56 NEW YORK ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



aged to roll it fairly into the stream. The next morning I loaded 

 everything into my hard-earned craft, and was soon gliding down 

 a 'Swift and mighty river of which I had no personal knowledge. 

 My boat was so large and so heavily laden it required all my 

 Strength and skill to manage it alone. Two days later, however, 

 I reached Fort Liard in safety, and there I secured excellent help. 



On my way from Fort Liard down to the Mackenzie I stopped 

 at the Nahanna Mountains, a spur on the eastern slope of the 

 Rockies, and made a successful hunt for the white mountain sheep 

 (Ovis dalli). When selecting this route of travel, I knew it offered 

 many obstacles to navigation, but I believed I could overcome 

 them, and in doing so penetrate a vast area of country never (to 

 my knowledge) yet explored by any one interested in natural his- 

 tory work. I also recognized that while the Rocky Mountain 

 range — always prolific in animal life — had been quite fully ex- 

 plored throughout the States and lower British Columbia in the 

 interest of natural history, its northern reaches seemed to be but 

 little known, at least so far as a knowledge of its mammalia is 

 concerned. I was therefore ambitious to penetrate this region, 

 and decided to travel through the range from west to east by way 

 of the Liard River, which cuts through the mountains at about 

 60° N. I also determined to penetrate them from the east at about 

 65° N., and again at 67° 30' N., and follow them from there to 

 the Arctic coast. 



I resolved to give no part of my time to ornithology, partly be- 

 cause my work on the mammalia and ethnology of that region 

 would require all my time and means of transportation. I am 

 forwarding to the American Museum of Natural History speci- 

 mens from many localities along my route from which the identity 

 of the smaller species collected by me will presently be learned. 

 Meanwhile I summarize for the Zoological Society, as requested, 

 a few facts in relation to the larger mammalia of the regions ex- 

 plored by me on the Stickine and Liard Rivers. 



Moose. — Travelling up the Stickine, the range of the moose is 

 entered about 160 miles from the coast, but individuals are not 

 found in any considerable number until another 75 miles have 

 been passed over. Throughout the headwaters of the Stickine, 

 along the Dease River, and throughout the Liard River basin, 

 moose can be said to be abundant. Li the Liard basin are many 

 thousand square miles of muskeg lands overgrown with willows 



