NORTH AMERICA AND THE WEST INDIES 319 



shores of Hudson Bay westward across northern Manitoba to 

 the Anderson River, overlapping the winter range of the 

 barren-ground caribou to some extent and possibly reaching 

 the Mackenzie River region. 



Dr. R. M. Anderson (1939b) writes that it is widely dis- 

 tributed in the timbered portions of the Northwest Territories, 

 but never common, ranging as far north as Great Bear Lake. 

 It is fairly certain that human settlement is the controlling 

 factor in the present range of the species. "Small numbers of 

 woodland caribou are found in the wooded parts of northern 

 Saskatchewan and Alberta, but many reports indicate that 

 the large number of trappers and prospectors who have 

 strung trap lines all along the northern parts of the Prairie 

 Provinces are rapidly causing the woodland caribou to disap- 

 pear. Bush fires destroy their winter food of lichens which are 

 slow to recuperate, and the woodland caribou are shy of settle- 

 ments as well as being easy to kill on the 'barren' openings in 

 the forest in winter." Writing of this caribou in 1902, Preble 

 says that he found it throughout the region he traversed be- 

 tween Norway House and Hudson Bay. Between York 

 Factory and Fort Churchill 3, few small bands are found 

 throughout the year on the "barrens." Dr. Milne, who had 

 resided 14 years at York Factory, told Preble that Cape 

 Churchill was considered a good place to hunt them at any 

 time of year and that he believed the small bands occurring 

 here formed the northern fringe of those that migrate to the 

 coast in spring, the great majority of which cross to the south 

 of Nelson River. Their return movement occurs from about 

 the middle of October to the last of November. "During 

 these semiannual movements the animals are much pursued, 

 especially in the fall, when the weather is usually cold enough 

 to preserve the meat for winter use." A resident at Oxford 

 House said that the species was much less common than 

 formerly. In his report on mammals of the Athabaska- 

 Mackenzie region, Preble (1908) wrote that it is found in the 

 "country between Lake Winnipeg and Athabaska Lake, and 

 though nowhere in large numbers is more abundant on the 

 southern than on the northern shores of this lake. Between 

 Athabaska and Great Slave lakes . . . the animal is 

 met with chiefly on the west side of Slave River, and through 

 all the country lying between Peace River and Great Slave 



