NOTES ON THE BIRDS OF MANITOBA. 133 
wildfowl was very noticeable. Until late in September small 
flocks of from twenty to thirty Wild Geese were often to be seen 
flying over, generally in the shape of a well-marked V. They 
usually went towards the south or south-east, which latter 
especially is, I understand, the general direction of the autumnal 
migration over Manitoba; so that it seems probable that the 
birds, in coming from the extreme north, follow the line of great 
lakes extending from the Great Bear Lake to Lake Winnipeg, 
afterwards following the valley of the Red River, crossing the 
narrow watershed into the valley of the Mississippi, and wending 
their way along it still further to the southward. During this 
autumnal movement the number of ducks frequenting the lakes 
and ponds throughout Manitoba is prodigious. I shall not soon 
forget the hundreds I saw on the innumerable ponds between 
Rapid City and the Oak River, whilst on an excursion towards 
Fort Ellice, in the middle of October, 1883. Yet those I saw 
must have been as nothing compared with the abundance to be 
seen in some other places. A friend who had several days’ 
shooting at Totogon, near the south end of Lake Manitoba, 
about the end of September, describes the ducks as being 
so numerous that only the terms “acres” and “millions” 
could adequately express their abundance. The majority were 
Mallards, Anas boscas, but there were also Blue-winged Teal, 
Querquedula discors, Green-winged Teal, Q. carolinensis, Scaups, 
Fulix marila, and others. The Mallard, with various Shovellers, 
Scaups, Pintails, and Teal, breeds regularly in the lakes and 
sleughs. When travelling towards Winnipeg by the line running 
northward from the United States boundary on June 18th last 
(1884), I saw many newly-hatched broods of ducklings, both 
Teal and Mallard, swimming about in the ditch beside the track; 
the old birds rose and flew off as the train approached. At least 
two species of Tern breed very abundantly on the islands in some 
of the larger lakes, while several Grebes are not uncommon in 
the same situations. 
In conclusion, I will only add that there still is in Manitoba 
a large field for ornithological work. If only a few of the many 
young men of good education who have recently emigrated 
thither could be persuaded to turn some of their attention to the 
study of its birds, many highly interesting facts would certainly 
be brought to light. 
