Interior of British North America. 137 
A description of the plumage would be, white, with the whole 
under parts, head, and first half of the upper part of the neck 
tinged with bright rush-colour, darkest on the top of the head 
behind a line crossing the forehead from eye to eye, which line 
of division is strongly marked. Of the lower parts, the chin and 
second half of the neck are least tinged—in fact, nearly white. 
This rust-colour is confined to the ends of the feathers. Shafts 
of all the feathers white, Dr. Richardson considers this the 
more common of the two Swans inhabiting the interior, and the 
earlier visitor, with which my observations agree. Mr. Ross 
notes it as common on the Mackenzie. 
Anserine. 
It may be well imagined how the first material evidence of 
spring and plenty, evinced by the arrival of waterfowl on their 
northward migration, is hailed by the hardy fur-traders and 
voyageurs of the interior, after having been shut up for months 
in an isolated fur-trading fort, separated by hundreds of miles 
of a snow and ice-bound wilderness from the most advanced 
limits of civilization, and perchance living on no very liberal 
allowance of jerked buffalo-meat or frozen white-fish. I well 
recollect this circumstance in the spring of 1858. It was on 
the 28th of March that our eager eyes, having been watching 
for weeks for some sure indication of a break-up in the winter, 
were greeted with this welcome sight. It was Sunday (happily 
kept even in those wild regions as a day of rest) that we observed 
one or two Geese and a flock of Ducks pass over, with somewhat 
undecided flight, evidently in search of an open piece of water 
or marsh as a resting-place; but there was as yet none to be found 
in the neighbourhood. Nevertheless the birds had rightly 
judged in anticipation, led by the unerring hand of Him who 
alone directs the progression of the seasons, and guides the 
world in its annual path; for, during the two following nights, 
the temperature only just reached the verge of freezing, leaving 
pools of snow-water formed by the powerful mid-day sun un¬ 
skimmed by ice; and a couple of Ducks were bagged on the 
29th. All became now astir, getting guns cleaned, fixing flints 
(the flint gun is still in general use in the fur-countries), and 
making ready for the campaign, each one being eager to kill 
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