S.-])teiiil)<'i-, 1!)21.J 



Thk Canadian Field-Natcralist. 



103 



round j?rassy lagoons that were one-time 

 sloughs. The first and last growths keep 

 to higli and low land res])ectivply, while 

 the wolf-willow seems to favor slopes and 

 steep places, never in soaked depressions, 

 but withal ranging indifferently. As a 

 whole, the Islay prairies assume most in- 

 terest, bo*h from botanical and biological 

 viewpoints, in proportion to their depart- 

 ure from monotonous nudit^'. 



In addition to the country surrounding 

 Islay, wherein the major number of my 

 zoological excursions w'ere confined, that 

 is, in a four mile limit bounded by the 

 Twin Hills to the west and Island Lake 

 to the south, I had several opportunities 

 of visiting remoter ground, the most in- 

 teresting of Avhich was to Laurier Lake 

 on September 1, on which I wish to re- 

 mark. It seems best, by way of present- 

 ing the facts in its connection, to couch it 

 in narrative rather than in disjointed and 

 ]iui"ely technical form, in which latter much 

 that gives tone to, and conception of, a 

 visited region is necessarily lost. As this 

 locality has never y)reviously been investi- 

 gated by any naturalist so far as I know, 

 it seems more imperative to do a measure 

 of justice to it at once. 



Laurier Lake lies forty miles to the 

 north of Islay, our proposed destination 

 for the trip. The Vermilion and Saskat- 

 chewan Rivers must be crossed at a dis- 

 tance of five and thirty miles respectively. 

 The car, our means of conveyance, was 

 duly equipped the previous night for the 

 outing, and all made ready for what we all 

 anticipated as a great day's sport; nor 

 w^ere we disappointed in the smallest part. 

 I should pei'liaps mention that tiie fii'st 

 was the opening day of the shooting sea- 

 son. The morning daAVned in the most 

 dispiriting manner, rain seemed imminent, 

 ])ut to experience the proper thrill witii 

 tlie day, and new country ahead, it seemed 

 imi)('rative to start with the dawn. Our 

 judgment ]iroved excellent, for by mid- 

 forenoon the whole country was radiant 

 with the matchless splendor of an Alberta 

 morning. Never could skies be bluer or 

 air so i'a:e. As we spun along, occasicnal 

 ^. 'arp-tailcd grouse sprang wildly from 

 the grassy trail with a staccato cue, ni<\ 

 cKc, cue, cue, punctuating as tlicv went 

 their soaring and flapping flight. No- 

 thing surely is more typically western and 

 buoyant than these big liandsome birds. 



Just before descending into the Vermilion 

 valley we had a glimpse of a Franklin's 

 ground scpiirrel as it scampered into an 

 aspen bluff beside the trail, the only one 

 of the species I saw in the west. As the 

 forenoon advanced the birds got warmed 

 into action, and hourly before dinner were 

 more in evidence. The near-by shrubbery 

 trembled and flashed occasionally with 

 passing warblers, and sparrows languidly 

 twittered half-hearted .snatches of song, 

 fall-like and disconsolate. And that sea- 

 son, the fall of the leaf had seemed ac- 

 tually to have arrived, for the first few 

 moui-ners were even now rocking slowly 

 to earth. The very air had a hue or qual- 

 ity of autumnal vigor and adventure. 

 Flickers watchfully explored the patches 

 of prairie ; robins in social flocks drove 

 swiftly by with a cheep, cheep. Swainson's 

 stately Jiawk cleaved the .sky in level 

 circles; and the delectable mountain blue- 

 bird, so tender and so elegant, chanced 

 often to cross our path. 



About ten a.m. we neared a series of 

 shalloAv and grassy sloughs dotted A\ith a 

 few slKtveller and ruddy d"cks, and of 

 more than pa.ssing interest in the wheel- 

 ing and settling flocks of sandpipers that 

 sought its plashy margins. Three species 

 wtere plainly present, which after some 

 studied "collecting'' proved to be the 

 les.ser yellow, pectoral, and Baird s sand- 

 pipers. The latter was one of those choice 

 finds, counted so to me, which comes new 

 and unexpected. Until sending it to Ot- 

 tawa I had mistaken it for the Least 

 sandpiper, which it closely resembles. 



We were now in the vicinity of the 

 Ridge, a moraine-like elevation stretching 

 for miles on either hand, and locally of 

 interest because of the Indian graves which 

 are .said to dot its sides. According to ru- 

 mor,- the warrior dead were buried there 

 after a retreat from the bloody massacre, 

 during the rebellion, which occurred near 

 the mouth of the Saskatchewan. As this 

 location is some twenty miles from tlie 

 Ridge, the wounded evidently needed some 

 help, especially the ones who forever will 

 remain on the Ridge. I had no time to 

 verity the existence of the graves, but I 

 believe without doubt, remembering the 

 source of my information, that they are 

 there. The whole country should be in- 

 tei-esting, anthrojiologically, for it seems 



