PTARMIGAN. 215 



reckless of man's presence that the hunter had but to slay 

 and eat." How much more admirable would this descrip- 

 tion be, if eating had been considered unnecessary, and that 

 we could return the confidence of the inferior animal life 

 with kindness not death ! The Indian, doubtless, had 

 his imagination controlled by the memory of some of the 

 choicest hunting grounds within the limits of his tribe's 

 extensive range of country, for theirs is a game country 

 par excellence. But if my informant had been from some 

 of the tribes that lay far off to the north, where the snows 

 lay deep half the year, and the spring flits into summer, 

 and the summer into winter, as rapidly as the changing 

 scenes of a drama, he would possibly have described the 

 happy hunting ground similar to the great lone land, the 

 home of the ptarmigan. What eye hath not seen, the mind 

 seldom can conceive ; and I have no doubt the Aborigines 

 of these far-off, desolate regions, with their cutting north 

 winds and interminable winter nights, if asked to picture 

 what they deemed a perfect paradise, would describe their 

 own land ; thus contentment springs out of ignorance. 



But to the country Mr. M'Donald describes as back of 

 the north wind, lonely as it is (for it is but sparsely popu- 

 lated), if visited at the proper season, is not without its 

 beauties; for arid mountain, verdant swamp, and rocky 

 crag mingle together, intersected by innumerable dancing 

 brooks or grand pellucid rivers, forming a landscape ever 

 grand and impressive. 



Here the ptarmigan is to be found in abundance, even 

 without the aid of a dog ; but should the sportsman be 

 accompanied by so useful an auxiliary, I have no doubt 



