334 THE GREAT NORTH-WEST 



They were of a pale grey colour (not white as grebe's 

 eggs are said to be), and with both ends the same shape ; 

 that is, they much resembled heron's eggs. 



Among the gulls collected I shot a long-tailed skua, 

 Stercorarius parasiticus. It was one of a small flock ; but 

 I cannot say whether or not this bird is an habitual fre- 

 quenter of the lake. I have no record of its having been 

 seen on the north shore. 



There are a number of small crustaceans in the waters 

 of the lake, but here again I can give no clear descrip- 

 tion of species. I caught a shrimp, or prawn, exceeding 

 an inch in length, on the north shore, but it being winter 

 when I examined the south, animals of this class were 

 probably buried in the sand. None were seen. The 

 shells of many small molluscs were found on all the 

 shores, and the class of water-snails is evidently well re- 

 presented, though of the species I can say nothing. 



The lake is very free of weeds and aquatic plants, 

 perhaps because there is not much shallow water ; but hi 

 places the sandy mud was covered with them. These 

 spots seemed to be more abundant on the north than on 

 the south side. In places free of other growths I could 

 see what seemed to be a fresh- water sponge ; the little 

 masses, of a dark colour, varied in size from that of a fist 

 to that of a marble. They were growing in depths which 

 I found to be thirty to a hundred feet. Beyond that 

 depth I could not see objects distinctly. 



