Vol. XI. pp. 235-240 September 17. 1897 



PROCEEDINGS 



OF THE 



BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON' 



'^A 



't^ * V 



ON A SMALL COLLECTION OF MAMMALS FROM 

 HAMILTON INLET, LABRADOR. 



BY OUTRAM BANGS. 



In the early summer of 1895 INIr. C. H. Goldthwaite started 

 for Hamilton Inlet, Labrador, to collect mammals for the Bangs' 

 Collection. Upon reaching St. Johns, Newfoundland, he was 

 met by the discouraging news that on account of the troubles of 

 the government and the low state of its finances, there was some 

 doubt as to whether its steamer would make the usual annual 

 trip u}) the Labrador coast for the purpose of carrying supjdies 

 and picking up shipwrecked fishermen and explorers. Most of 

 the fishing vessels that visit Labrador in summer had alread}'' 

 sailed, but after much delay and trouble he secured passage from 

 Conception Bay in a belated fisherman, and finally arrived at 

 Hamilton Inlet, after a long and tedious voyage. 



Here he collected from July 5 to September 9, in the immediate 

 vicinity of the Hudson Bay post of Rigoulette, about eighty miles 

 up Hamilton Inlet, or Grosswater Bay, as it is usually called bv 

 the inhabitants. I had hoped that his work would cover a larger 

 area, and that he might get far enough from the post to collect 

 fur-bearing and other large animals, but this proved impossible. 

 The only way to make such a trip successfully would be to go 

 prepared to remain throughout the winter. In summer the in- 

 habitants are all busy with salmon fishing, their principal means 

 of subsistence, and cannot be induced to go inland, even if this 

 were practicable. The heavy growth of moss, saturated with 

 moisture, into which a man sinks above the knee at every step, 



55— Bioi,. Soc. Wash., Vol XI, 181)7 (235) 



