126 



The Canadian Field-Naturalist 



Vol. XXXV 



men are camping there they have one or 

 more dog teams about. 



Family Sciuridae. 

 No actual specimen was taken or seen 

 but near the camp were tracks which I 

 think belonged to : 



Sciurus hudsonicus Erxleben. 

 Citellus franlilini Sabine. 



Famil.y Muridae. 

 Peromyscus moniciilatus arcticus, 

 Mearns, the arctic deer mouse. Two spe- 

 cimens were taken at the camp. 



One of the fishermen reported having 

 seen a ground squirrel presumably Ci- 

 tellus franklini and the mouse was not 

 uncommon. 



On the main island tracks of the lynx, 

 .Lijnx canadensis, and the fox, Vulpes ful- 

 va, were encountered, but not on the spit, 

 and one evening a timber wolf, Canis Occi- 

 dent alis, was seen on the island opposite 

 the spit. 



Class Aves. 



Somewhat fuller notes are provided in 

 the case of the birds since Mr. J. N. Gowan- 

 lock was particularly interested in them. 

 I liere wish to express my thanks to him 

 for his assistance in this matter. The 

 numbers are those of the Catalofjue of 

 Canadian Birds. (5) 



Order Longipennes. 

 Family Jjaridae. 



(51.) Larus argentatus Pontoppidan, 

 Herring Gull. A common visitant fishing 

 along the shores of the spit. Groups some- 

 times alighted to sun themselves along the 

 southern side. 



(54.) Larus delairarensis Ord. Ring- 

 billed Gull. Associated with but in lesser 

 numbers than the preceding. 



(64.) Sterna caspia Pallas, Caspian 

 Tern. The nearest breeding-place of these 

 birds was on Pelican Island and on only 

 two or three occasions were individuals 

 (in one instance a dozen or more) observed 

 passing over the spit in company with the 

 two following species. 



(69.) Sterna forsteri Nuttall. Forster's 

 Tern. Constantly in search of fish, these 

 birds occurred along the waters bordering 

 the sandspit. 



(70.) Sterna hirundo Linnaeus. Com- 

 mon Tern. Like the last, this bird fished 

 regularly along the shores of the sandspit, 



Iks halsamife. o, Eqmsetum arvense and 

 some g! asses, seem to be invading the 

 daughter spit. 



The whole spit is exposed and the plants 

 not so advanced as in more sheltered parts. 

 Thus while roses. Rosa hlanda, were in 

 flower on Big Island on July 5th, the first 

 one to come out on the spit was on July 

 10th. Again, ripe strawberries were com- 

 mon on Big Island on the same day but 

 did not ripen plentifully on the spit until 

 July 12th. It is, of course, not protected 

 by trees and so exposed to the winds; this 

 was a decided advantage, foi- the camp 

 was practically free from the mosquitoes 

 which are such a pest on the main part of 

 the island. 



One of the most striking features in the 

 distribution of the plants is that on each 

 side we have zones that are well covered 

 witji plants, i.e. D, E and F on the south 

 and J and K on the north, while G and H 

 between them are very sparse indeed. If 

 we rule out the invasion at the west end 

 and the poplar dumps at the east they are 

 almost bare. B in particular is sandy and 

 has all along it a line of drift showing that 

 within the last few years it was the shore 

 of the inner bay. Drift is also found on 

 the inner side of H. 



ANIMAL LIFE. 



As might be expected the animal life on 

 such an area is not extensive, but a num- 

 ber of different forms were taken. 



While an attempt was made to identify 

 the specimens and a number were actually 

 identified, I soon realised that in the ab- 

 sence of ready access to a large library 

 and well stocked museum, the task could 

 not be satisfactorily accomplished. I there- 

 fore threw myself on the generosit.y of my 

 fellow-scientists who, without exception, 

 gave me their assistance. In each case I 

 have cited the authorities responsible for 

 the determination of the species. The 

 United States National Museum, Washing- 

 ton, through the kind offices of Dr. Al- 

 drich were good enough to identify many 

 of the insects, and the name of the part- 

 icular expert, followed by LT. S. Nat. Mus., 

 is associated with the forms they deter- 

 mined. 



Class Mammalia. 



Mammals were rare on the point, per- 

 haps owing to the fact that whenever the 



