LET US GO AFIELD 



not think these in much danger from the sportsman 

 tourist, did you not stop to think that they are 

 building a railroad to the western shore of Hud- 

 son Bay. 



Do not be too sure that even this country will 

 always remain isolated and unmolested. The line 

 of perpetual safety must be placed much more than 

 five hundred miles north of Edmonton ; and Edmon- 

 ton is a considerable distance north of our northern 

 boundary. . ., 



There remain the big breeding grounds more or 

 less vaguely supposed to exist toward the mouth 

 of the Mackenzie River. Here, to be sure, latitude 

 and geography conspire against the sportsman tour- 

 ist. If he remained in that country long enough 

 to get good shooting in the late summer he might 

 not get out that winter. The wildfowl come south 

 far faster than steamboats or scows on the tracking 

 line. But that breeding ground is far more re- 

 stricted and less prolific than it is generally sup- 

 posed to be. 



Another great northern breeding ground we have 

 been accustomed to locate vaguely on the Yukon 

 River. Toward the mouth of that river, just as in 

 the delta of the Mackenzie River, there are good 

 wildfowl nesting grounds ; but neither of these riv- 

 ers is a continuous nesting ground for wildfowl. 



186 



