A Journey to the Northern Ocean

by Samuel Hearne

  BLACK GULLEMOTS, known in Hudson’s Bay by the name of Sea Pigeons. Those birds frequent the shores of Hudson’s Bay and Straits in considerable numbers; but more particularly the Northern parts, where they fly in large flocks; to the Southward they are only seen in pairs. They are of a fine black, but not glossy, with scarlet legs and feet; and the coverets of the wings are marked with white. They are in weight equal to a Widgeon, though to appearance not so large. They usually make their nests in the holes of rocks, and lay two white eggs, which are delicate eating, but not proportionately large for the size of the bird. My friend Mr. Pennant says, they brave the coldest Winters in those parts, by keeping at the edge of the ice near the open water; but as the sea at that season is frozen over for several miles from the shore, I believe no one’s curiosity ever tempted him to confirm the truth of this; and it is well known they never make their appearance near the land after the frost becomes severe.

  NORTHERN DIVERS. These birds, though common in Hudson’s Bay, are by no means plentiful; they are seldom found near the sea coast, but more frequently in fresh water lakes, and usually in pairs. They build their nests at the edge of small islands, or the margins of lakes or ponds; they lay only two eggs, and it is very common to find only one pair and their young in one sheet of water; a great proof of their aversion to society. They are known in Hudson’s Bay by the name of Loons. They differ in species from the Black and Red throated Divers, having a large black bill near four inches long; plumage on the back of a glossy black, elegantly barred with white; the belly of a silver white; and they are so large as at times to weigh fifteen or sixteen pounds. Their flesh is always black, hard, and fishy, yet it is generally eaten by the Indians.

  BLACK-THROATED DIVERS. This species are more beautiful than the former; having a long white bill, plumage on the back and wings black, elegantly tinged with purple and green, and prettily marked with white spots. In size they are equal to the former; but are so watchful as to dive at the flash of a gun, and of course are seldom killed but when on the wing. Their flesh is equally black and fishy with the former, but it is always by the Indians. The skins of those birds are very thick and strong, and they are frequently dressed with the feathers on, and made into caps for the Indian men. The skins of the Eagle and Raven, with their plumage complete, are also applied to that use, and are far from being an unbecoming head-dress for a savage.

  RED-THROATED DIVERS. This species are also called Loons in Hudson’s Bay; but they are so far inferior to the two former, that they seldom weigh more than three or four pounds. They, like the other species of Loon, are excellent divers; they always feed on fish, and when in pursuit of their prey, are frequently entangled in fishing-nets, set at the mouths of creeks and small rivers. They are more numerous than either of the former, as they frequently fly in flocks; but like them make their nests at the edge of the water, and only lay two eggs, which, though very rank and fishy, are always eaten by Indians and English. The legs of those three species of Loon are placed so near the rump as to be of no service to them on the land, as they are perfectly incapable of walking; and when found in that situation (which is but seldom) they are easily taken, though they make a strong resistance with their bill, which is very hard and sharp.

  WHITE GULLS. These birds visit Hudson’s Bay in great numbers, both on the sea coasts and in the interior parts, and probably extend quite across the continent of America. They generally make their appearance at Churchill River about the middle of May; build their nests on the islands in lakes and rivers; lay two speckled eggs, and bring forth their young in June. Their eggs are generally esteemed good eating, as well as the flesh of those in the interior parts of the country, though they feed on fish and carrion. They make their stay on Hudson’s Bay as long in the Fall as the frost will permit them to procure a livelihood.

  GREY GULLS. These birds, though common, are by no means plentiful; and I never knew their breeding-places, as they seldom make their appearance at Churchill River till the Fall of the year, and remain there only till the ice begins to be formed about the shores. They seldom frequent the interior parts of the country. They are not inferior in size to the former, and in the Fall of the year are generally fat. The flesh is white and very good eating; and, like most other Gulls, they are a most excellent shot when on the wing.

  BLACK GULLS, usually called in Hudson’s Bay, Men of War, from their pursuing and taking the prey from a lesser species of Gull, known in that country by the name of Black-head. In size they are much inferior to the two former species; but, like them, always make their nests on islands, or at the margins of lakes or ponds; they lay only two eggs, and are found at a considerable distance from the sea coast. The length of their wings is very great in proportion to the body; the tail is uniform, and the two middle feathers are four or five inches longer than the rest. Their eggs are always eaten, both by the Indians and English; but the bird itself is generally rejected, except when other provisions are very scarce.

  BLACK-HEADS. These are the smallest species of Gull that I know. They visit the sea coast of Hudson’s Bay in such vast numbers, that they are frequently seen in flocks of several hundreds; and I have known bushels of their eggs taken on an island of very small circumference. These eggs are very delicate eating, the yolks being equal to that of a young pullet, and the whites of a semi-transparent azure, but the bird itself is always fishy. Their affection for their young is so strong, that when any person attempts to rob their nests, they fly at him, and sometimes approach so near as to touch him with their pinions; and when they find their loss, will frequently follow the plunderer to a considerable distance, and express their grief by making an unusual screaming noise.

