APPENDIX IV 467 



Type Locality. Okkak, Labrador. 



Formerly I thought that the marten of southern Labrador would 

 prove to be true M. americana, but specimens sent me by Doane 

 from L'Anse au Loup are M. a. brumalis, and I now doubt the ex- 

 istence in Labrador of two forms. 



The Labrador subspecies is a fine large, dark -coloured mar- 

 ten, and is generally distributed throughout the wooded regions. 



62. MUSTELA PENNANTII PENNANTii Erxl. Pennants's marten; 



fisher. 



Mustela pennantii Erxl. Syst. An., p. 479. 1777. 

 Pennants 's marten, according to Low, rarely enters the south- 

 western limits of Labrador, not occurring east of Mingan nor north 

 of Mistassini. 



63. URSUS AMERICANUS Pallas. Black bear. 



Ursus americanus Pallas. Spicil. ZooL, fasc. XIV, p. 5. 1780. 

 Ursus americanus sornborgeri Bangs. Amer. Nat., Vol. XXXII, 



p. 500. 1898. 

 Type Locality. Okkak, Labrador. 



Of general distribution throughout Labrador, north to tree limit. 



At one time I thought the Labrador black bear was separable 

 as a subspecies and named it W. a. sornborgeri, but since then I 

 have examined a large number of additional skulls and find none 

 of the characters on which I based the subspecies to hold good, 

 most of these skulls being indistinguishable in size or in any other 

 way from skulls from Nova Scotia, Maine, New Hampshire, etc., 

 with which I compared them. 



In my former list I included Ursus richardsoni Swainson the 

 barren-ground bear on the strength of reports that Low had of 

 it from the Nascaupee Indians. I am now inclined to discredit these, 

 so far as Labrador is concerned. Indians everywhere have many 

 traditions that persist in a remarkable manner, and often they are 

 borrowed from tribes that live at a distance. I can find no evidence 

 that the barren-ground bear occurs in the barrens of Labrador, and 

 until it is actually known to be there it must be struck from a list 

 of the mammals of Labrador. 



64. THALARCTOS MARITIMUS Linn. Polar bear ; ice bear. 



Ursus maritimus Linn. Syst. Nat., Ed. XII, Vol. I, p. 70. 



1766. 



Low says the polar bear ranges south along the Atlantic coast of 

 Labrador occasionally as far as the Strait of Belle Isle, and in 

 Hudson Bay to Charleton Island. The species seldom goes far 

 inland, except to produce its young. Sornborger told me that the 

 polar bear is very common and resident in northern Labrador. 



Four skulls in Bangs's collection, all obtained by Sornborger of 

 the Eskimo at Hebron and Okkak. 



