CLA- 

 TURE 



Introduction 23 



are thus brought to a realization of how much there is to be 

 done. In many cases we have got no further than giving the 

 creature a name. 



The sections are briefly indicated below. Their order is 

 varied whenever it has seemed best suited to the material. 



The accepted or acceptable English names are first nomen- 

 recorded; second, the scientific names used by the leading 

 American mammalogists, with the important references. The 

 French-Canadian names have next place. 



Experience shows that a record of the Indian names may 

 be of great service to travellers and historians; therefore I give 

 them as fully as possible in the language of each of the tribes 

 that touch Manitoba, or that I personally came in contact with. 



In my preliminary account of the "Mammals of Mani- 

 toba" (1887) I gave only the Ojibwa and Cree names, and 

 used a special alphabet that had been recommended by several 

 Ethnologists; but I found it open to at least two objections: 

 first, that the Ethnologists themselves were not agreed on it; 

 and, second, that only the few who had the alphabet could use 

 my list. The records were meant for the whole world of stu- 

 dents, in and out of Manitoba. Therefore I have now adopted 

 Sir John Richardson's plan, and have given the Indian names 

 in the English alphabet; the letter "g" being hard always. 



The names of species treated in this book are capitalized capi- 

 throughout. 



When a number is used in an exact or mathematical sense n'^^m- 



HERS 



I prefer to express it in figures; except for i and 2 figure di- 

 visions of time, or where obscurity might result, or when the 

 number begins a sentence, or when it is a very small number 

 that stands isolated — in which cases it is spelled out. 



When dealing with the animal as a race or species I use the gen-der 

 neuter gender as consistently as possible. When speaking of 

 an individual I use the gender that seems fittest. 



