The provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba—­the MIDDLE WEST—­represent mainly the great prairie region of the Canadian Dominion.  Nearly all the streams here flow from the eastern side of the Rocky Mountains and direct their course to the basin of Lake Winnipeg and to Hudson’s Bay.  A few turn south-west to the Missouri and Mississippi.  The landscapes here remind one more of the middle part of the United States.  The climate is severe in winter but very warm and dry in summer.  In the extreme south, within the basin of the upper Missouri, the “prickly pear” (Opuntia) cactus grows in sheltered places, and suggests affinities with distant Colorado and California.

These great plains and river courses of the middle West were, until about fifty years ago, one of the world’s great natural parks or zoological gardens.  Large numbers of wapiti deer, of the smaller Virginian deer,[4] and of the prongbuck “antelope"[5] thronged the grassy flats, and elk browsed on the foliage of the thickets along the river banks.  Grizzly bears and black bears,[6] large grey wolves, the small coyote wolf, the pretty little kit fox and large red fox preyed on these herbivores, as did also pumas and lynxes.  Marmots and prairie hares (Lepus campestris)—­often called rabbits by the pioneers, who also named the marmots “wood-chucks”—­frolicked in the herbage, and formed the principal prey of the numerous rattlesnakes.  By the shores of streams and lakes stood rows of stately cranes:  the whooping crane, of large size, pure white, with black quill feathers, the crown of the head crimson scarlet and the long legs black; and the purple-brown crane, somewhat smaller in size.  On hot, calm days in the region of Lake Winnipeg the cranes soar to an amazing height, flying in circles, till by degrees they are almost out of sight.  Yet their loud note sounds so distinct and near that the spectator might fancy they were close to him.

[Footnote 4:  Mazama americana, similar to, but quite distinct from, the larger mule deer of British Columbia.]

[Footnote 5:  The prongbuck (Antilocapra americana) is not a true antelope, though in outward appearance it resembles a large gazelle.  It was called “cabri” by the French Canadians.]

[Footnote 6:  “Bears make prodigious ravages in the brush and willows; the plum trees, and every tree that bears fruit share the same fate.  The tops of the oaks are also very roughly handled, broken, and torn down, to get the acorns.  The havoc they commit is astonishing....”  —­Alex.  Henry, jun.]

The air at this season is full of great birds—­eagles, buzzards, hawks, and falcons—­soaring in circles to look out for prey among the flocks of wild swans, white geese, bernicle geese and brent geese, duck and teal, which cover the backwaters and the marshes and shallow lagoons.  Turkey buzzards, coming up from the south, act as scavengers during the summer months.  Immense flocks of passenger pigeons, buntings, grosbeaks, attack the ripening fruits and the wild rice of the swamps.  Grouse in uncountable numbers inhabit the drier tablelands and open moors.[7]