DISTRIBUTION AND HABITS OF THE CARIBOU 95 



September its coat is so brown the animal has been described 

 as a brown Caribou. 



The Kenai Caribou of the Kenai Peninsula — but in 

 1914 almost extinct in that locality — was described in 1901 

 as a distinct species and christened Rang if er stonei. In Sep- 

 tember, 1903, the Secretary of Agriculture issued an order 

 prohibiting for five years the killing of Caribou on the Kenai 

 and Alaska Peninsulas. That prohibition later on was con- 

 tinued, but it failed to bring back the species to the Peninsula. 

 By a competent authority it is estimated (1914) that only 

 thirty individuals survive on the Peninsula. 



Regarding the distribution and habits of Caribou in the 

 Canadian Northwest, Mr. J. B. Tyrrell, who, while a member 

 of the Canadian Geological Survey, travelled over a greater 

 area of the range of that animal than any other observer 

 known to me, has kindly furnished the very interesting facts 

 quoted below. His letter is dated at Dawson City, Septem- 

 ber 10, 1903. 



"Regarding the portions of the districts of Alberta, Atha- 

 basca and Saskatchewan spoken of by you, I am reasonably 

 certain that the Woodland Caribou may be found in all the 

 thickly wooded tracts. This deer is known to the Cree 

 Indians of that country as the s Muskeg- Atik,' or Swamp 

 Deer, in recognition of the fact that it lives in the swamps 

 and coniferous forests, and not on the plains, or on the coun- 

 try studded witli groves of poplar. Now, much of Alberta, 

 and a great part of Saskatchewan, is dry, open country, and 

 into such country Caribou rarely wander. 



"This dry, 'bluffy' country extends northwestward 



