Marten 907 



eight years, until they seem ten times as numerous as at the 

 beginning of the period; then they dechne quickly for one or 

 two years until again near zero. 



This fluctuation must be due either to migration, epidemic, 

 starvation, or destruction by trappers, or a combination of 

 these. 



J. K. MacDonald, of Winnipeg, after 35 years' experi- 

 ence as a chief trader for the Hudson's Bay Company, main- 

 tains that migration is the cause. He writes: "I think there 

 is sufficient proof that they do migrate. A question annu- 

 ally put to the Indians returned from the woods in summer 

 or fall was, 'What signs of Marten have you seen ?' and where 

 but few of these animals may have been seen in the previous 

 winter, I would be told, 'They are travelling north, south, east, 

 or west,' as the case might be, and so definite was their knowl- 

 edge that these Indians would go that winter to head off the 

 wanderers, and they never failed to come in contact with them. 

 These movements of large bodies of the Marten go on in sum- 

 mer and till severe weather sets in, beginning again in March 

 and continuing, as far as the males are concerned, till such time 

 as the snow is not fit to travel on; and then on again during the 

 summer. It is accepted as a matter beyond cavil by all 

 Northerners — that is, Hudson Bay hunters — that the Hare, 

 Lynx, and Marten do migrate, and the fluctuation in their 

 numbers is not considered to be caused by epidemics — save 

 in the case of the Hare. 



"The Rabbit is always numerous where Lynx and Marten 

 are plentiful, and it is looked on as a sine qua non by hunters 

 and traders that it is following up the Rabbit or Hare that 

 causes these migrations — that the migration is, in fact, quest 

 for food." 



Bernard Ross comes to a difi^erent conclusion. Writing 

 of the periodical disappearance, he says:^ "It occurs in dec- 

 ades, or thereabouts, with wonderful regularity, and it is 

 quite unknown what becomes of them. They are not found 



» Can. Nat., 1861, VI, p. 28. 



