26 



THE CANADIAN SPORTSMAN AND NATURALIST. 



nets, but were too lazy to use them ; they al- 

 ways prefer the spear. 



The Labrador Indians state that the country 

 in which they reside belongs to God and them- 

 selves. They are, therefore, suspicious of 

 strangers occupying the rivers. These people 

 come down invariably to the south coast in 

 summer to trade off their furs, and attend the 

 mission. They return to their hunting grounds 

 in August and September. 



MIGRATION OF SHAD. 

 In the March number, we gave a query, ask- 

 ing for information as to the distance Shad has 

 been seen in inland waters. We are told that 

 this Ash has been taken in Lake Ontario, near 

 Hamilton. Some of our readers may have been 

 puzzled regarding the question, but our object 

 was to show that if Shad migrated annually 

 from the salt water to Lake Ontario, therefore 

 there cannot be any obstacle in the way of 

 Salmon bred in Ontario from reaching the 

 sea. 



THE GEOLOGICAL MUSEUM. 

 In 1877, the Hon. Mr. Mills, then Minister 

 of the Interior, introduced a Bill in the 

 Commons of Canada, " To make better pro- 

 vision respecting the Geological Survey of 

 Canada, and for the maintenance of the 

 museum in connection therewith." The Act 

 was carried by the late administration. The 

 removal of the Geological Survey from Mont- 

 real to Ottawa was then decided by sec. 6, as 

 follows : — " The Governor in Council may, 

 whenever he thinks fit, direct the removal of 

 the Geological Museum, and the officers and 

 others connected with the Geological Survey 

 Branch of the Department of the Interior, to 

 the City ot Ottawa." This is now being car- 

 ried out by the present Government. Referring 

 to sections 2 and 3 of the Bill it will be seen 

 that a new feature appears — viz: Zoology — in 

 fact the Hon. David Mills specially framed it 

 (Dominion Statutes, 1877, chap. 9, p. 49) to 



include all branches of Natural History, in 

 order to form a museum of a National charac- 

 ter, useful for reference to all interested, and 

 likely to prove beneficial to the general public 

 of the Dominion. It will therefore be seen that 

 the intention of the Government in removing 

 the Geological collections permanently to 

 Ottawa, is to establish near the seat of Govern- 

 ment, a museum similar to that of the Smith- 

 sonian Institution, Patent Office and Depart- 

 ment of the Interior at Washington, in the 

 United States. This is doubtless a correct view 

 of the matter. If Mr. Mills' Bill is legally and 

 thoroughly carried out, Montreal will certainly 

 lose the benefit of the Survey collection, but 

 in future, as a National Museum, the Dominion, 

 as a whole, will be fully compensated. It 

 would be well, however, for the Government to 

 consider the propriety of presenting duplicates 

 of minerals and fossils from the Surveys Col- 

 lection to the new museum of McGill Univer- 

 sity, where the citizens of Montreal and inter- 

 ested visitors could have an opportunity of 

 examining them. 



QUERIES. 

 Among the wild ducks occurring in the Do- 

 minion are three species belonging to the gen us 

 Bucephalus, viz : Barrow's Duck, or the Ice- 

 land Golden-eye, (B. Icelandica, Baird) ; The 

 common Golden-eye, (B. Americana, Baird): 

 [The second species has its white cheek-spots 

 almost circular, while the cheek^spots on Ice- 

 landica are pyriform,] and the Butter-ball or 

 Bufiie-head (B. albeola, Baird). Barrow's 

 Golden-eye nest in trees, entering a hole like 

 the wood duck. A nest of the Iceland or Bar- 

 row's duck was found in a tree at Missisquoi 

 Bay, in theProvince of Quebec ; it contained 

 nine eggs. Can anj r of our readers give us 

 information regarding the nidification of the 

 common Golden-eye and the Butter-ball ? We 

 notice that the Michigan Sportsman's Associa- 

 tion have lately placed the above ducks under 

 the old genus Fuligula. 



