OF THE IIUDSOI^'S BAY TEERITOUY. 



139 



The Canada goose, on the coDtrary, stops by the way to feed, 

 especially on the lakes and swamps where there is wild rice, 

 which makes both geese and ducks much finer eating than any 

 other kind of food I know. Both the white and blue wavy 

 are excellent eating, and one of them with a pound of flour 

 or bread, is given as a day's rations, and is much liked by the 

 men, especially when fresh. Many thousands are annually cured 

 with salt, and packed in barrels for use at the Hudson's Bay 

 Company's stations on the coast ; and the Indians bone and 

 dry a great number for winter food. 



All species of grouse in British North America have a well 

 known habit of passing the night under the snow, during the 

 winter, to protect themselves from the cold; but possibly a practice 

 which most of them follow more or less when the snow is not too 

 hard packed may not have been generally observed. The bird 

 is not content to make its resting place close to the door by 

 which it has entered the snow, but usually bores a tunnel a few 

 inches under the surface, three or more feet in length, before 

 settling down for the night. The cause for going through so 

 much, apparently, useless labour was at first difiicult to under- 

 stand, for its bed would have been equally v*^arm liad the bird 

 remained within a foot of where it had entered the snow, but 

 a little more experience taught me to admire the acuteness a,nd 

 intelligence of the proceeding, for during my walks in the woods 

 I frequently came to places where a fox, lynx, or other carnivore 

 had in the night approached cautiously (judging by the short 

 steps) and made a long spring on the entrance hole ; the occupant 

 was not there, however, but had flown up 3 or 4 feet oft', as seen 

 by its exit in the snow, and was thus saved from almost certain 

 death. 



The prairie-hen, which is fairly numerous near Moose, shows 

 great carefulness in this respect, and in very cold weather takes 

 its " siesta " between breakfast and supper under the snow% 

 out of which I have often seen them pop their heads, without 

 taking wing, before I had got within shot, no doubt to observe 

 if an enemy were approaching. 



Without counting the small white grouse peculiar to the 

 Kocky Mountains, I believe there are three other species to be 

 found at or near the Arctic coast. 



First and chief among these is the Willow-grouse (T. saliceti), 

 by far the most numerous, and forming an important article of 



