April, 1922.] 



The Canadian Field-Naturalist 



73 



comprising an area as large as the western penin- 

 sula of Ontario. I spent the latter part of June 

 and the first two weeks of July, 1919, with a 

 companion, canoeing through the rivers and lakes 

 of this region, and have compiled the appended 

 list of birds observed during the trip. 



Lac la Biche is about 150 miles north-east of 

 Edmonton, and is a beautiful lake on the south 

 side of which the Hudson's Bay Company has 

 maintained a post for many years. The lake is 

 about twenty miles by ten miles in extent and has 

 several fair-sized islands which have been the 

 breeding grounds for such birds as the White 

 Pelican, Double-crested Cormorant and Great 

 Blue Heron, likely for ages, but within recent 

 years the natives claim their numbers are not as 

 great as previously. 



Around the lake there are many half-breeds 

 who have taken up land, rather more to be used 

 as their headquarters than for farming operations. 

 The soil is generally white clay and sand on the 

 higher lands, with much muskeg in between the 

 ridges. The lake is noted for its large whitefish, 

 many of them weighing over twelve pounds, and 

 a large industry is carried on with the breeds, who 

 net the fish and sell to the companies, who ship 

 them in refrigerator cars to the large cities of the 

 east. 



On the north east corner of the lake the Owl 

 River flows in through a beautiful valley, along 

 which are a number of prosperous looking farms. 

 This country is served by the recently constructed 

 Alberta and Great Waterway railroad, which runs 

 from Edmonton to the northern terminus on the 

 Clearwater river, within a few miles of the village 

 of Ft. McMurray. 



About 80 miles north of La Biche my partner 

 and I left the train and packed our canoe and 

 outfit over to Christena Lake, less Chan one mile, 

 from where we were to commence our river and 

 lake journey. This lake is about twelve miles in 

 length by an average of one mile in width; its 

 water is very clear and cold, and from the number 

 of large whitefish that the breeds and Indians 

 were catching, we concluded this was as valuable 

 as the more southern lake for the industry. 



The surrounding country was far from being 

 adapted for agriculture in its present state. The 

 ridges are of white clay and yellow sand, partially 

 covered with a poor growth of poplar and jack 

 pine. Between the elevations were large areas 

 of muskeg with scattered willow and tamarack, 

 some of which was large enough to have commer- 

 cial value. The soil underlying the muskeg moss 

 has the appearance of being very rich in humus, 

 and some day may be drained and should be 

 capable of producing the hardier varieties of 

 grain. Along the bottoms of the Christena 



river there were scattered bluffs of good-sized 

 spruce, some measuring nearly three feet at the 

 butt, while the Balm of Gilead was always in 

 evidence and in many places plentiful enough to 

 warrant installation of saw mills. Several large 

 patches of a variety of fern similar to the large 

 ferns in Ontario were found in moist places along 

 the flats. 



During our trip through Christena Lake we 

 noticed the scarcity of many ducks, which we 

 thought would be plentiful in this undisturbed 

 country. The general impression has been that 

 all this tremendous region was the summer home 

 of many of the water-fowl, but it was not so, at 

 least as far as the waters over which we travelled 

 were concerned. There were more Mergansers, 

 Buffle Heads and Golden Eyes seen on the river 

 than all other varieties noted during the trip. 

 Some of our common birds were entirely absent, 

 or nearly so; no Meadow Larks or Vesper Sparrows 

 were observed north of La Biche. Ruby-crowned 

 Kinglets, Northern Water- Thrushes and Lincoln's 

 Sparrows were quite common. Every tamarack 

 muskeg resounded with the wonderful three-part 

 song of the Kinglet. On the river we. were 

 seldom out of hearing of the Water-Thrush, and 

 whenever a trip was made into the muskegs, 

 Lincoln's Sparrows were heard singing in all 

 directions. This sparrow was the most plentiful 

 bird of the muskeg, where it seemed to be at 

 home in little thickets on any elevation which 

 was not too wet to grow a species of gray willow. 



Pine Siskins were very numerous as we neared 

 the Clearwater River, and they could be heard 

 singing from the tops of the highest spruces at 

 any time of the day. No doubt this was their 

 summer home, and it is likely that from localities 

 such as this the large flocks come to us in lower 

 latitudes in the early summer. A couple of 

 Savanna Sparrows were the only ones observed, 

 and they seemed lost on a bit of prairie at the 

 forks of the rivers. 



Summer Birds of Lac La Biche and Fort McMurray 

 Regions 



1. Western Grebe. Several pairs observed 

 on Christena Lake. 



2. Red-necked Grebe. Quite a few seen on 

 the larger sloughs. 



3. Horned Grebe. Common in the smaller 

 sloughs. 



4. Pied-billed Grebe. All the bays in Chris- 

 tena Lake had one or more pairs. 



5. Great Northern Diver. Two seen flying 

 from the south towards the lake. 



6. American Herring Gull. Many large 

 gulls, thought to be this variety, seen on Lac la 

 Biche. 



