us great inconvenience, by moistening 

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

 night's frost formed it into a hard crust, by which travelling 

 was rendered very laborious and difficult, and it became 

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



