108 FORT FKANKLIN. 



in large flocks, each had already selected its mate ; 

 and if the female was shot, the male bird instantly 

 separated from the rest, and descended to look 

 after her. In this way, he often fell a victim to 

 his conjugal fidelity; but if he escaped the shots 

 aimed at him, and became shy, he would still 

 continue for hours, and even days, searching the 

 neighbourhood for his lost mate. The case was 

 different if the male bird fell first. The female, 

 it is true, also left the flock, but she kept more 

 aloof, and generally, after making a circle or two 

 round the spot where the body of her partner lay, 

 went off with the next flock that came up. 



The laughing geese passed Fort Franklin a few 

 days later than the snow geese, but a single 

 individual was often seen some days before the 

 arrival of the main body, associated with a flock 

 of snow geese, and generally acting as leader by 

 assuming a station in the apex of the angle in 

 which they fly. About the same time, the American 

 robin, or migratory thrush, came with the yellow- 

 poll and black and yellow warblers {Sylvia cestiva 

 et maculosa). The latter fed on the berries of the 

 Alpine arbutus, as did likewise the golden plovers, 

 whose stomachs also contained the juicy fruit of 

 the Empetrum nigrum. The Eskimo curlew at 

 this time fed on large ants. It would appear that 

 these insects descend to the stomachs of the cur- 



