250 ARRIVAL OF MR. M c LEOD. 



Several times he extended his arm to catch it; 

 and having at last, with great patience, man- 

 aged to coop it in a corner, from which there 

 appeared to be no escape, he was triumphantly 

 bending down to take it (gently, however, as 

 he wished to preserve it for a specimen), when, 

 to his utter astonishment, after two or three 

 flounders, it looked round, cried " quack," and 

 then flew off so strongly that he was convinced 

 he had never hit it at all. The object of the drake 

 had clearly been to draw Mr. King away from 

 its companion, of whose fate it was unconscious ; 

 indeed, so attached are these birds at certain 

 seasons, that it is no uncommon circumstance, 

 when one has been shot, for the other, especially 

 the male, to linger about its struggling partner, 

 exhibiting the greatest distress, until either killed 

 or frightened away. Sometimes in such cases they 

 will dive to avoid the shot, but refuse to fly ; as 

 in an instance where one remained to be fired 

 at no less than five times. 



On the 18th May, the catkins of the willows 

 were half an inch long, and the snow was fast 

 disappearing from the ground. On the 25th we 

 also welcomed the arrival of our companion Mr. 

 M c Leod, whose indefatigable endeavours to re- 

 alize the expectations held out by the Indians 

 of procuring deer, as the warm weather increased, 

 had been grievously disappointed. He had found 



