XVill INTRODUCTION. 
of plants for the Horticultural Society, for three years, on the banks of 
the Columbia and in North California, crossed the Rocky Mountains: 
at the head of the Elk River, by the same portage-road that Mr,, 
Drummond had previously travelled, and having spent a short time in 
visiting the Red River of Lake Winipeg, returned to England with 
that gentleman by way of Hudson’s Bay. Thus, a zone of at least 
two degrees of latitude in width, and reaching entirely across the con- 
tinent, from the mouth of the Columbia to that of the Nelson River 
of Hudson’s Bay, has been explored by two of the ablest and most; 
zealous collectors that England has ever sent forth; while a zone of 
similar width, extending at right angles with the other from Canada to 
the Polar Sea, has been more cursorily examined by the Expeditions. 
Through the liberality of the Horticultural Society, and the im- 
fluence of their learned Secretary, Joseph Sabine, Esq., ever readily 
exerted for the advancement of science, I have been permitted to 
examine and describe the specimens of quadrupeds collected by Mr. 
Douglas, and this gentleman,. with a readiness to communicate the 
information he has acquired, that does him great credit, has kindly 
furnished me with some valuable notices of the habits of the animals 
which have been incorporated in this work. I have also had an 
opportunity of inspecting the specimens of quadrupeds obtained on 
the American coast of Behring’s Straits, by Captain Beechey, on his 
late voyage in the Blossom; and the notes respecting them, made on 
the spot by Mr. Collie, Surgeon of that ship, by whom principally they 
were collected, have been submitted to my perusal. Previous to our 
setting out on the Second Expedition, Sir John Franklin addressed 
letters to many of the resident chief factors and traders of the Hud- 
son’s Bay Company, requesting their co-operation with our endeavours 
to procure specimens of Natural History, and their ready acquiescence 
with his desire was productive of much advantage to us. Not only 
were great facilities for the advancement of our pursuits afforded to us 
by Mr. John Haldane, Mr. James Leith, Mr. Alexander Stewart, Mr, 
John. Prudens, Mr. Robert M‘Vicar, and other gentlemen, whose posts 
lay on our line of route; but a collection of birds and quadrupeds, 
