434 
LAST VOYAGE OF CAPT, ROSS. 
men to purchase the articles, from which they might have made 
caps and mittens for themselves, as well as a kind of over-alls, 
which would protect the lower extremities from the cold. Look¬ 
ing therefore into these circumstances, the men are little in¬ 
debted to their commander, for their escape from the effects of, 
perhaps, the severest frost, that the natives of a temperate climate 
were ever exposed to, and which, in some cases, might have 
been attended with death itself. 
During the first week of the month of June, the crew and the 
mechanics on board were employed in caulking the vessel, 
fitting the lee boards, and in setting up the rigging; and the 
Victory began by degrees to assume her former appearance as 
she sailed from Woolwich, whilst every one on board looked for¬ 
ward with joy to the moment, when her sails were again to be 
un-bent in the prosecution of their important undertaking. 
The birds, which had migrated from the country, on the set¬ 
ting in of the winter, now began to make their appearance ; and 
the sportsmen seldom returned without bringing either plovers, 
grouse, snipes, buntings, gulls or ducks; of the latter, there is 
a beautiful species, that visits this country in the summer, known 
by the name of the King and Queen Duck, the plumage of which 
is very handsome resembling in some respects the drakes of this 
country. The plumage of the Queen is, however, by no means 
so beautiful as that of the King; the latter having all the va¬ 
riety of colour, which distinguishes our native drake, with a mass 
of a bright red colour projecting from its upper mandible: this 
bird is known to breed in great numbers in the marshes of the 
northern parts of Canada ; and, although it also breeds in the 
country of the Esquimaux, yet its numbers are very limited, and 
which are, in a great degree, diminished by the eagerness, with 
which the natives seek their eggs, which in the summer are a 
real dainty to them. 
In regard to the other birds, it was, undoubtedly a matter of 
great interest to Capt. Ross, to obtain a specimen of every one, 
in order to complete the ornithological history of the country: 
but, having obtained a good specimen, it became an act of singu¬ 
lar oppression to insist that every bird, which was killed by any 
