382 A JOURNEY TO THE 



horizontally on the snow, and encloses the greatest part of the 

 birds that are under it. The hunter then runs to the net as 

 soon as possible, and kills all the birds by biting them at 

 the back of the head. He then sets up the net, [415] takes 

 away all the dead game, and repeats the operation as often as 

 he pleases, or as long as the birds are in good humour. By 

 this simple contrivance I have known upwards of three 

 hundred partridges caught in one morning by three persons ; 

 and a much greater number might have been procured had it 

 been thought necessary. Early in the morning, just at break 

 of day, and early in the afternoon, is the best time for this 

 sport. It is common to get from thirty to seventy at one 

 hawl ; and in the Winter of one thousand seven hundred and 

 eighty-six, Mr Prince, then Master of a sloop at Churchill 

 River, actually caught two hundred and four at two hawls. 

 They are by no means equally plentiful every year ; for in 

 some Winters I have known them so scarce, that it was im- 

 possible to catch any in nets, and all that could be procured 

 with the gun would hardly afford one day's allowance per 

 week to the men during the season ; but in the Winter one 

 thousand seven hundred and eighty-five, they were so plentiful 

 near Churchill, and such numbers were brought to the 

 Factory, that I gave upward of two thousand to the hogs. 

 In the latter end of March, or the beginning of April, those 

 birds begin to change from white to their beautiful Summer 

 plumage, and the first brown feathers make their appearance 

 on the neck,* and by degrees [416] spread over the whole 



* Mr. Dragge observes, in his North West Passage, that when the par- 

 tridges begin to change colour, the first brown feathers appear in the rump; 

 but this is so far from being a general rule, that an experienced Hudsonian 

 must smile at the idea. That Mr. Dragge never saw an instance of this 

 kind I will not say, but when Nature deviates so far from its usual course, 

 it is undoubtedly owing to some accident ; and nothing is more likely 

 than that the feathers of the bird Mr, Dragge had examined, had been 

 struck off by a hawk ; and as the usual season for changing their plumage 

 was near, the Summer feathers supplied their place ; for out of the many 



