THE BIG RIDGE. 



279 



little effort of the imagination to recall the time when the 

 shallow waters of a former extension of Lake Winnipeg, 

 washed the beach on its flank, or threw up as they gra- 

 dually receded, ridge after ridge, over the level floor of the 

 lake, where now are to be found wide and beautiful 

 prairies covered with a rich profusion of long grass. 



Leaving Stony Mountain our course lay westerly through 

 a wet prairie to the Big Eidge. Grey cranes, ducks, and 

 plover were numerous on the marshy areas, and in every 

 little bluff * of aspen or willow, the beautiful rice birds 

 (Dolichonyx oryzivora) were seen or heard. Where we 

 camped on the edge of a lake near the foot of the Big 

 Eidge, bittern, grackle, and several varieties of duck flew 

 to and fro in alarm at our invasion of their retreats. On 

 the flank of the Big Eidge the cinnamon thrush (Turdus 

 rufus) was noticed, but most common of all was the tyrant 

 flycatcher (Muscicapa tyrannus), who endeavoured to 

 hold undisputed sway over the bluff he had selected as his 

 home. Near and west of Stony Mountain, many small 

 barren areas occur, covered with a saline efflorescence ; 

 they may be traced to the Assinniboine, and beyond that 

 river in a direction nearly due south to La Eiviere Sale, 

 and the 49th parallel. These saline deposits are impor- 

 tant, as they in all probability serve, as will be shown 

 hereafter, to denote the presence of salt bearing rocks be- 

 neath them, similar to those from which the salt springs 

 of Swan Eiver, Manitobah Lake, and La Eiviere Sale 

 issue. 



Early on the morning of the 17th we ascended the Big 

 Eidge. Its elevation above the prairie is about 60 feet ; 

 on its south side it slopes gently to the prairie level, to 

 the north is a plateau, well wooded with aspens, stretching 



* The half-breeds call little groves of aspens or willows in the prairies 

 "bluffs." 



T 4 



