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 liveliness 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 crescent-shaped 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 geographical discoveries, from the

* Linn. Trans., vol. xii. p. 522.

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 brownish-white, 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.

CHAPTER VIII.

Some Account of the Fishes and other Zoological Productions of the Northern Regions of America.

Sturgeon-Salmon-Trout-Char-Capelan-White Fish-Blue

Fish-Herring-Pike-Burbot-Perch-Bull-head-Northern Insects Their Natural Preservation from Cold-More Northern Extension of Tropical Forms in America than in Europe-Bees -Extension Westwards of the Honey-bee-Diptera-Melville Island Spider-Butterflies.

THE fishes of the northern regions are of great importance as articles of food in countries where a nutritious diet is by no means easy to obtain; and where, as we have seen in the course of our historical disquisition, tripe de roche, burnt bones, and fur-jackets, are too frequently the sorry substitutes for better fare. We shall mention a few of the characteristic kinds.

A species of sturgeon called sterlet (Accipenser Ruthenus) abounds in the Saskatchawan. The fishery at Cumberland House is most productive during the spring and summer. This is a much smaller species than the A. huso. An individual weighing 60 pounds is considered large.

The Coppermine River salmon (Salmo Hernii) is shaped like a common salmon, with a somewhat larger head. Its size is inferior to that of the British salmon. It is captured in great quantities in the leap at Bloody Fall, on the Coppermine, in the months of July and August. Many varieties of trout also occur in the lakes and rivers of the northern parts of America; but as the kinds which frequent our own otherwise well-known streams are still vaguely indicated by naturalists, the reader need not wonder that we have little definite information to communicate regarding those of such far distant lands. The Indians do not appear to designate their trouts by specific appellations, but use a general term ;-the Crees call them