REGRETS— SOUVENIRS — VŒUX D'UN CHASSEUR

les lacs du Nord à l'intérieur, les rives de l'Océan glacial et les îles du bas du fleuve, où couve le gibier, l'on sait que l'abondance en était telle que les premiers explorateurs l'ont consignée dans leurs relations ; que nombre de goélettes des Etats-Unis, y viennent encore chaque année, en mai et juin, en enlever des charges entières d'œufs. Heureusement, que notre Législature a su réprimer ces attentats contre l'espace ailée. La protection du gibier, après avoir été longtemps méconnue, a enfin obtenu, parmi nous, droit de cité ; nos lois de chasse améliorées, font l'admiration de nos voisins, qui fondent depuis quelques années des clubs pour la protection du gibier, et passent des ordonnances de chasse à notre exemple ; ce ne sont pas les

Mémoire sur le gibier qui fréquente le nord du continent, dont nous extrayons ce qui suit :

" It is very difficuit to form anything like an accurate ideaofthe various spccies of geese that hâve just been passed in review, viz : the Canada gr«*y goose, the lesser <rrey goose, the Brant goose, and the white fronted goose. Or the quantity shot at particular points wh'ere they beconie an article of provisions, we may arrive at a wide, but still a better estimate. Seventeen to twenty thousand geese are sometimes killed by the Albany Indians in the autumn or fall of theyear, and ten thousand or more in the spring, raaking a total, for thèse coast Crées

alone, of at least 30,000

Not speuking so ceitainly of other natives, I would place the

Moose Indians as killing at ail seasons , 10,000

Rupert's River natives 8,000

E istmain and to the north, including Esquimaux 6,000

The Severn Coast I cannot compute as yielding less than 10,000

The York Factory and Churchill Indians, with Esquimaux

beyond, must dispose of 10,000

Making a total of geese killed on the coast, of 74,000

As many geese must die wounded, and others are got hold of by the foxes and wolverines, we may safely allow the total loss tô the flocks while running the fiery gauntlet, as équivalent to 80,000. I was at one time inclined to believe that two-thirds of this number was, or might be, the proportion for autumn hunt, but it is probably nearer, the newly fledged flocks, as they paes southward along the bay. I hâve lately

seuls avantages qu'ils retireraient, s'ils avaient le bon esprit de s'annexer au Canada !

On a, en Canada chassé aussi, longtemps comme des barbares, des Goths et des Ostrogotes.

Bien n'était respecté : on n'épargnait nul être emplumé. Il y a encore, nous le craignons, parmi ceux qui épaulent le fusil, des âmes abjectes, desavouées de saint Hubert, capables de tirer une bécasse sur son nid au printemps, de dénicher un merle, une bécassine, une perdrix ou même un canard branchu, pour en vendre les œufs. Il n'y a que l'amende ou la prison qui puisse faire respecter par ces misérables, le temps sacré de l'incubation des œufs, de l'éclosion des jeunes. C'est par le fouet de la loi seul que vous ferez comprendre à cette canaille que, pour chaque oiseau des espèces sédentaires tué au printemps, c'est une couvée entière, peut-être quinze individus de perdus pour l'automne.

been informed by an old and experienced hunter, that he believes tbat for every goose that is killed, above twenty must leave the bay without Bcaith, as although there is sometimes destruction dire among soiue iots that feed in quarters frequented by hunters, y et innumerable families of them alight onremote and quiet feeding grounds, remain unmolested and take wiïig when the cold sets in, with their numbers intact. I must allow the correctness of this r«mark, and the déduction to be drawn irom it, is that 1,^00,000 geese leave their breed.ng grounds by the Hudson's Bay line of march for the génial south. Of the numbers to the westward along the arctic coasf, that wend their way to their winter quarters stra'*ght across the continent, we can form but a very vague opinion, but Computing it at two-thirds or more of the quantity supposed to leave the eastern of the arctic coagt, we cannot hâve less than two millions of geese, composingthe numerous battalions whi' h pass over ihe continent between the Atlantic and' the Rocky Mountains, borne aloft generally like the scud, and as swiftly hastened on, by the force of the boréal blast.

" I ought to observe that the Brant geese, Bernicla Brenta, are not included in the above estimate. They are pretty numerous on the Atlantic coast, but are quite neglectedby the Indians, in gênerai, of Hudson's Biy."