218 CONSERVATION OF CANADIAN WILD LIFE 



This approaches very closely the prevailing popular idea 

 of a seven-year cycle for this animal. They are not gener- 

 ally equally abundant throughout the country in the same 

 year, the abundance is usually regional in character, and 

 the period of general abundance would cover several years. 

 The fur returns indicate the year of the average maximum 

 abundance. The regional character of the abundance of 

 the rabbit will be shown from the following data of various 

 observers, which Seton* has collected regarding the periods 

 of increase in different regions of Manitoba. 



Lake of the Woods, 1856, followed by a plague in 1857 

 (Hind). 



Upper Assiniboine, 1857 (Hind). 



Savanne Portage (70 miles west of Fort William), 1858-9 

 (Hind). 



Portage La Loche, 1875 (J. Macoun). 



Shoal Lake and Stony Mountain, 1883-4, followed by a 

 plague in 1885 (J. H. Cadham). 



Red River and Assiniboine Valley, all the poplar country 

 in the basins of Lakes Manitoba and Winnipegosis, 

 Pembina, Riding, Duck and Turtle Mountains, 

 1886-7, followed by a plague in 1887. 



Shoal Lake, Manitoba, 1893-4 (W. G. Tweddell). 



Central Manitoba, 1894. 



In other parts of Canada, Seton records the following: 



Northern British Columbia, 1872 (J. Macoun). 



Mackenzie River Valley, 1903-4. Preblef also describes 

 the enormous abundance of rabbits in this region 

 during the same period, when, according to Seton, 

 there were ''millions in 1904, none at all in 1907." 



The last period of abundance reached its chmax in the 

 Northwest in 1914. When I visited the Rocky Mountains 



* "Life Histories of Northern Mammals," vol. I, pp. 640-641, 1909. 

 t E. A. Preble, "A Biological Investigation of the Athabaska-Mackenzie 

 Region," North American Faurm, No. 27, Washington, 1908. 



