1056 Life-histories of Northern Animals 



Hearne says' that Blackbears were "so numerous in the 

 country between York Fort and Cumberland House that in 

 [June] 1774 I saw 11 killed in the course of one day's journey." 



As many as 30 Bears have been killed in one year in Lewis 

 County, N. Y., about 300 square miles (according to Merriam^ ), 

 and the inference is that this was unusually high — moreover, 

 we know now that it was too much for their numbers to stand. 



I reckon that an animal breeding so slowly as the Bear 

 could not stand a greater drain by man than 10 per cent, per 

 annum, therefore Lewis County must have had a Bear pop- 

 ulation of considerably less than 300. Yet this was considered 

 an abundance. 



Throughout the last quarter of the nineteenth century 

 the Hudson's Bay Company exported about 7,000 bear-skins 

 each year, and the other fur companies about the same, an 

 aggregate of 14,000 bear-skins. But we know that thousands 

 are killed when the hides are not worth shipping, and half of 

 those taken are used or misused by the natives, therefore 30,000 

 will more nearly represent the annual kill on an area of about 

 5,000,000 square miles. As during the time cited the supply 

 has, apparently, not dwindled, it implies at least 300,000 Bears, 

 one to every 16 square miles. 



This I suspect is very near the truth to-day, although 

 there are reasons for believing that in ancient times they were 

 more numerous. 



FLucTu- A study of the fur returns shows that the Bear population 



rises and falls as does that of most species. Roderick Mac- 

 Farlane calls my attention to this, but cannot satisfy himself of 

 the reason. He mentions, to cast doubt on, epidemics and 

 migration, then adds:° 



"There are other circumstances also, such as an un- 

 favourable season for breeding, a scarcity of the required food, 

 and the destruction by fire of extensive areas of forest, which 

 would, of course, more or less affect the abundance of these 



•Journey, 1795, p. 370. ° Mam. Adir., 1884, p. 103. 



° In personal letter. 



