14 TRAVELS THROUGH LOWER CANADA : 
ire so unwary, that a man with a short stick 
night easily knock them down by hundreds, 
O J o 
It is not oftener than once in seven or eight 
years, perhaps, that such large flocks of these 
biiis are seen in the country. The years in 
whhh they appear are denominated ff pigeon 
yean,” 
There are also bear years” and squirrel 
years.* This was both a bear and a squirrel 
year. The former, like the pigeons, came down 
from the northern regions, and wfere most nu¬ 
merous m the neighbourhood of lakes Ontario 
and Erie, and along the upper parts of the 
River St. Lawrence. On arriving at the borders 
of these Ikes, or of the river, if the opposite 
shore was ir\ sight, they generally took to the 
water, and endeavoured to reach it by swim* 
ming. Prodigious numbers of them were 
killed in crossing the St. Lawrence by the 
Indians, who 'had hunting encampments at 
short distances from each other, the whole 
way along the banks of the river, from the 
island of St. Regis to Lake Ontario. One 
bear, of a very large size, boldly entered the 
river in the face of our bateau, and was killed 
by some of our men whilst swimming from the 
main land to one of the islands. In the woods 
it is very rare that bears will venture to attack 
a man; but several instances that bad recently 
occurred were mentioned to us, where they 
