BIRD-NESTING 



IN 



NORTH-WEST CANADA. 



CHAPTER I. 



OR several years I had contemplated spending a 

 season collecting Ornithological specimens in north- 

 west Canada, but it was not until June of the pre- 

 sent year, 1891, that I found myself prepared for 

 a month's sojourn amongst the prairies of Manitoba 

 and Assiniboia. Ornithologists, anglers, and sportsmen 

 puzzling their brains to decide where they will spend a fishing 

 or shooting holiday, will do well to be guided by this book. 

 As will be learned by a perusal of its pages, the Canadian 

 Pacific railway ofiers inducements of no ordinary nature. 



Florida was once considered the Ornithologist paradise, but 

 of late years the plume-hunters have made sad havoc amongst 

 the rookeries of the egrets, herons, ibis, terns and other 

 birds, and friends of mine who have recently visited Florida 

 have come away disappointed, having seen nothing of those 

 vast communities of herons and other birds which we read of 

 as once nesting there in large colonies. 



What are undoubtedly the finest shooting-grounds to be 

 found in any part of North America at the present day, are 

 enclosed within the boundaries of the Canadian North- West 

 No other territory can claim such a variety of game, nor such 

 an abundance of it, nor such splendid facilities for reaching 

 the haunts of the different species, and no other country can 

 offer the daring sportsman such a chance of securing the heads 

 and skins of the nobler game animals, such as Moose and 

 Caribou as trophies of his skill and nerve in their pursuit. 



