LET US GO AFIELD 



The great delta of the Peace River, the Quatres 

 Fourches country of Lake Athabasca, the delta of 

 the Slave River where it debouches into Great Slave 

 Lake all these are low, flat areas showing seas of 

 marshes and grasses. Perhaps these, with the delta 

 of the Mackenzie, and that of the Yukon, and cer- 

 tain less well-known tracts on the west shore of 

 Hudson Bay, may be called the greatest of all these 

 northern breeding grounds. It is not the case that 

 the wildfowl go north as far as they can get before 

 they lay their eggs. Read Mr. Preble's report and 

 you will find how the wildfowl district themselves 

 in that upper country. 



Aside from these great natural breeding grounds, 

 the total mileage of which is altogether less than 

 has been supposed, all the remainder of the wildfowl 

 which come to us from that upper wilderness must 

 breed round the edges of the smaller lakes, or else 

 in regions not yet known. This latter supposition 

 is not worth considering. Taking out of the sum 

 total of known and admitted northern breeding 

 grounds all this impossible country, such as the 

 tundra and the plateaus, the mountains and the dry 

 alluvial banks, we shall have left no such vast area 

 of nesting ground as we have all supposed. 



I am convinced that this is an accurate and con- 

 servative statement ; and I am of the belief that the 



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