56 THE NORTH-WEST PASSAGE BY LAND. 



stant shooting, and Eover with abundance of work. 

 Canada geese, white geese, mallards, canvass-backs, 

 large-billed ducks, various kinds of pochards, blue- 

 winged teal, and common teal, were the most common 

 of the different species which thronged the w^aters. 

 Occasionally the appearance of a new species of duck, 

 or a flock of white swans, gave fresh zest to the 

 sport. The ducks at this season are most delicious, 

 possessing much of the ordinary flavour of the wild 

 bird, with all the fatness and delicacy of the tame 

 one. The broods of prairie grouse were already full 

 grown, and very plentiful. When driven into the 

 little round copses of aspen which are such a pro- 

 minent feature of the "park country," they afforded 

 capital sport. 



We were now enjoying all the glory of the Indian 

 summer. The days were of that clear, unclouded 

 brightness almost peculiar to the country; the tem- 

 j)erature of a delightful warmth, except at night, when 

 it was slightly frosty, the water sometimes showing a 

 thin incrustation of ice by morning. The mosquitoes 

 and sand-flies had disappeared with the first cool 

 evening, and we slept in peace. 



After passing the deserted old Fort at Touchwood 

 Hills, w^e came, in the course of a day or two, to a 

 long stretch of bare rolling prairie, destitute of tree or 

 shrub, and its hollows occupied by nothing but salt 

 lakes, where we were obliged to carry 'with us a 

 supply of fire-wood and fresh watSr. When we were 

 coming to the old park country again, one evening at 

 dark, Cheadle and La Ronde, who were out shooting 

 ahead of the train, came to a little skirt of wood on 



