Vlll 



PREFACE 



Having made my trips under such conditions, I have 

 tried to record my experiences when travelling by steam- 

 boat, canoe, with pack-horses, and on foot; my efforts to 

 find game and the details of hunting it; and a faithful 

 account of the actions of all animals observed. To this 

 I have added descriptions of the country traversed, my 

 impressions of the scenery, and notes on the weather; so 

 that the book might present a picture of the wilderness 

 of Yukon Territory. 



All of my actual hunting has been done alone, with- 

 out guide or companion. For the purpose of keeping a 

 record, each day's experiences and observations were writ- 

 ten in my journal before retiring to sleep. The excep- 

 tions to this practice were very rare. 



A portion of these journals relates to the habits of 

 animals. In view of subsequent experiences, however, I 

 regard those gained in Yukon Territory merely as a train- 

 ing in observation a perspective for more correctly inter- 

 preting the observed traits and life histories of animals. 

 This was a great help during the two following years (in- 

 cluding the whole of one) which were spent in the interior 

 of Alaska, where the same animals were much more 

 abundant. For this reason, I have touched only sug- 

 gestively on habits, but hope to include a discussion of 

 them in a future publication. 



The photographs having legends quoted from the text 

 are accurate illustrations, both in time and place, of that 

 part of the text included in the quotations. With two ex- 

 ceptions, all photographs of dead animals exhibit their 

 attitudes before I touched them, after they had fallen 

 and died. 



In his interesting book, Recent Hunting Trips in 

 British North America, F. C. Selous has given an account 

 of our trip up the MacMillan River. At the risk of some 



