274 
if trying to find out whether he was being 
followed. Then he would turn suddenly 
again, slap the water with his tail and 
paddle off down stream as if trying to 
catch an express train. 
Brewster said he found black bear and 
moose abundant in that section of the 
country. He had started with a party of 
prospectors for the Klondike, by way of 
the so-called Edmonton trail. They trav- 
eled all summer, and a day rarely passed in 
which they did not see one or more bear or 
moose. He said that occasionally when 
tramping alone he would meet a bear face 
to face in the trail, and would get within 
a few feet of him before the animal would 
see or smell him. Then the bear would 
rise, look at the intruder a few seconds, 
utter his familiar “woof!” drop on all 
fours and go for cover. Brewster said 
that apparently he was the first man most 
of these bears had ever met. 
A flock of 11 wild geese summered on 
the Bow river and the Bow lakes. We 
saw and heard them several times in June 
and July, while camping or traveling on 
those waters. All other waterfowl, as 
well as smaller birds, were supposed to 
have been divided up into pairs, and to 
have been busy raising families at that 
season of the year; but for some strange 
reason this colony of geese were neglect- 
ing their domestic duties. 
We found a number of female mallards 
and a few of other species of ducks on the 
small lakes along the trail, with broods of 
young. We frequently crept up within a 
few feet of these families before they dis- 
covered our presence, and it was most in- 
teresting to see the mother duck start for 
the middle of the lake, calling her chil- 
dren, and to see the fluffy little balls form 
into a V and follow her. They seemed to 
rest as lightly on the water as if they had 
been made of dandelion fuzz, yet they had 
great propelling power in their little feet 
and legs, for they made good speed over 
the water. 
The fish hawk is up there, too; and he 
lives high in more than one sense. AI- 
most the only fish to be found in those 
Northern waters is the trout, and we 
frequently saw an osprey sailing over us 
with a good sized trout in his talons, which 
we would have been glad to have for our 
own breakfast. 
We saw 3 distinct species of frogs and 
4 of toads. The latter were especially 
numerous, everywhere along the trail. 
A taxidermist in Banff told me he had 
gone up the river some miles from there 
to see a forest fire that was raging in the 
mountains. When he got within a mile of 
the fire line he saw large numbers of hum- 
ming birds coming from near the burnt dis- 
trict. He said he counted 40 of these little 
RECREATION. 
refugees within a few feet of him, at one 
time. 
We found the willow ptarmigan on top 
of nearly every mountain we climbed. 
These birds live almost entirely above tim- 
ber line, though occasionally they descend 
into the scrubby timber that grows high 
up on the mountain side. 
The blue grouse was also frequently met 
on the high mountain sides, well up toward 
timber line. Wright made a number of 
photographs of ptarmigan and fool hens, 
also one of a blue grouse and 2 of her 
chicks. 
He caught a young sanderling one day, 
which was not larger than a.good sized 
hazlenut. He put it in his pocket, intend- 
ing to take it to camp and photograph it; 
but when he reached camp and went down 
in his pocket, he found the little prisoner 
had escaped. 
One day after pitching our camp and 
starting our fire we saw a ground sparrow 
flitting about the camp and appearing un- 
easy. We watched her a few minutes, and 
saw her hovering over a certain spot. We 
went there and found her nest, which con- 
tained 4 babies that were apparently not 
more than a week old. The nest was with- 
in 10 feet of our camp fire, and we were 
tempted to move the fire in order that the 
mother bird might not be disturbed in her 
home. We concluded, however, this would 
entail too much work, and were glad to 
find that after a few minutes she became en- 
tirely reconciled to our presence. She went 
away and came back in a few minutes with 
a tiny bug, which she placed in the gaping 
mouth of one of her young. Then she 
went on about her domestic duties as if 
nothing had happened. In the course of the 
afternoon she visited her nest perhaps a 
dozen times with food. At sundown she 
settled over her babies, and sheltered them 
through the night. We went to her nest 
several times after dark, and though the 
light of the camp fire glistened in her tiny 
eyes, she would let us come within a foot 
of her without appearing in the least fright- 
ened. We pulled out the next day and left 
her in quiet possession of her home, and x 
trust she may have succeeded in rearing 
her babies safely. 
Soon after leaving that camp a moose 
bird joined us, and followed us over 2 
hours, during which we covered 5 or 
6 miles. He would fly along toward the 
head of the pack train, alight within a foot 
or 2 of the trail, either on a log or on the 
ground, watch us and the horses as we 
passed, and as soon-as the tail end of the 
procession had passed him he would make 
another flight; and keep repeating this per- 
formance. Once he lit on Buck’s back, and 
another time on one of Tom’s ' stir- 
rups. I tried several times to catch him, 
