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THE CANADIAN SPORTSMAN AND NATURALIST. 



conserving our forests — is well worth peru- 

 sal — it being well-timed, and we trust that the 

 Government of Manitoba will see the utility of 

 adopting Mr. Drummond's suggestions. We 

 are highly delighted with the article on the 

 " Native Plants of the Province of Quebec," 

 by J. B. McConnell, M.D. The Department of 

 the Interior should reprint the doctor's des- 

 cription of our plants in the next Report, and 

 distribute them largely throughout Europe. 

 This is just the kind of information required 

 by Europeans. It gives at once a fair botanical 

 view of this Province, and from which an easy 

 comparison may be made between it and the 

 Western and Northern Portions of the Domin- 

 ion.- — C. 



£orre$pon5ence. 



To the Editor of the Canadian Sportsman and 

 Naturalist : — 

 FROM A CANADIAN SPORTSMAN IN 

 FARGO, DAKOTA, U. S. 



Sir, — Your welcome bunch of the Canadian 

 Sportsman and Naturalist, came to hand in 

 due time. I devoted a pleasant hour looking 

 over what some of my old friends and brother 

 sportsmen have been doing during the last two 

 months in Canada. I suppose that although 

 I am now in Dakota, I am still Canadian and a 

 sportsman at that. I write this letter regarding 

 sport in this portion of the Northwest. Fargoites 

 have little time for pleasure, but we manage 

 to get an occasional day. Three of us sallied 

 forth, duly equipped, for one of the numerous 

 sloughs near here. On our arrival we took up 

 positions about two hundred yards apart, and 

 sent our dogs (trained for the purpose) into the 

 rushes to beat up the game, which occurred in 

 countless numbers. Small nights of duck 

 passed us almost all the time. I soon warmed 

 up to the sport, and as there was a sharp wind 

 blowing, I need not inform my duck-shooting 

 friends (including Chris.) that it was no child's 

 play to score a good average. I managed to 

 keep my retriever busy, and uphold the honour 

 of a Canadian gunner, as I scored the largest 

 bag, expending the fewest cartridges of the 

 party, who were no tyros. My bag was thirty- 

 seven ducks to forty-four cartridges, and even 

 you, hoary patron of sportsmen, must, I think 

 allow that that was fairly good on a windy day. 



In the afternoon we took a stroll across the 

 country and shot prairie chickens, concerning 

 which I have come to the conclusion that they 

 are better eating than they are sport. We all 

 succeeded in making ourselves tired and 

 thirsty on this tramp, and were highly pleased 

 to get back to our drag and a case of " Bud- 

 weiser" we had in it. Any one not knowing 

 what Budweiser is, let him refer to some one 

 who has travelled west of Chicago ; suffice it 

 to say, it is a substitute for water, largely used 

 by the inhabitants of this part of the world. I 

 contemplate being one of a party going north to 

 the Devil's lake, (so-called) for antelope shoot- 

 ing shortly. If I do make the trip and you care 

 for such loose-jointed rambling notes for your 

 spicy little journal, I will be very glad to give 

 you an account of the expedition and its 

 results, and may send you a specimen or two 

 that I come across. 



Wishing you all possible success, 

 I am yours, &c, 



Whistle Wing. 



ROBINS. 



Dear Sir, — I quite agree with everything 

 your correspondent " Hammerless Greener " 

 says respecting the unsportsmanship and 

 cruelty and folly of killing robins. The tradi- 

 tion to which he refers as to the name " God's 

 bird," dates further back, I think, than the 

 legend of the Babes in the Wood. The tradi- 

 tion is " that while our Lord was on his way to 

 Calvary, a robin pecked a thorn out of his 

 crown, and the blood which issued from the 

 wound falling on the bird dyed its breast with 

 red." This tradition, however, of course refers 

 to the English robin redbreast, and not to the 

 Canadian miscalled robin. While up the lakes 

 last week I captured a frog with a tail. The 

 animal was 2 J inches, the tail measuring one 

 inch. The tail is, of course, the tadpole tail, 

 which from some cause or other, failed to be- 

 come detached when the legs were developed. 

 It has grown with the growth of the frog, and 

 is about a quarter of inch wide at the insertion.. 

 Vincext Clementi. 



Peterboro', Aug. 29th, 1881. 



Note. — The bird called robin in America, 

 i. e., Tardus migrator ins, has neither generic 

 or specific connection or resemblance to the 

 robin red-breast of Europe. Our correspondent 

 quotes a curious, and to us unknown, phrase 

 regarding God's bird, and we are anxious to 

 know where he obtained the information. It 



