1899J Weston— Notes on a Geological Trip. 183 



side fine flats for agricultural purposes are seen. All these 

 flats are well timbered with black poplar, cotton-wood, 

 birch and spruce. We have made about thirty miles to-day 

 During most of the time a flock of wild geese has kept ahead of 

 our boats. Two of their number lie on the bottom of my boat, but 

 the sound of our gun and the loss of their comrades does not give 

 them sense enough to take to the woods. These geese feed on a 

 short mossy grass which grows on the muddy shore of the river. 

 During the last two or three days I have been charmed by the 

 singing of many small birds, and for the last two days we have 

 constantly heard the cooing of the mourning-dove. Several bald 

 eagles have been seen, two species of owls, and a numerous 

 variety of small birds. During our night camps we have fre- 

 quently heard the barking of the coyotes or prairie wolves ; one 

 passed us on the shore of the river this morning. He was evi- 

 dently looking for a breakfast of goose. On the shores of this 

 stream we have seen the tracks of a grizzly bear, many tracks of 

 deer and small rodents. Several beaver dams have been passed 

 during the day, and one fine fellow slid into the water as we 

 approached his dam. The river aff'orded us a good supply of 

 white-fish, "gold eyes," the only species we have caught so far. 

 Some evenings the river appears to be crowded with them ; 

 twenty fine specimens were caught by one man in an hour. 

 Although we have expected to meet with rattle snakes — as 1 have 

 in similar lands of the Northwest — we have fortunately escaped so 

 far. The geological formation we have been passing over for a 

 few days is known as the Edmonton sub-division of the Laramie, 

 but we are now in another division of the Cretaceous formation, 

 and are fairly in the " Bad Lands." 



We have passed through, in many respects, a charming 

 country. High cut and scarped banks ot yellowish weathering 

 sandstones and other deposits which have yielded many interest- 

 ing fossils and other objects in natural history. We have passed 

 through valleys from six to eight hundred feet deep which in 

 places slope gradually down from the prairie land to fine alluvial 

 flats where a few years ago great herds of buff"alo rested after their 

 journey across the plains. Many of the buff'alo tracks seen on the 

 sloping sides of the banks and down the sides of the great coulcies 



