OF EASTERN PENNSYLVANIA. 207 



and carry off their game before they could reach it. In 

 the vicinity of Fort Anderson, according to Mr. Macfarlane. 

 it is by no means common ; but near Fort Resolution, and 

 also at Fort Norman, Mr. B. R. Ross speaks of it as having 

 an extended distribution, but not a very abundant one. Thev 

 are said to be quite destructive to the snares adjusted by the 

 Indians, which they visit for prey, and in which they are 

 sometimes caught by their temerity. A mouse or a frag- 

 ment of hare's skin attached to a line and trailed along the 

 ground is sometimes used by the Indians as a decoy. This 

 ruse is highly successful as by it the birds are often drawn with- 

 in the range of gunshot. In the regions westward of Lake 

 Winnipeg it is a mere visitor, but in the surroundings of 

 Hudson Bay it is a permanent occupant. 



In Western Maine, Mr. Verrill found it to be a rare 

 winter denizen. In Massachusetts, it usually arrives in 

 small numbers, about the middle, or the last of November. 

 In New Jersey, we have noticed it in dense pine forests during 

 the winter, especially when the latter has been unusually 

 inclement. 



Its occurrence in Eastern Pennsylvania has been observed 

 from the last of November until late in April. There is 

 scarcely a year passes without a few individuals being seen 

 or captured. Its numbers are undoubtedly regulated by 

 the mildness or severity of the winter. During unusually 

 severe weather, it is exceedingly numerous, and individuals 

 command but a small trifle in the Philadelphia markets ; 

 sometimes there is a difficulty to set rid of them at any 



*j O ^ 



price. But in mild winters, it is a rarity, and seldom more 

 than a single individual is noticed. It frequents dense 

 pine forests, from which it often emerges in the daytime, in 

 quest of its prey. It is exceedingly shy and cautious, and 

 can be approached only with the greatest difficulty. It 

 does not scruple to take up its quarters in a small clump 

 of trees in close proximity to a town, into which it will 

 often venture, but not without manifesting the utmost vig- 



