NATURAL HISTORY.— MAMMALS 



241 



" link " was by no means common. They are decreasing in 

 numbers, but not because of the decrease of the hares. Districts 

 which a few years ago received thousands of lynx skins now 

 obtain but a few hundred. The Crees make a very warm and 

 serviceable robe from the fur of lynxs' feet when the animals 

 are abundant. The price varies from 2 to 6 MB. 



They are usually caught in snares similar to those set for 

 hares, but with a larger springe or a heavier weight. One which 

 we passed in a York boat on the Athabasca River stared at us 

 until we were within fifty yards before it thought best to make 

 off. They occur in all the wooded portions of this region. 

 They have been killed on the islands in the delta of the Mac- 

 kenzie. 



The flesh is white and is considered equal to that of the hare 

 for food. 



Canis lupus {Linn). Wolf. 



Mu-hi-kun, C. Ti-ka, D. R. Zo-tuk-i, white; Zo-rhi, black, L. 



Ti-ka, S. 



They are not killed in considerable numbers anywhere, and 

 the number of skins seen was too small to make any study of 

 variation of color. At one Slave Lake post, only one gray 

 wolfskin has been received during the last five years. In a 

 band of half a dozen, which pursued me some distance in the 

 Barren Ground, two were snow-white, the others were a li ght 

 gray. 



While in the Barren Ground we heard them nightly, howling 

 about some musk-ox carcass, near our camp. On one occasion 

 three of our party left their guns lying beside fallen musk-ox 

 which they were to skin the next morning; during the night 

 the wolves ate the gun-covers. One of our dogs, which ven- 

 tured too far from camp, was devoured. 



During the winter a large wolf was seen at Willow River, near 

 Rae, trying to entice the dogs away from the buildings by its 

 gambols. It kept whisking about as if in play, at the same 

 time working farther away, followed by the younger dogs 

 which were disposed to join in its sport and would soon have 

 fallen easy victims had not the marauder been discovered. 1 



1 "These animals which are here large and formidable, often roamed at 

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