THE OTTAWA NATURALIST. 



Vol. X. OTTAWA, SEPTEMBER, 1896. No. 6. 



AN OTTAWA NATURALIST'S JOURNEY WEST- 



W^ARD. 



By Andrew Halkett, Esq. 



Having recently taken a journey across the great plains of 

 the far west and through the Rocky Mountains, it has occurred 

 to me that a short account of certain animals and plants which 

 were observed along the line from the car windows or at the 

 railway stations would be of interest to the readers of the 

 Ottawa Naturalist. The journey was rendered the more 

 pleasant by the presence on the train of Prof D. Thompson, of 

 Dundee, Scotland, Mr. James Macoun and Mr. McEvoy, of the 

 Geological Survey, Ottawa. Mr McEvoy got off at Kamloops, 

 leaving Prof Thompson, Mr. Macoun and myself to continue 

 the journey by rail to New W^estminster, and thence by boat to 

 Victoria. 



To the student of nature a journey by rail across the prairie 

 is full of interest. Such, it is true, does not afford^an opportunity 

 for close observation of the numerous faunal and floral forms 

 existent on every hand, but as the train moves on there is much 

 to attract the attention from the car windows and at the stop- 

 ping places along the line. 



Before reaching the great plains there are districts where 

 the train pursues its way for long distances without stopping 

 the country being almost entirely unsettled. There are conifers 

 but otherwise the vegetation is low and scrubby. At Otter, 

 specimens of the Yellow Swallow Butterfly {Papilio turnus) were 

 seen. At White River,a small frog, presumably Rana halecena,WK?> 

 found. At Cache Lake, we saw an encampment of Indians- 

 men, women, and children — with wigwams and birch-bark 

 canoes. At Jack Fish Bay, where the train makes a tremendous 

 sweep in shape like the letter U, I observed some Herring Gulls 



