Interior of British North America. 139 
Anser hyperboreus. 
The . Snow-Goose (the “Wawie” of the Cree Indians, or 
“Wavy” of the voyageurs) is late in its arrival in spring; but, 
like the American Swan, delays behind the others of the family 
in going south in autumn, after which, as Mr. Barnston has so 
happily expressed it, “the coast that has been resonant with 
their petulant and incessant cries, and covered patchlike by 
their whitened squadrons, is silent and deserted, a barren and 
frozen shore.” The species appears numerous both on Hudson's 
Bay and in the west, as I have seen it as far as the Bocky 
Mountains; and Mr. Ross says it is abundant on the Mackenzie. 
Although I shot the bird, I did not preserve a specimen, as I 
thought it a well-marked species, and I had much work on hand 
at the time. An anecdote was related to me concerning the 
Snow-Goose by Mr. Pruden, a fur-trader, which is, I think, 
worthy of record. His father, living at Red River Settlement, 
had obtained in some way or other, and managed to domesticate, 
a pair of “Wavies;” but, after a while, one died. The next fall, 
as a flock of this species was passing over, a bird singled itself 
out and descended to the tame Goose, and, taking up its quarters 
in a business-like manner, lived with it all the winter. The 
following spring, as some of his relations came by, he took wing, 
joined the flock, and proceeded to the north ; but, curious enough, 
in the fall, returned again to his adopted winter mate, and lived 
with it as in the previous winter. It had done this for two or 
three years; but in the spring of 1857, when Mr. Pruden went 
to his father's house, he missed the bird, and presumed it had 
been killed or something had happened to it. One might have 
expected such an occurrence as this, had the stay been made 
during the breeding-season, in place of remaining to brave out 
the inclement season of a northern winter. 
Anser albatits (Cassin). 
Anser rossii (Baird). 
In his paper “ On the Fauna of the Mackenzie River District ” 
( f Nat. Hist. Rev.' No. 7), Mr. Bernard Ross remarks :—“There 
can be no doubt of the existence of three species of Snow-Geese, 
exclusive of the Blue Wavey of Hudson's Bay, as the Slave Lake 
Indians have a different name for each kind. The first which 
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