  This bird may be ranked with the elegant part of the feathered creation, though it is by no means gay. The bill, legs, and feet are of a rich scarlet; crown black, and the remainder of the plumage of a light ash-colour, except the quill-feathers, which are prettily barred, and tipped with black, and the tail much forked. The flight, or extent of wing, in this bird, is very great, in proportion to the body. They are found as far North as has hitherto been visited, but retire to the South early in the Fall.

  PELICANS. Those birds are numerous in the interior parts of the country, but never appear near the sea-coast. They generally frequent large lakes, and always make their nests on islands. They are so provident for their young, that great quantities of fish lie rotting near their nests, and emit such a horrid stench as to be smelt at a considerable distance. The flesh of the young Pelican is frequently eaten by the Indians; and as they are always very fat, great quantities of it is melted down, and preserved in bladders for Winter use,(14) to mix with pounded flesh; but by keeping, it grows very rank. The Pelicans in those parts are about the size of a common goose; their plumage is of a delicate white, except the quill-feathers, which are black. The bill is near a foot long; and the bag, which reaches from the outer-end of the under-mandible to the breast, is capable of containing upwards of three quarts. The skins of those birds are thick and tough, and are frequently dressed by the Indians and converted into bags, but are never made into clothing, though their feathers are as hard, close, and durable, as those of a Loon.

  GOOSANDERS, usually called in Hudson’s Bay, Shelldrakes. Those birds are very common on the sea-coast, but in the interior parts fly in very large flocks. The bill is long and narrow, and toothed like a saw; and they have a tuft of feathers at the back of the head, which they can erect at pleasure. They are most excellent divers, and such great destroyers of fish, that they are frequently obliged to vomit some of them before they can take flight. Though not much larger than the Mallard Duck, they frequently swallow fish of six or seven inches long and proportionately thick. Those that frequent the interior parts of the country prey much on crawfish, which are very numerous in some of the shallow stony rivers. In the Fall of the year they are very fat, and though they always feed on fish, yet their flesh at that season is very good; and they remain in those parts as long as the frost w
ill permit them to procure a subsistence.

  SWANS. There are two species of this bird that visit Hudson’s Bay in Summer; and only differ in size, as the plumage of both are perfectly white, with black bill and legs. The smaller sort are more frequent near the sea-coast, but by no means plentiful, and are most frequently seen in pairs, but sometimes single, probably owing to their mates having been killed on their passage North. Both species usually breed on the islands which are in lakes; and the eggs of the larger species are so big, that one of them is a sufficient meal for a moderate man, without bread, or any other addition. In the interior parts of the country the larger Swan precedes every other species of water-fowl, and in some years arrive so early as the month of March, long before the ice of the rivers are broken up. At those times they always frequent the open waters of falls and rapids, where they are frequently shot by the Indians in considerable numbers. They usually weigh upwards of thirty pounds, and the lesser species from eighteen to twenty-four. The flesh of both are excellent eating, and when roasted, is equal in flavour to young heifer-beef, and the cygnets are very delicate.

  Notwithstanding the size of this bird, they are so swift on the wing as to make them the most difficult to shoot of any bird I know, it being frequently necessary to take sight ten or twelve feet before their bills. This, however, is only when flying before the wind in a brisk gale, at which time they cannot fly at a less rate than an hundred miles an hour; but when flying across the wind, or against it, they make but a slow progress, and are then a noble shot. In their moulting state they are not easily taken, as their large feet, with the assistance of their wings, enables them to run on the surface of the water as fast as an Indian canoe can be paddled, and therefore they are always obliged to be shot; for by diving and other manoeuvres they render it impossible to take them by hand. It has been said that the Swans whistle or sing before their death, and I have read some elegant descriptions of it in some of the poets; but I have never heard any thing of the kind, though I have been at the deaths of several. It is true, in serene evenings, after Sun-set, I have heard them make a noise not very unlike that of a French-horn, but entirely divested of every note that constituted melody, and have often been sorry to find it did not forebode their death. Mr. Lawson, who, as Mr. Pennant justly remarks, was no inaccurate observer, properly enough calls the largest species Trumpeters, and the lesser, Hoopers. Some years ago, when I built Cumberland House, the Indians killed those birds in such numbers, that the down and quills might have been procured in considerable quantities at a trifling expence; but since the depopulation of the natives by the small-pox, which has also driven the few survivors to frequent other parts of the country, no advantage can be made of those articles, though of considerable value in England.(15)

  Geese

  There are no less than ten different species of Geese that frequent the various parts of Hudson’s Bay during Summer, and are as follow: First, The Common Grey Goose. Second, The Canada Goose. Third, The White, or Snow Goose. Fifth, The Blue Goose. Sixth, The Laughing Goose. Seventh, The Barren Goose. Eighth, The Brent Goose. Ninth, The Dunter; and Tenth, the Bean Goose.

