1916] The Ottawa Naturalist. 147 



which contained nothing of very great interest. Our next stop 

 was at the northern end of White Trout lake, where we slept 

 in the shelter hut on the portage into Longer lake. The traps 

 were set on a small island which had been burnt over about ten 

 years before, and now contains a beautiful stand of young red 

 pine five to ten feet high. We were interested to investigate 

 the mammal inhabitants of this little islet, and found, as we 

 expected, that nothing was on it excepting deer mice, and very 

 few of them, both the cover and the food having been burnt 

 off by the fire, and replacement not having progressed to any 

 great extent. 



The ranger who was located at this portage had a boy who 

 was somewhat interested in the trapping industry, and wanted 

 not only to catch some mice for himself but to see how they 

 were prepared, and we spent an evening in the house illus- 

 trating the operation. The boy had set a trap which we gave 

 him, on top of a cupboard in the one room of the house, and 

 twice during the evening the trap was sprung and each time 

 caught a deer mouse, in spite of the fact that the room was 

 lit and contained five people, who were making no effort to be 

 quiet. 



A short exploration of Longer lake and one of the beaver 

 streams leading into it completed this end of our trip. From 

 the middle of the lake we saw a fine nest of the Osprey, located 

 some four or five hundred yards back from the shore. It was 

 exceedingly conspicuous, being placed, as usual, high up in a 

 dead tree. Retracing our steps to White Trout lake we spent 

 another evening in the shelter hut, and in the early morning, 

 while preparing breakfast, the writer had a call from a beautiful 

 large skunk which was not at all aggressive, but rather timid, 

 and immediately retreated on being discovered. These ani- 

 mals are said to be very common in the park. 



Launching again on White Trout lake, we turned our bow 

 towards the north-west corner, and paddling through the nar- 

 rows, went down through Grassy bay to the mouth of the 

 Petewawa river. 



Here there is a good deal of shallow water and some grass 

 showing through it. There was an attractive point which 

 overlooked the bay from quite a nice elevation. Here we 

 landed and stayed some time, the most interesting part of which 

 was spent in admiring the antics of three otters which came to 

 the surface about a hundred yards away, and were at first taken 

 for beaver, but the style of swimming with the head elevated, 

 as is the habit of a mink, not held level on the water as is the 

 habit of the beaver and muskrat, at once identified them. As 

 this animal was a new acquaintance for both of us we watched 



