34 REPORT OF THE SECRETARY, 



been supplied to the Institution by Captains Howard and White, 

 and Mr. Davidson. 



The officers of the Hudson's Bay Company, especially at posts in 

 the Mackenzie river district, have continued during the past year to 

 make contributions in the way of information and specimens. Prom- 

 inent among these may be mentioned, as in previous years, Mr. R. 

 McFarlane of Fort Anderson, to whom we are indebted for an almost 

 exhaustive collection of materials from the Arctic coast; Messrs. James 

 Lockhart, Strachan Jones, C. P. Gaudet, W. Brass, J. and A. Flett, 

 R. McDonald, J. McDougall, and James Sibbiston. To Mr. B. R. 

 Ross the Institution owes a valuable contribution from Hudson's bay, 

 embracing the first specimens of a large bird, the bernicla leukosis, 

 known to have been found in North America. It is intended to 

 embody the result of the observations of our correspondents in Arctic 

 America in a memoir, which will form an interesting addition to the 

 ethnology, natural history and physical geography of the country. 



It may be said to the honor of the officers of the Hudson's Bay and 

 Northwest Companies, that though secluded for years from civilized 

 society, they manifest in general no want of interest in subjects which 

 pertain to a wide range of human culture; and it may be claimed on 

 the other hand for the Smithsonian Institution, that it has been not 

 slightly efficient in enlivening their isolated and monotonous life by 

 the incitements and facilities it has afforded them for the study and 

 observation of the phenomena and objects of nature. 



Mr. Donald Gunn, our veteran correspondent in the Red River set- 

 tlement, has made, at our request, an expedition to the lakes west of 

 Lake Winnipeg, and obtained some rare and valuable specimens not 

 previously in our collection. An account of his journey is given in 

 the appendix to this report, and will, we'doubt not, be read with inter- 

 est, if only as the production of a man who has spent his life far 

 removed from the centres of refined civilization. 



Among the collections received through the telegraph expedi- 

 tion was a valuable series of specimens gathered on the northern 

 end of Vancouver's island by Mr. A. W. Heisen, an American resi- 

 dent, these being the first ever received from that region. 



Western America. — Mr. J. G. Swan, of Neaah Bay, Washington 

 Territory, whom we have mentioned as favoring the Institution with 

 an interesting memoir on the Makah Indians, has continued his valua- 

 ble contribution of marine animals and ethnological specimens. Ex- 

 tensive series of marine invertebrates and eggs of birds have been 

 received from Dr. P. A. Canfield, of Monterey, and Dr. Cooper has 

 furnished some rare eggs and nests. The remainder of a large col- 



