242 CLIMATOLOGY. 



position," says that gentleman, " is upon the confines of 

 the great basin of James's Bay, an immense extension of 

 the older calcareous strata. Between the * falls ' and the 

 coast the bed of the river is composed of limestones and 

 clays, both containing extinct genera of shells ; while 

 above, towards the interior, little is to be seen but gneiss 

 and greenstone schist, with a mixture here and there of 

 less fissile granite rocks. The fossils I have been able to 

 procure in this neighbourhood are principally spirifers, 

 producta, terebratula, and impressions of trilobites. Al- 

 though in winter we have the cold of Russia, in the 

 months of July and August we enjoy the climate of Ger- 

 many and the north of France." (Barnston, 1. c.) A re- 

 ference to the map will show that there is a canoe route 

 from Winipeg River through Lake Sal, and by a portage 

 over the water-shed to Lake Saint Joseph, and Albany 

 River, and also a shorter one from the Peek River on 

 Lake Superior to the southern tributaries of the Albany. 

 In short, as has been already frequently stated, the primi- 

 tive rocks forming the brims of these several river basins 

 are traversed in every direction by sheets of water oc- 

 cupying more surface than the rocks themselves. 



On the Progress of the Seaso?is at Martin's Falls. 



Dec. Jan. Feb. We are frequently visited in these dead winter 

 months by the white owl ( Strix nycted) from 

 James's Bay, but the hawk owl (Strix funerea) is 

 our most common bird of prey. Tetrao umbellus, 

 T. canadensis, and T. phasianellus are residents 

 in this district the whole year. The Tetrao saliceti, 

 or willow ptarmigan, is a winter visitor which 

 comes from the north. 



