to 



THE GAME ANIMALS OF CANADA 101 



vent starvation. No person shall at any time trade or trafl&c in musk-ox 

 or any part thereof, and the possession of the skins of such musk-ox by 

 any other person than the said Indians, Eskimos or half-breeds shall 

 constitute an offence. 



In another chapter (p. 313), the utilization of the musk-ox 

 as an economic factor in the development of Arctic Canada 

 is discussed. 



We hope that the absolute close season for a number of 

 years will prevent its complete disappearance within a very- 

 few years from our northern Barren Grounds, where it has 

 maintained itself in those Arctic solitudes for thousands of 

 years before the advent of the white man and his deadly 

 rifle. 



BEARS 



Canada possesses, in numerical abundance of the chief 

 species of bears, by far the greatest portion of the bear 

 population of North America. The enormous extent of the 

 coast and islands of Arctic Canada constitutes the chief 

 habitat of the polar bear. The Rocky Mountains and the 

 mountain ranges flanking them in British Columbia now form 

 the chief region in which the grizzly bear, which has been 

 largely wiped out in its more southerly range, is to be 

 found; its near relative, the Barren-ground grizzly, is only 

 to be met with in the treeless northern region; while the 

 black bear occurs everywhere in the wooded regions from 

 the Atlantic to the Pacific, and nowhere throughout this 

 extensive range can it be said to be very uncommon; in 

 certain regions it is very common. From all standpoints, 

 therefore, we are particularly fortunate in our bear popula- 

 tion, and a special responsibihty accordingly rests upon us 

 to take such measures as may be necessary to conserve so 

 interesting and, at the same time, so economically valu- 

 able a section of the native mammaUan fauna of this 

 continent. 



