the dwelling-house to the more lofty eaves of the storehouses, and in the following season returned with aug. mented numbers to the same spot. Fort Chipewyan has existed for many years, and trading-posts, though far distant from each other, have been established in the fur-countries for a century and a half; yet this, as far as I could learn, is the first instance of this species of swallow placing itself under the protection of man within the widely-extended lands north of the Great Lakes.* What cause could have thus suddenly called into action that confidence in the human race with which the Framer of the Universe has endowed this species, in common with others of the swallow tribe ?" This species is very widely distributed. It was transmitted to Professor Jameson from India some years ago by the Marchioness of Hastings. Passing over the goat-suckers (genus Caprimulgus), which are frequent and numerous in the northern regions of America, we may here record the name of the belted king-fisher (Alcedo alcyon, Linn.) as the sole representative in the fur-countries of a tribe very widely diffused over all the known regions of the earth. It is a bird of passage, and winters as far south as the West Indies, although it also occurs in Georgia and the Floridas during that season. A more numerous and much more important family of birds (in America) are the Tetraonide or grouse. Nearly a dozen species inhabit the fur-countries, and of these the largest and most remarkable is the pheasant-tailed grouse or cock of the plains (Tetrao urophasianus, Bon.). The flight of this bird, Mr. Douglas informs us, is slow and unsteady, and affords but little amusement to the sportsman. Its wings are small, and but feebly feathered in proportion to the size of the bird, which measures from thirty-two to thirty-four inches in length, and weighs from six to eight pounds. Though it may be said to represent the capercailzie *The late governor, De Witt Clinton, has given a very interesting history of the closely-resembling species, H. fulva, which about sixteen years ago began to build its nests on the walls of houses in the Western States, and has every succeeding summer been advancing farther to the eastward. Vide Ann. Lyc., New-York, vol. i. p. 156. † Fauna Boreali-Americana, vol. ii. p. 331. ༢ sexes. The young differ considerably from the adults, and seldom attain the perfect plumage till the lapse of one or two seasons. North America produces several grebes (genus Podiceps) and sea-swallows (Sterna). About a dozen different kinds of gull (Larus) inhabit both the barren shores and inland swamps of the fur-countries. A beautiful species called the fork-tailed gull (Larus Sabinii) is here represented. This bird was discovered by Captain Edward Sabine on a group of three low rocky islands, about twenty miles from the mainland, off the west coast of Greenland. "They flew with impetuosity towards persons approaching their nests and young; and when one bird of a pair was killed, its mate, though separately fired at, continued on wing close to the spot where it lay."* The fork-tailed or Sabine gull is one of the most elegant of the genus. Its colours, though sufficiently contrasted for variety and liveli ness of effect, are finely harmonized. The colour of the head assumes a considerable variety of appearances, according to the direction and degree of light in which it is examined;—a tinge of black, brown, blue, or purple, seeming alternately suffused over the deep lead colour which forms the prevailing tone by which the parts are usually characterized. There appears to be no difference in the plumage of the sexes, but the female is rather less in size. A solitary example of this species was met in Prince Regent's Inlet during Sir Edward Parry's first voyage, and in the course of the second voyage many were obtained on Melville Peninsula. They arrive in high northern latitudes in June, and take their departure southwards as early as the month of August. As an example of the northern ducks, we shall confine ourselves to the Rocky Mountain golden-eye (Clangula Barrovi, Rich. and Swains.), a species distinguished from our common golden-eye by the head and upper portion of the neck being of a pansy-purple colour, with a large crescentshaped spot of white before each eye. The white speculum of the wing is separated from a band of the same colour on the coverts by a black stripe. It is dedicated to Mr. Barrow of the Admiralty, our chief promoter of those important * Linn. Trans, yol. xii. p. 522. geographical discoveries, from the successful conduct of which such essential benefits have resulted to zoological science. It appears that the swan lately discovered, or at least identified as new to the records of British ornithology, and described by Mr. Yarrell* under the name of Bewick's swan (Cygnus Bewickii), is an inhabitant of the seacoast within the Arctic circle of America. It is much later in its northern migratory movements than its congener the trumpeterswan (C. buccinator). According to Lewis and Clarke, it winters near the mouth of the Columbia. Its nest is described by Captain Lyon (than whom few describe in a more agreeable manner) as built in a peat-moss, and being nearly six feet long, four and three-quarters wide, two feet high exteriorly, and with a cavity in the inside of a foot and a half in diameter. The eggs were brownishwhite, clouded with a darker tint. A more common species of swan in the interior of the fur-countries is the trumpeter above named. The great bulk of the skins imported by the Hudson's Bay Company pertain to this species. The white pelican (Pel. onocrotalus) is frequent in the fur-countries as high as the sixty-first parallel. It haunts eddies beneath cascades, and destroys a great quantity of carp and other fish. The great northern diver (Colymbus glacialis) is met with in considerable numbers in all the lakes of the interior, though seldom observed either in Hudson's Bay or along the shores of the Arctic Sea. It flies heavily, but swims with great swiftness. The black-throated species (C. Arcticus), on the other hand, though common on the coasts of Hudson's Bay, more rarely makes its way into the interior. Most of the guillemot tribe (Uria troile, Brunnichii, grylle, and alle) frequent the Arctic seas of America. We shall here close our account of the feathered races of these northern regions. * Linn. Trans. vol, xvi. p. 445. |