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BIRDS ON THE RIDING MOUNTAIN. 437 



On Saturday, 28th August, we arrived at the Little 

 Saskatchewan or Eapid Eiver, which Mr. Dickinson had 

 explored for a distance of one hundred miles from its 

 source. The valley of this river is extremely beautiful 

 and fertile until within a few miles of its junction with 

 the Assinniboine ; it offers probably the most attractive 

 and desirable place for settlement in any part of the 

 country west of Eed Eiver. The stream abounds in fish, 

 the flats in the valley are covered with the richest 

 herbage ; timber, consisting of aspen, poplar, and oak, is 

 abundant ; the prairies on either side are clothed with 

 the greatest luxuriance of vegetation, the scenery is very 

 attractive, and the river navigable down stream for canoes 

 and bateaux to the Assinniboine. Where the Eapid 

 Eiver enters the Biding Mountain balsam and white 

 spruce appear, and our explorations on the east flank of 

 the range showed that large birch, spruce, poplar, and 

 aspen flourished on the summit plateau. 



Fires here as elsewhere have damaged the forest which 

 once covered the country. Vast numbers of young oak 

 and aspen are springing up in all directions on the prairie 

 fringing the river near the trail. Birds are very numerous 

 throughout this region, and every lake contained duck 

 with their young. The aspen groves and willow clumps 

 were alive with grackle and yellow birds congregating in 

 flocks. Humming-birds were also observed as well as 

 the American cuckoo and the solitary thrush. While in the 

 marshes, herons, cranes, and bitterns were disturbed in 

 groups as we cautiously approached in search of duck. 



In a brook emptying into Eapid Eiver, I found an 

 exposure of the cretaceous shales before described as 

 occurring on the Assinniboine and the Little Souris. The 

 rock was very fragile, and contained a few fossils in an 

 imperfect state of preservation. 



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