Snowshoe-rabbit 041 



found killed everywhere. I saw specimens that were so sick 

 they could not get out of my way. Their necks were swollen 

 and their ears were full of blue ticks." (Dr. J. H. Cadham.) 



Red River and Assiniboine Valleys, all the poplar country 

 in the basins of Lakes Manitoba and Winnipegosis, Pembina, 

 Riding Mountain, Duck Mountain and Turtle Mountain 

 had a great Rabbit season in the winter of 1886-7; followed 

 by the plague in the spring of 1887. 



Around Shoal Lake, 1893-4 was a Rabbit year, according 

 to William G. Tweddell, of Woonona. 



In the central part of Manitoba, 1894 was a Rabbit year. 

 Dr. D. A. Stewart, of Winnipeg, tells me that in the fall of that 

 year "the Rabbits were so abundant along Pembina Mountain 

 that in a 6-mile drive between Altamont and Miami I saw 

 35 along the roadside. They were beginning to whiten, though 

 there had been no snow." 



In the fall of 1896 Dr. Stewart says that they were fairly 

 plentiful along the Yellowquill trail south of Portage le Prairie; 

 he saw a number lying dead that year. George Grieve gives 

 similar testimony for the ridge west of Reaburn. In 1898, 

 though the Rabbits were not very abundant, the plague ap- 

 peared among them in Shoal Lake Country. (George 

 H. Measham in letter.) 



In the whole Mackenzie River Valley 1903-4 was a mar- 

 vellous season for Rabbits; their numbers were incalculable. 

 The plague appeared in January, 1904, but did not finish its 

 work for over a year. In 1907 I spent 7 months camping in 

 the region without seeing a single Rabbit. 



The year 1904 was to some extent a Rabbit year in the 

 Pine country of Eastern Manitoba from Whitemouth to Rat 

 Portage, as shown by these notes from my Journal: 



April 25, 1904, Monday, on the railway 25 miles west of 

 Rat Portage (now Kenora), going westward. This appears to 

 be a Rabbit year. The snow which still lies on all the shady 

 places is pattered over with their tracks. From the train I 

 have seen but two or three of the Rabbits themselves. Two 

 were snow white, one was half brown; they were quite con- 



