BEGINS CATALOGUE OF CANADIAN BIRDS 287 



where a camp was established. The day we went to Field, the party 

 went down on a train and I prepared to walk. When I was about 

 half way down, a tremendous thunder-storm came on, with a 

 great deal of rain and the lightning was so fierce and so many 

 flashes ran along the telegraph wires that I was afraid for my life 

 and, on two occasions, went off the railway and lay under the ledge 

 to save myself from being killed. When I arrived at Field, I was 

 completely soaked. I undressed and went to bed and had my 

 clothes dried and was ready for the walk up to Emerald Lake in 

 the morning. Mrs. Nichol and myself walked up to Emerald 

 Lake and she remained in the Chalet while I walked up to the new 

 camp a mile further on. I found, on the way, that the trail forked 

 and I took the wrong road and descended into the valley and 

 found no horse tracks and so returned and took what was called 

 the Upper Trail. This trail was above the timber line and was 

 very much obstructed with rock slides and, as it was both lone- 

 some and dangerous, I felt that I had placed myself in a precarious 

 position. I had no idea how far I had to walk and could see no 

 hope other than reaching the camp, which I understood to be 

 pitched somewhere near the big glaciers at the head of the valley. 

 As I plodded on, a person dressed in corduroy came out of a tent 

 and, while I was asking for information, I discovered that "it" was 

 a woman, instead of a man, and three other ladies, dressed in the 

 same way, came out of the tent and I found out later that these 

 four women had lived up there for the last couple of months. 

 I was informed by them that the party had passed, early in the 

 day, and were camped somewhere further up the valley. I 

 plodded on again and reached the camp about sundown and 

 found that it was pitched close to Twin Falls. After supper, 

 while talking at the campfire, we heard quite a racket in Mr. 

 Bridgeland's tent (the assistant) . On his going in and striking^a 

 light he discovered a couple of porcupines hard at work on the 

 leather cases of his instruments. The man in charge of the 

 horses immediately produced a pistol and the stable lamp that 

 he had and, with the lamp in one hand and the pistol in the other, 

 he led the pursuit of the porcupines and fired a number of shots 

 but, of course, the animals escaped in the darkness. 



