NATURAL HISTORY.— MAMMALS 



251 



the water on the overflowed ice. A metis— old Antoine Char- 

 tier — at Grand Rapids told me that he had secured sixty in a 

 day in this way and that others had killed over a hundred. 

 Those which are trapped of course furnish better skins than 

 those which are mutilated by spears or shot. 



They are worth from two to four cents apiece in the country. 

 In the far North the traders discourage their capture as the 

 cost of transportation exceeds the profits when the market 

 price is low. 



Muskrats are a common article of food among the natives, 

 and when fat are not to be despised. 



They are found as far north as the mouth of the Mackenzie. 

 They have been seen, in the mountains west of McPherson, 

 3,000 feet above the sea level. 



Four specimens; one from Grand Rapids, two from Chip- 

 pewyan, and an albino from Simpson. 



Castor canadensis Kuhl. Beaver. 



U-misk, C. Tsa, D. R. Tse, L. Tsa, S. 



During the six months which I spent at Grand Rapids, only 

 one beaverskin was brought to the post, and that came from a 

 distance. No trace of them is to be found within several miles 

 of the fort. Farther up the river a small annual catch is made 

 but the industrious and populous communities, which in the 

 past so materially modified the appearance of the country, are 

 gone. The broken, grass-grown earthworks of the beaver 

 meadows are sad reminders of our accountability for the de- 

 struction of these intelligent animals. 



Whole families of albino beavers have been seen in the Peace 

 River Region (Mackinlay). 



Mr. James Hislop trapped a beaver near Athabasca Landing 

 so large that it attracted his attention though he yearly handled 

 hundreds of skins. Unfortunately he took but one measure- 

 ment, noting that the tail was 7 inches in width; beavers weigh- 

 ing 40 to 50 pounds measure 4 or 5 inches across the the tail. 

 The heaviest recorded weight is 60 pounds. 1 



Beaver tails are sometimes used by the white trappers as bait 

 for their fox traps. 



1 Morgan, L. H., The American Beaver and his Works, p. 23. 



