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THE OTTAWA NATURALIST. 



Vol. XV. OTTAWA, JULY, 1901. No. 



THE EXTINCTION OF THE ELK IN ONTARIO. 



By L. H. Smith, Strathroy, Ont. 



(Read before llie London Ornithological Section of the Entomological Society 



of Ontario.) 



That the Wapiti {Cervus canadensis), commonly called "Elk," 

 once roamed in numbers in the southern part of Ontario which 

 lies between Lakes Huron and Erie, I have positive evidence, but 

 as to what time they lived here or when or by what tneans their ex- 

 tinction was broug-ht about, I have been able to glean very little 

 information. 



The extinction of some animals of our fauna is easily accounted 

 for ; the wolf, the bear, the common red deer and the wild turkey 

 were all indig-enous to our forest ; their death-warrant was signed 

 when the first settler, with his axe, felled the first tree making the 

 little clearance to erect his primitive log shanty. Naturalists do 

 not agree on the cause of the disappearance of the passenger 

 pigeon, which used to be with us in countless millions. I am of the 

 opinion that clearing the forest, and thus destroying its great 

 natural food supply, was the cause. The animals I have named 

 were alLhere when the first settlers came to the country, but the 

 great elk was not. 



The first settlers came into the township of Adelaide in 1832. 

 There were no elk here then, and I have never been able to glean 

 any information from them about this great deer, although I have 

 spoken to many. The most interesting information I have been 

 able to get of this animal is from an Indian on the Kettle Point 

 Reserve, in the county of Lambton. He was an intelligent man 

 and acted as interpreter. He was an elderly man when I spoke to 

 him, perhaps between 60 and 70 years of age, He knows nothing 



