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ARTICLE XXIV.—Recollections of the Swans and Geese of Hudson's Bay. By GEORGE BARNSTON, Esq., of the Hon. Hudson's Bay Company.

(Read before the Montreal Natural History Society.)

The birds comprising the two Genera Cygnus and Anser, are, with slight exception, the largest of the palmipedes or web-footed fowls found in North America, and being generally difficult of approach, and at same time highly prized as an article of food, any account of their migrations and habits becomes interesting. Of the many who may have enjoyed the relish of a well-seasoned wild goose at the sumptuous banquet, few are aware of the distance the bird may have travelled, or of the many perils, by flood and field, through which it may have passed.

On the coast of Hudson's Bay their manners may be studied to great advantage. There they repose after a long and fatiguing flight, there they enjoy a perfect surfeit on the juicy roots of the swamps, and the tender sprouting herbage of the boundless downs; and there assembled in mass along the sea-girt shore, they follow the never-varying course of the points and headlands, that stand out revealed as the line of march of all their ancestors who have gone before them.

CAN. NAT.

1

VOL. VI. No. 5.

The swan, except in a few particular localities, is a scarce, rather than a plentiful bird, on the shores of Hudson's Bay. Of somewhat ponderous flight, swans are seen at the same time as the other migratory tribes, winging their way to the secluded recesses of the north, resting themselves throughout the interior, and losing units of their number here and there by the Indian's gun. In the scarcity of their favourite food-the tubers of the Sagittaria sagittifolia-they have recourse to the roots of other plants, and the tender under-ground runners of grasses, in the higher latitudes. They sometimes breed in the interior, before arriving at the coast. I had two eggs brought to me from the borders of a lake near Norway House, lat. nearly 55° N. But it was impossible for me to say, whether these were of the Cygnus Americanus, or C. Buccinator. The probability rests with the former.

Towards Eastmain James's Fort, in James's Bay, a considerable number of swans hatch;-a few are killed by the natives there, who watch the game as it passes up and down narrow rivers communicating with the sea, and flowing from lakes of some magnitude scattered over the interior. In the winter months all the northern regions are deserted by the swans, and from November to April large flocks are to be seen on the expanses of the large rivers of the Oregon territory and California, between the Cascades Range and the Pacific, where the climate is particularly mild, and their favourite food abounds in the lakes and placid waters. Collected sometimes in great numbers their silvery strings embellish the landscape, and form part of the life and majesty of the scene. These societies break up as they advance upon their long spring journey to the north. They are then dispersed in small bands and but few together, each of a pair at last separating and betaking to the cares of the season of incubation. In the most secluded and unfrequented districts, where there is ample water range, they rear the young.

Superior to the swans as an article of food, the geese of every species are tenfold in number, and they form the favourite dish of the Indians of Hudson's Bay. When the long and dreary winter has fully expended itself and the Willow Grouse (Tetrao saliceti) have taken their departure for more northern regions, there is frequently a period of dread starvation to many of the natives, who are generally at that time moving from their wintering grounds to the trading posts. The first note, therefore, of the

large grey or Canada goose, (Bernicla Canadensis,) is listened to with a rapture known only to those who have endured great privations, and gnawing hunger. The melancholy visages brighten, and the tents are filled with hope, to which joy soon succeeds, as, the happy father, or hopeful son and brother, returning successful from the hunt, throws down with satisfaction and pride the grateful load.

The Bernicla Canadensis here alluded to is the largest of our geese, and is almost always first seen in the Hudson's Bay Company's Territories. It may be only a single straggler which has lost its mate, or at most five or six together. These are the advanced guard of the serried legions of other water-fowl, which nature and instinct send forth every spring from the south, to occupy during the productive summer, the land of the north, and to partake of the plentiful and luscious repasts that Providence has, during their absence, been storing up for them, in a hidden, yet nascent

state.

The Canada grey goose, as if aware of the general favor in which it is held, spreads itself diffusively over the whole continent. Its disposition has less of wildness in it than that of the snow goose. We come upon it hatching in quiet recesses and corners, surrounded by reedy waters, where "rushes and grasses do most abound." It is at home over the whole wooded portion of the country, equally so in the extensive marshes of the sea coast, and on the mossy barrens of the Chipewyan and Esquimaux lands. During the winter, like other species, it takes refuge in the more temperate portions of the country, courting always open water. I have seen a flock in the strong open current of the St. Lawrence, above Lachine, near Montreal, in the month of January or February, but such an occurrence is rare. In this latitude, say 45° west of the Rocky Mountains, but especially on the coast of the Pacific, they are plentiful during the whole winter, in mild seasons. Before Oregon was settled by the Americans, the Hudson's Bay Company's post of Fort Vancouver used to be supplied by Indian hunters with grey geese, large and small, as well as with occasional swans and white geese; and this at times so liberally, that a day's rations twice a week could be furnished to an establishment of 30

to 40 men. Some of these geese had been killed by the bow and arrow. This game formed our best rations, but it was seldom in such condition as it is to be had in the north, after it has enjoyed a week or two on the feeding grounds. I have no

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