48 PRAIRIE AND FOREST. 



chances of accident that will occasionally occur to the 

 sportsman, even when in pursuit of animals which are 

 generally deemed harmless ; and clearly proving how 

 necessary presence of mind and decision of character 

 are to the person who adopts wild life, or hopes to 

 return safely from a trip to the comparativelv unknown 

 tracks of the great north-western portion of the 

 American continent. 



" The ice had just disappeared from the rivers ; the 

 wild duck had already arrived in immense numbers, 

 so that our table daily had been graced with the 

 choicest varieties, when a thought struck me that an 

 alteration of fish for fowl would be most acceptable to 

 the palates of the encampment. About a couple of 

 miles distant, where the river, contracted to one-fourth 

 its usual breadth, rushed into a noble pool, I had on 

 the previous year been most successful ; moreover, it 

 was a pleasant place to fish no overhanging bushes, 

 but gently sloping, gravelly banks nearly the entire 

 length of its margin. In an hour I had secured more 

 trout than I felt disposed to carry ; so, work being 

 over, I treated myself to a pipe. While enjoying my 

 baccy, a wading bird of a description I never before saw 

 lit close to me. It was so tame that I threw several 

 stones at it, almost with success, for the distance was 

 not over ten or fifteen yards, before it took to wing, 

 and went farther down the stream. Anxious to pro- 

 cure a new specimen, I followed till almost a mile lay 

 between me and my fish. To save distance in return- 

 ing, I determined to cut across the angle formed by 

 the bend of the river, and had progressed about half 

 way when I saw a female musk-sheep coming after 

 me. When a lad in the Highlands I had got dread- 



