294 THE WILDERNESS OF THE UPPER YUKON 



abundant, we must have passed numerous lynxes with- 

 out seeing them. So well do they blend with the color 

 of the rocks on the bars, or with the trunks of the trees 

 or faded leaves, that it is difficult to detect them. 



The second evening we reached the cabin at the 

 mouth of the MacMillan River, and later Hosfall arrived, 

 having come from Kalzas Creek for the purpose of wait- 

 ing for me and of delivering some skulls of sheep and cari- 

 bou which had been killed in the Kalzas Mountains. 

 From his description of the color of the sheep there, I 

 knew they varied exactly like those in the mountains near 

 the North Fork of the MacMillan. A fine large skull of 

 a male otter with a note from Mrs. Hosfall, was found 

 in the cabin. Her experience in killing that otter, whose 

 skull is now in the Biological Survey in Washington, 

 merits description. 



While occupying the cabin in the latter part of July, 

 she had a net for salmon stretched across an eddy in the 

 river. One morning, when her husband was back in the 

 woods, she saw an otter swimming across the river in the 

 direction of the net. At the same time, one of her large 

 dogs noticed it and immediately jumped in and swam to 

 intercept it. She thought that the otter would get caught 

 in the net and quickly jumped in her canoe and began 

 poling toward it. She was not mistaken, for the otter 

 became entangled in the meshes and was struggling to 

 get loose when the dog arrived and grabbed it, both going 

 under the water and struggling in the net. Mrs. Hosfall 

 quickly arrived, and while one hand held the canoe steady 

 with the pole, with the other she grasped the dog's tail 



