In North-West Canada. 3 



were bred, and they will continue to do so as long as there is 

 a flock left. Keen sportsmen were among the first to explore 

 this region, when it was opened for settlement by the building 

 of the railway, for right well they guessed what royal fields 

 were there for the gun. 



And there is big game also in plenty. The buffalo is nearly 

 extinct, 'tis true, but the giant moose, king of the deer tribe, 

 yet haunts every part of the country where a proper amount 

 of browse can be found. The elk, caribou, jumping deer, com- 

 mon deer, prong-horn antelope, black and brown bears, grey 

 wolf, lynx, coyote, fox, wolverine, beaver, and several other 

 animals valued for their furs, are yet to be found in numbers, 

 and finer variety of game than these, sportsmen cannot ask 

 for. 



But the amazing variety is among the feathered game. No 

 less than seven species of grouse may be killed, including the 

 prairie chicken, Canada grouse, dusky grouse, pintail grouse, 

 ruffed grouse, ptarmigan, and willow ptarmigan. 



Among the water-fowl are the trumpeter and whistling 

 swans, the Canada goose, Ross's goose, lesser snow goose and 

 brant ; the mallard, canvas-back, redhead, ruddy duck, pintail, 

 gadwall, wood duck, American widgeon, green-winged and 

 blue-winged teal, shoveller, golden-eye, buffle-head and ring- 

 necked duck ; added to these are the curlew, golden plover 

 avocet, snipe, godwits, kildeer, Bartram's sandpiper, and numer- 

 ous sandpipers and waders of lesser importance. About every 

 marshy bit, the bittern, herons and rails will be found, and in 

 addition to these are hundreds of white pelicans, little brown 

 cranes. Franklins, Bonapartes, herring and ring-billed gulls ; 

 common, Foster's, and black terns, which are found in the lakes 

 and sloughs, while amongst the rushes bordering the lakes and 

 pools may be found nesting hundreds of yellow-headed black- 

 birds, red-winged starling, rusty grackle, and marsh wrens. 



In the bluffs, where the trees are large enough to hold the 

 nests, may be found breeding, the great-horned owl, long-eared 

 and hawk owl, the rough-legged, redtail, and Swainson's buz- 

 zards, the goshawk, pigeon, sharp-shinned and sparrow hawks. 



