WEALTH ON WINGS 



north to the nesting grounds the ducks and geese 

 are obliged to have food in the summer as much as 

 in the winter. It would be foolish to make any 

 sweeping statements about a country so large that 

 no one has even explored it; but what I want to 

 say is that you can travel for two thousand miles 

 directly up the center of the north and south fly way 

 of the fowl and you will see mighty few feeding 

 grounds or nesting 'grounds. I do not want to say 

 anything about what we ought to have seen or might 

 have seen, but only about what we did not see. 



Anyone interested in a systematic study of the 

 bird life of that upper country should get the report 

 of Mr. Edward A. Preble, of the Biological Survey, 

 which is printed as Bulletin Number 27 of the De- 

 partment of Agriculture, under the title, "North 

 American Fauna." Mr. Preble spent considerable 

 time in the Athabasca-Mackenzie region. He is a 

 scientist and an observer, and he has brought out 

 the most comprehensive knowledge regarding the 

 migratory birds, as well as all the other game of 

 that country, which thus far has been put into print. 

 His report is worth having in the library of any 

 American sportsman. It may perhaps be more reas- 

 suring than my own, and it certainly will be more 

 comprehensive and more apt to be accurate. It 

 covers, however, only examples of actual phenom- 



195 



