108 



The Canadian Field-Naturalist. 



[Vol. XXXV. 



in a single night in addition to much tra- 

 velling and digging in other places. They 

 are powerful and effective excavators and 

 what may be assumed as the work of se- 

 veral may be the work of one. [ shot one 

 near the Vermilion in early September. 

 Dusk Avas just creeping over the prairie, 

 when passing near a cut bank we caught 

 a glnnpse of something moving about, and 

 approaching saw one of these animals 

 slouch into a hole it had freshly dug there. 

 It soon reappeared, sniffing curiously, 

 with its nose high in the air, then_ suddenly 

 disappeared again. After a wait of five 

 minutes it boldly repeated its tactics in nu 

 attempt to solve the mystery of its visitors. 



Canada Lynx. 



Li/)i.r canadensis canadensis (Kerr). 



Formerly common in the wooded Ver- 

 milion basin, and apparently a few still 

 breeding there, but now nearly trapped to 

 extinction. Last year an adult and two 

 young were killed three miles north of 

 islay. 



Porcupine. 



Errfhlzon dorsatuin dorsatum (Linnaeus). 

 At Islay the porcupine is encountered 

 only at very rare intervals. The nearest 

 woods of any particular density lie along 

 the Vermilion river four miles to the north. 

 While driving in this basin on July first 

 two years ago, my brother-in-law Mr. Wil- 

 liam East of Islay came upon one loitering 

 near the trail. This is the only one he 

 had seen there after many years residence. 



Muskrat. 



Ondatra zihethica spatulata (Osgood). 



Perhaps a great factor in the general 

 depletion of this animal of late years has 

 been the gradual subsidence of scores of 

 sloughs and small lakes throughout the re- 

 gion, until now great numbers are either 

 totally dry or nearing that condition. An 

 area of hundreds of acres west of town, 

 once a lake ten feet in depth and the home 

 of hundreds of rats, is now as dry as the 

 rest of the open range, fed over by stock 

 and yielding alike good crops of natural 

 hay and Drummond's vole. A tract op- 

 posite the station which a few years ago 

 provided excellent duck shooting, is now 

 entirely dry. Scores of like incidents 

 could be cited. The lakes remaining are 

 of course gradually .sinking, and, as at Is- 



land Lake, one time islands are slowly 

 rising to the dignity of peninsulas when 

 lying off shore. Richardson's ground 

 squirrel has already established himself on 

 these with alacrity. It is estimated that 

 between one and two thousand muskrats 

 inhabited the dried-up lake west of Islay 

 in pre-settlement days. This has an area 

 of approximately one and a half square 

 miles. Two trappers, operating between 

 Edmonton and Vermilion via the Vermi- 

 lion lakes in 1908, took for fall and spring 

 3,900 muskrat skins. From Manville to 

 Vermilion, 'on the Vermilion river, a dis- 

 tance of about fifty miles, one party in the 

 old days took 2,500 skins, and I under- 

 stand this was for the fall only.' Today 

 the majority of these places are nearly 

 destitute. 



Prairie Skunk. 



Mephitis hudsonica (Richardson). 



This species is not at all common but is 

 generally known throughout the country. 



Mink. 



Mustela vison vison (Sehreber). 

 Very rare. Only one mink trail ol)- 

 served in thirteen years by an old resident 

 pioneer. This was on a mud bar of the 

 Vermilion. 



Canadian Beaver. 



Castor canadensis canadensis (Kuhl). 



Almost exterminated. One family of 

 bank beaver known to exist still near the 

 confluence of the Vermilion and Saskat- 

 chewan rivers. 



Prairie Wolf or Coyote. 



Canis latrans (Say). 

 Much more plentiful formerly, but still 

 common. On November 23 five locally 

 caught skins were sold in the village. 

 Numerous animals were sighted during the 

 fall. Some time in October, after the 

 snow, one intrepid individual raced ahead 

 of our car down the trail, leaving it only , 

 as we approached to within about twenty- I 

 five yards, then side-stepping just suffi- 

 cient to get screen behind some low wil- 

 lows that lined the ditch. As we dashed 

 by he stood there partly visible, wearing a 

 languid quizzical grin that was comical in 

 the extreme. After the snow fall of Oc- 

 tober 7, 8, to sight their trails was a daily 

 occurrence. 



