306 CONSERVATION OF CANADIAN WILD LIFE 



Ministik Lake, twenty miles southeast of Edmonton, Al- 

 berta (Plate XIX, 3). The country around this lake is well 

 timbered and not much settled. The lake is surrounded 

 by great beds of cattails, bulrushes, reeds, and sedge, and 

 provides unlimited feeding-ground and shelter for wild fowl. 

 Large numbers of ducks were seen on the lake at the time 

 of my visit, and all reports were that it was a good lake for 

 ducks. 



Lac la Biche, one hundred miles northeast of Edmonton, 

 Alberta. My visit was too late in the season to tell much 

 about the wild-fowl possibilities. So much of the lake shore 

 is taken up, most of the south side by the ''Lac la Biche 

 Settlement" (Indians and half-breeds), and most of the north 

 side of the lake patented, that Httle land except some on the 

 east end of the lake is reserved. As a good deal of settle- 

 ment is going up on the railroad along the east side of the 

 lake (the Alberta & Great Waterways Railway), and, fur- 

 thermore, as the lake is one of the large important commer- 

 cial fishing-lakes of this district, it may not be worth while 

 to keep land reserved on the shores of the lake. It will be 

 a difficult matter to preserve the game locally, with large 

 numbers of Indians, half-breeds, and fishermen working on 

 the lake. For that reason the land on the shores may not 

 be worth reserving as sanctuaries. There are several large 

 islands in the lake which might be reserved for future inves- 

 tigation. It does not have a very good reputation as a 

 wild-fowl lake. 



Pakowki Lake, forty-five miles south-southwest of Medi- 

 cine Hat, Alberta. This lake was not visited, owing to the 

 difficulty of access to it in a reasonable time. It is situated 

 in a rather rough country, and, as it is the only large lake 

 in that region, it is probably worth retaining as a wild-fowl 

 sanctuary, for a resting-place during migrations if not as a 

 breeding-place. 



