158 THE GREAT NORTH-WEST 



can neither leap nor climb. I never knew them attempt 

 to bite when dragged by hand from their lodges, though 

 no doubt their teeth are capable of inflicting severe 

 wounds. 



On the lake there were plenty of ducks, Canadian 

 geese, and a loon or two. These birds have already been 

 described, as has also the widgeon, which were here 

 abundant. There were also flocks of large white gulls, 

 Larus glaucescens, hovering over the lake ; and I obtained 

 a specimen of the ivory-gull, Pagophila eburnea. It was 

 one of a flock of about twenty; but though I kept a 

 sharp lookout for others, I did not again see them, from 

 which I conclude that the flock were casual visitors. It 

 is supposed that during the summer this bird does not 

 quit the far north. My experience is that nearly all 

 gulls are great wanderers, and take journeys of thousands 

 of miles inland. I know certainly that gulls often wander 

 right across both the northern and southern divisions of 

 the American continent. The bird referred to above was 

 a most lovely creature, of a faint rosy-white plumage. 



Round about the lake, and especially on a small plain 

 about four miles to the westward, " rabbits " were nume- 

 rous. There are no true rabbits native of the American 

 continent, and these are a species of small hare, Lepus 

 polarius, very much less in size than the great prairie 

 hare, Lepus campestris, of the Winnipeg district, already 

 referred to. 



Among the ducks was the pin- tail, Dafila acuta, found 

 on most of the lakes, but swarming here ; and the " black 

 duck" of the trappers. I am not certain that I have 

 identified this species, but it seems to answer to Anas 

 obscura, which it probably is. 



On the 2nd of July, I, while out shooting five or six 

 miles away from camp, heard a great shouting, with 

 barking of dogs, in a wood to my right ; and hastening 

 thither found a party of hunters attacking a bear. There 

 were more than twenty Indians, some armed with axes 



