88 



NOKTH AMERICAN FAUNA. 



[NO. 27. 



yards, beyond which for a few yards the grasses and >hrubs put 

 forth their leaves two or three weeks earlier than the same species 

 elsewhere, and remain green later in the fall. 



Two or three miles below here Pelican Eiver, at its mouth a broad, 

 shallow stream, joins from the west. This stream takes its name from 

 the white pelicans, a small flock of which usually congregates near 

 its mouth during the summer. A short distance below are the Pelican 

 Eapids. where several raj^ids occur within a mile or two. They are 

 not formidable and ma}' easily be run by canoes not too heavily 

 loaded, the right side of the river being preferred for small craft. 



At the mouth of Pelican Eiver a sandstone formation, called by 

 McConnell the Pelican Sandstone, makes its appearance, and, rising 

 gradually as the river descends, exposes the underlying stratum, the 

 Pelican shale. These formations now form a conspicuous element 

 in the river banks. Some 30 miles below Pelican Eiver, a small 

 rapid sometimes called ' Eapide du Joli Fou ' is passed, and near it 

 another sandstone formation, the Grand Eapids sandstone, appears, 

 and is conspicuous for many miles. About 40 miles below Pelican 

 Eiver, or 143 from Athabaska Landing, House Eiver enters from the 

 east. It is a fair-sized stream and takes its name from several log 

 houses near its mouth. In many places along this part of the river 

 the banks are closely paved with rounded bowlders, which have been 

 deposited evenly and firmly by the action of the ice in the spring. 

 (Fig. 5.) 



Ten miles beyond we come to Grand Eapid, the most formidable 

 on the river (PI. Ill, fig. 1). Here the river plunges for half a mile 

 down a steep incline over a mass of bowlders, falling 50 or 60 feet 

 in this distance. Scattered through the lower part of the sandstone 

 formation are found concretions or nodules, more or less spherical 

 and varying in diameter from 2 to 15 feet. As the stream has cut 

 through this stratum they have been liberated and now pave the bed 

 of the river. On the left side of the valley at this point the cliffs are 

 nearly vertical and are upward of 300 feet in height. (PI. Ill, fig. 

 Of this, about 200 feet consists of the Grand Eapid sandstone; the 

 remaining portion comprises the Pelican shale and sandstone. The 

 Grand Eapid sandstone at this point is overlain by a seam of lignite 

 about 4 feet in thickness, which, according to the testimony of several 

 who claim to have used it, burns freely. Trunks of fossil trees, many 

 of ^considerable size and in some cases embedded in the concretions, 

 are frequent at this point. 



For about a mile and a half below the Grand Eapid the river is 

 very rough, and this stretch is generally referred to as the Little 

 Grand. The immediate banks are much lower here than at Grand 

 Eapid, and consist mainly of that sandstone. Beyond this rough 

 stretch the river is smooth for about 15 miles. Seven miles below 

 Grand Eapid we pass Point La Biche, or the Great Bend, where the 



