THE GAME ANIMALS OF CANADA 101 
vent starvation. No person shall at any time trade or traffic in musk-ox 
or any part thereof, and the possession of the skins of such musk-ox by 
any other person than the said Indians, Eskimos or half-breeds shall 
constitute an offence. 
In another chapter (p. 313), the utilization of the musk-ox 
as an economic factor in the development of Arctic Canada 
is discussed. 
We hope that the absolute close season for a number of 
years will prevent its complete disappearance within « very © 
few years from our northern Barren Grounds, where it has 
maintained itself in those Arctic solitudes for thousands of 
years before the advent of the white man and his deadly 
rifle. 
BEARS 
Canada possesses, in numerical abundance of the chief 
species of bears, by far the greatest portion of the bear 
population of North America. The enormous extent of the 
coast and islands of Arctic Canada constitutes the chief 
habitat of the polar bear. The Rocky Mountains and the 
mountain ranges flanking them in British Columbia now form 
the chief region in which the grizzly bear, which has been 
largely wiped out in its more southerly range, is to be 
found; its near relative, the Barren-ground grizzly, is only 
to be met with in the treeless northern region; while the 
black bear occurs everywhere in the wooded regions from 
the Atlantic to the Pacific, and nowhere throughout this 
extensive range can it be said to be very uncommon; in 
certain regions it is very common. From all standpoints, 
therefore, we are particularly fortunate in our bear popula- 
tion, and a special responsibility accordingly rests upon us 
to take such measures as may be necessary to conserve so 
interesting and, at the same time, so economically valu- 
able a section of the native mammalian fauna of this 
continent. 
