NORTH AMERICA AND THE WEST INDIES 271 



autumn of 1792 (see Preble, 1908). In that day it ranged as 

 far north as Fort Nelson River, according to Richardson, but 

 the nineteenth century saw its numbers so depleted that in 

 1894 Caspar Whitney placed its northern outpost as on the 

 Saskatchewan, between Edmonton and Lac la Biche. Loring, 

 in 1896, reported that a few were said still to exist near the 

 head of Pembina River, where, however, they had been nearly 

 exterminated by Indians through "crusting." Preble (1908), 

 whose account summarizes these facts, adds that a few were 

 seen on the south side of the Athabaska River in 1897. The 

 most recent account of the status of this race is that of Dr. 

 R. M. Anderson (1939b), who writes that in 1923 there were 

 estimated to be 400 or 500 elk at Riding Mountain, Manitoba, 

 and other bands on Duck Mountain Forest Reserve, but none 

 elsewhere in Manitoba. The Riding Mountain herd in seven 

 years under careful protection had by 1930 increased to about 

 8,000 head, but in the severe winter of 1934 the heavy mortality 

 cut this down to about 6,000, with an estimated 300 in Duck 

 Mountain Reserve, 250 in Porcupine Reserve, and 600 in the 

 Inter-Lake district. In 1923 the Provincial Game Guardian of 

 Saskatchewan estimated that in* the Moose Mountain Reserve 

 in that province there were about 100 elk, and in the region 

 north and east of Prince Albert about 1,200 more. In 1927 a 

 short open season was allowed here in the second half of Novem- 

 ber. The Prince Albert National Park, established that same 

 year, "now shelters numbers of elk, but the exact figures are 

 not known, and there are several bands outside the Park." 

 It thus appears that in these two provinces, to which this race 

 may be considered restricted at present, there are something 

 over 8,000 head, largely in government reserves under careful 

 supervision, so that in these areas there is as yet no fear for 

 the elk's extinction. 



MERRIAM'S ELK, OR WAPITI 



CANADENSIS MERRIAMI Nelson 



Cervus merriami Nelson, Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., vol. 16, p. 7, Jan. 16, 1902 



("Head of Black River, White Mountains, Arizona"). 

 FIGS. : Nelson, 1902, figs. 1, 3, 5 (skull); Bailey, 1931, pi. 3 (antlers). 



Equaling in size the Rocky Mountain elk, this race is de- 

 scribed as paler and more reddish in color, with more massive 



