May. 1919] 



The Canadian Field-Naturalist 



35 



Epilohiiim angustifoUum and Cirsium mut'tcum. An 

 abundant companion of these is Merlcnsia panicu- 

 lala, a sturdy vagabond with purplish-blue flowers, 

 handsome when young but becoming disreputable 

 with age. Caltha palustris and Veronica americana 

 succeed one another along swampy rills. The Crow- 

 foots are represented by Ranunculus abortivus, plain 

 but hardy, R. penns])lvanicus, and our childhood 

 friend, R. acris. There is not much further change 

 until autumn, when Asters and Goldenrods brighten 

 the fields for a season. 



Bog societies present little that is new. Sphagnum 

 Moss, Labrador Tea, Laurel (Kalmia polifolia), 

 Linnaea borealis with its delicate twin blossoms, 

 Galium boreale, Pyrola chloraniha, P'^rola asarifolia, 

 Moneses uniflora, and quaint Mitella nuda are per- 

 haps representative. I have yet to find the Pitcher- 

 plant, Sundew, Valerian, and Gaultheria. Where 

 spruce bog thins out into poplar knolls you find 

 Actaea rubra, Apocynum androsaemij olium, Aralia 

 nudicaulis. Prunella vulgaris, and sometimes a patch 

 of Pedicularis canadensis. 



Ecologically, one might almost speak of "portage 

 societies" for I have found the open ground about 

 portages a rich hunting-ground for species lacking 

 elsewhere. There, outcropping gneiss is thinly up- 

 holstered with sod and abundant moisture tempers 

 frosts and fosters vegetation. At the foot of rocky 

 cliffs just below Kabahose falls, a forty-foot cataract 

 some twelve miles south of the camp, I discovered 

 last June an Eldorado of Primula mislassinica, a 

 charming little flower, easily rivalling Campanula 

 rotundifolia in grace; and when scattered along the 

 brim of a magnificent foam-flecked pool of black 

 water, it was doubly beautiful. Another "find" in 

 the same spot was Clematis verticillarus. Beside 

 Weiswinin falls, too, I gathered in a goodly harvest 

 during the summer months. Blue-eyed Grass (Sis^r- 

 inchium angustifoUum), two less common Cinque- 

 foils, Potentilla fruticosa and P. tridentata, and two 

 unfamiliar Fleabanes, Erlgeron h^ssopifolius and E. 

 racemosus grew there in abundance, along with 

 Aquilegia canadensis and Lilium philadelphicum. 



Weeds, the profanum vulgus of civilized fields, 

 have immigrated but little so far, and the few ruf- 

 fians to be found in this new country can be blamed 

 on balast and poor seed. My rogue's gallery com- 

 prises the Catchfly (Silenc noctiflora), Chickweed 

 (Stellaria media). Ox-eye Daisy (Chrysanthemum 

 Leucanthemum), Vetch (Vicia Cracca), Hound's 

 Tongue (Cynoglossum officinale), and Shepherd's 

 Purse (Capsella bursa-pasions), but none grow yet 

 in sufficient quantities to harrass the farmer. 



Cryptogamic life I must dismiss briefly. Ferns 

 are less plentiful than further south, but there is an 

 abundance of Bracken, Bladder Fern, Maidenhair 

 Fern, and Oak Fern. The Equisetaseae are well 

 represented, and there is a great plenitude of Lyco- 

 pods, especially Lycopodium clavatum, L. dcndroi- 

 deum, and E. complanaium. Many glades on high- 

 er ground can boast of a charming Lilliputian forest 

 of these dwindling descendants of the Coal Mea- 

 sures. Mosses abound in the woods and are ex- 

 uberant under portage conditions, Bryum and 

 Hypnum forms predominating as usual. New 

 "brule" is often a moist mass of Liverworts. Among 

 fungi my most welcome finds were Coprinus mica- 

 ceus and Morchella deliciosa, and these I did my 

 best to exterminate. 



A man of grass will be pardoned for venturing 

 a few closing remarks on the zoology of the district. 

 The only fish in the Kapuskasing river are pike, 

 pickerel, black bass, and suckers, all of small size. 

 Precipitous falls between here and James Bay ap- 

 parently discourage ichthyic development. Insect 

 life is plentiful (my fellow officers wax profane over 

 armed hosts of Anopheles) but lacks the variety of 

 the lower latitudes. In seeking Coleoptera I have 

 found the Buprestidae and Cerambycidae well re- 

 presented, while my Pay Sergeant, Alex. Miller, of 

 Toronto, whose hobby runs to butterflies, captured 

 some thirty-six different Rhopalocera during the 

 summer of 1918, chiefly of the genera Argynnis, 

 Brenthis, Crapta, Vanessa, Eycaena, and Pieris. 



My register of birds totals about forty to date. 

 The Whiskey Jack (Perisoreus canadensis), the 

 Arctic Redpoll (Acanthis linaria), and the Snow- 

 flake (Plectrophenax nivalis) winter with us, the 

 latter two whirling about in flocks of hundreds. 

 Spring brings Horned Larks and Juncoes, and later 

 on Robins, Song Sparrows, Phoebes, and the Veery 

 Thrush. I have seen very, very few warblers. 

 Ducks, Rails, Bitterns, and Sandpipers haunt the 

 swampier stretches of the river, and a pair of 

 Herring Gulls (Larus argenlatus) have returned here 

 summer after summer to fatten on the garbage from 

 the internment camp. Our most distinguished vis- 

 itor has been a Snowy Owl (Nyctea) who lit a few 

 feet from my office door one cloudy noon last 

 November. He was a magnificent specimen, white 

 without a sullying fleck, and must have measured 

 four feel from tip to tip of his great wings. We 

 were permitted to step almost up to him before 

 he took to flight and floated noiselessly away. Had 

 murder been desired, a child could have shot 

 him. 



