338 Barnston on the Swans and Geese 



The swan, except in a few particular localities, is a scarce, 

 rather than a plentiful bird, on the shores of Hudson's Bay. Of 

 somewhat ponderous flight, swans are seen at the same time as 

 the other migratory tribes, winging their way to the secluded 

 recesses of the north, resting themselves throughout the interior* 

 and losing units of their number here and there by the Indian's 

 gun. In the scarcity of their favourite food — the tubers of the 

 Sagittaria sagittifolia — they have recourse to the roots of other 

 plants, and the tender under-ground runners of grasses, in the 

 higher latitudes. They sometimes breed in the interior, before 

 arriving at the coast. I had two eggs brought to me from the 

 borders of a lake near Norway House, lat. nearly 65*^ N. But 

 it was impossible for me to say, whether these were of the Cyg. 

 nus Americanus, or C. Buccinator. The probability rests with 

 the former. 



Towards Eastmain James's Fort, in James's Bay, a considerable 

 number of swans hatch ; — a few are killed by the natives there, 

 who watch the game as it passes up and down narrow rivers 

 communicating with the sea, and flowing from lakes of some mag- 

 nitude scattered over the interior. In the winter months all the 

 northern regions are deserted by the swans, and from November 

 to April large flocks are to be seen on the expanses of the large 

 rivers of the Oregon territory and California, between the Cas- 

 cades Range and the Pacific, where the chmate is particularly 

 mild, and their favourite food abounds in the lakes and placid 

 waters. Collected sometimes in great numbers their silvery strings 

 embellish the landscape, and form part of the life and majesty of 

 the scene. These societies break up as they advance upon their 

 long spring journey to the north. They are then dispersed in 

 small bands and but few together, each of a pair at last sepa- 

 rating and betaking to the cares of the season of incubation. In 

 the most secluded and unfrequented districts, where there is ample 

 water range, they rear the young. 



Superior to the swans as an article of food, the geese of every 

 species are tenfold in number, and they form the favourite dish 

 of the Indians of Hudson's Bay. When the long and dreary 

 winter has fully expended itself and the Willow Grouse (Tetrao 

 saliceti) have taken their departure for more northern regions, there 

 is frequently a period of dread starvation to many of the natives, 

 who are generally at that time moving from their wintering 

 grounds to the trading posts. The first note, therefore, of the 



