30 THE ARCTIC PRAIRIES 



ing "Olio — oh — who — oh who hoo" of the Great Horned 

 Owl — was heard singing a most appropriate bass. 



But the little Owl went on and on; 5 minutes, 10 

 minutes, 20 minutes at last had elapsed before I 

 turned in again and left him. More than once that 

 night I awoke to hear his "tinging" serenade upon the 

 consecrated air of the piney woods. 



Yet Preble said this one was an indifferent performer. 

 On the Mackenzie he had heard far better singers of 



Athabaska River looking north from Poplar Point 



the kind; some that introduce many variations of the 

 pitch and modulation. I thought it one of the most 

 charming bird voices I had ever listened to — and felt 

 that this was one of the things that make the journey 

 worth while. 



On June 1 the weather was so blustering and wet 

 that we did not break camp. I put in the day exam- 

 ining the superb timber of this bottom-land. White 

 spruce is the prevailing conifer and is here seen in per- 

 fection. A representative specimen was 118 feet high, 

 11 feet 2 inches in circumference, or 3 feet 6^ inches 

 in diameter 1 foot from the ground, i. e., above any 

 root spread. There was plenty of timber of similar 

 height. Black spruce, a smaller kind, and tamarack 