  COMMON GREY GOOSE. This bird precedes every other species of Goose in those parts, and in some forward Springs arrives at Churchill River so early as the latter end of April, but more commonly from the eleventh to the sixteenth of May; and in one year it was the twenty-sixth of May before any Geese made their appearance. At their first arrival they generally come in pairs, and are so fond of society, that they fly straight to the call that imitates their note; by which means they are easily shot. They breed in great numbers in the plains and marshes near Churchill River; and in some years the young ones can be taken in considerable numbers, and are easily tame; but will never learn to eat corn, unless some of the old ones are taken with them, which is easily done when in a moulting state. On the ninth of August one thousand seven hundred and eighty-one, when I resided at Prince of Wales’s Fort, I sent some Indians up Churchill River in canoes to procure some of those Geese, and in the afternoon they were seen coming down the river with a large flock before them; the young ones not more than half-grown, and the old ones so far in a moulting state as not to be capable of flying; so that, with the assistance of the English and the Indians then residing on the plantation, the whole flock, to the amount of forty-one, was drove within the stockade which incloses the Fort, where they were fed and fattened for Winter use. Wild Geese taken and fattened in this manner are much preferable to any tame Geese in the world. When this species of Geese are full-grown and in good condition, they often weigh twelve pounds, but more frequently much less.

  CANADA GOOSE, or Pisk-a-fish, as it is called by the Indians, as well as the English in Hudson’s Bay. This species do not differ in plumage from the former, but are inferior in size; the bill is much smaller in proportion, and the flesh being much whiter, of course is more esteemed. They are by no means so numerous as the former, and generally fly far North to breed; but some few of their eggs are found near Churchill River. It is seldom that either of these species lay more than four eggs; but if not robbed, they usually bring them all forth.

  WHITE or SNOW GOOSE. These are the most numerous of all the species of birds that frequent the Northern parts of the Bay, and generally make their appearance about a week or ten days after the Common Grey Goose. In the first part of the season they come in small parties, but in the middle, and toward the latter end, they fly in such amazing flocks, that when they settle in the marshes to feed, the ground for a considerable distance appears like a field of snow. When feeding in the same marsh with the Grey Geese, they never mix. Like the Grey Geese, they fly to the call that resembles their note; and in some years are killed and salted in great numbers for Winter provision; they are almost universally thought good eating, and will, if proper care be taken in curing them, continue good for eighteen months or two years. The Indians are far more expert in killing Geese, as well as every other species of game, than any European I ever saw in Hudson’s Bay; for some of them frequently kill upward of a hundred Geese in a day, whereas the most expert of the English think it a good day’s work to kill thirty. Some years back it was common for an Indian to kill from a thousand to twelve hundred Geese in one season; but latterly he is reckoned a good hunter that kills three hundred. This is by no means owing to the degeneracy of the natives; for the Geese of late years do not frequent those parts in such numbers as formerly. The general breeding-place of this bird is not known to any Indian in Hudson’s Bay, not even to the Esquimaux who frequent the remotest North. The general route they take in their return to the South in the Fall of the year, is equally unknown; for though such multitudes of them are seen at Churchill River in the Spring, and are frequently killed to the amount of five or six thousand; yet in the Fall of the year, seven or eight hundred is considered a good hunt. At York Fort, though only two degrees South of Churchill River, the Geese seasons fluctuate so much, that in some Springs they have salted forty hogsheads, and in others not more than one or two: and at Albany Fort, the Spring season is by no means to be depended on; but in the Fall they frequently salt sixty hogsheads of Geese, besides great quantities of Plover. The retreat of those birds in Winter is equally unknown, as that of their breeding-places. I observe in Mr. Pennant’s Arctic Zoology, that about Jakutz, and other parts of Siberia, they are caught in great numbers, both in nets and by decoying them into hovels; but if these are the same birds, they must at times vary as much in manner as they do in situation; for in Hudson’s Bay they are the shyest and most watchful of all the species of Geese, never suffering an open approach, not even within two or three gun-shots: yet in some of the rivers near Cumberland House, and at Basquiau, the Indians frequently kill twenty at one shot; but this is only done in moon-light nights, when the Geese are sitting on the mud, and the sportsmen are perfectly concealed from their view. Though the plumage of those Geese are perfectly white, except the quill-feathers, which are black, the skin is of a dark lead-colour, and the
flesh is excellent eating, either fresh or salt. They are much inferior in size to the Common Grey Geese, but equal to the Canada Geese.

  BLUE GEESE. This species are of the same size as the Snow Geese; and, like them, the bill and legs are of a deep flesh-colour, but the whole plumage is of a dirty blue, resembling old lead. The skin, when stripped of its feathers, is of the same colour as the Snow Goose, and they are equally good eating. This species of Geese are seldom seen to the North of Churchill River, and not very common at York Fort; but at Albany fort they are more plentiful than the White or Snow Geese. Their breeding-places are as little known to the most accurate observer as those of the Snow Geese; for I never knew any of their eggs taken, and their Winter haunts have hitherto been undiscovered. Those birds are frequently seen to lead a flock of the White ones; and, as they generally fly in angles, it is far from unpleasant to see a bird of a different colour leading the van. The leader is generally the object of the first sportsman who fires, which throws the whole flock into such confusion, that some of the other hunters frequently kill six or seven at a shot.