50 THE ARCTIC PRAIRIES 



Next morning I was left at camp while Jarvis and 

 Sousi went off to seek for more Buffalo. I had a pre- 

 sentiment that they would find none, so kept the 

 camera and went of to the Lake a mile west, and there 

 made drawings of some tracks, took photos, etc., and 

 on the lake saw about twenty-five pairs of ducks, 

 identified Whitewinged Scoter, Pintail, Green-winged 

 Teal, and Loon. I also watched the manoeuvres of a 

 courting Peetweet. He approached the only lady with 



Tracks of the Blackbear 



his feathers up and his wings raised; she paid no heed 

 (apparently), but I noticed that when he flew away 

 she followed. I saw a large garter snake striped black 

 and green, and with 2 rows of red spots, one on each 

 side. It was very fat and sluggish. I took it for a 

 female about to lay. Later I learned from Sousi and 

 others that this snake is quite common here, and the 

 only kind found, but in the mountains that lie not far 

 away in the west is another kind, much thicker, fatter, 

 and more sluggish. Its bite is fearfully poisonous, 

 often fatal; "but the Good God has marked the beast 

 by putting a cloche (bell) in its tail." 



About 10 I turned camp ward, but after tramping 

 for nearly an hour I was not only not at home, I was in 

 a totally strange kind of country, covered with a con- 



