236 Natural History Bulletin. 



The American Continent, from the Gulf of Mexico to the 

 Arctic Ocean, offers no barrier to distribution or migration, 

 thus presenting an exceptional opportunity for the study of 

 geographical distribution unimpeded b}'- barriers, as well as an 

 almost unequalled field for the investigation of the problem 

 of the migration of birds, a migration which in some species, at 

 least, extends through a distance of sixty degrees of latitude, 

 or over four thousand miles on the American Continent. 



The region which forms the subject of this report is one 

 of unusual zoological interest, being to a certain extent char- 

 acterized by an intermingling of eastern and western, arctic 

 and temperate faunas. So far as I was able to ascertain, no 

 naturalist had ever worked in this immediate region before 

 our advent. Two main stations were occupied, from which 

 side excursions were made. Our first station was at the Hud- 

 son's Bay Company's Post, at Grand Rapids, where the Sas- 

 katchewan River empties into Lake Winnipeg, at about lati- 

 tude 53", 10' ; long. 90° 30'. Besides the Hudson's Bay Post, 

 there is a station of the A. Booth Packing Company of Chi- 

 cago, whence the famous Lake Winnipeg white fish are sent 

 to the markets. Our party was indebted to the agent of this 

 company for the comfortable house in which we lived and 

 worked while at Grand Rapids. The whole region is covered 

 with dense forests of conifers and poplar. There is quite a 

 high ridfre of rock which reaches the lake about three miles 

 north of the mouth of the Saskatchewan River. The forma- 

 tion is Upper Silurian and the principal paleontological feature 

 is a fine brachiopod Pentamerits deaissatus, of which our party 

 secured a large series.^ 



In the vicinity of the fort, and for some distance to the 

 south-west, the land is at least not under water, but to the 

 south, back from the river, the country is what is locally 

 termed "muskeg," a region harder to penetrate and work in 

 than any other ever seen by the writer, who has had some 

 experience both in the Rocky Mountains and the Tropics.. 



1 See Vol. II, No. 2, of this Bulletin, 



