ANIMAL LIFE IN LABRADOR 429 



Speed is, of course, one invaluable safeguard to our ani- 

 mals, but dogged endurance is nearly always too much for 

 them. A wolf cannot catch a caribou on a straight run, nor 

 a fox a rabbit, but once they get a really fresh trail they are 

 pretty sure to kill. I have seen the tracks of the chase of a 

 fox by a lynx. Round and round the lake they went, the 

 huge leaps of the lynx giving him an enormous advantage 

 over the pitter patter of the fox which was evidently 

 speedier. But we found the trace of the final act : a bit of 

 fur and a few tracks of blood. 



None of our animals live very long, except the whales, 

 some of which are said to live a thousand years. Judging by 

 the immense barnacles which grow upon their skins, it is easy 

 to believe it of some of the hoary monsters which the .whalers 

 tow into our factories. We consider that a fox or a caribou 

 of fifteen, or a wolf of twenty years, are in their dotage. I 

 remember one old black-beaked gull which has been in cap- 

 tivity thirty-two years. Solemnly each year she makes 

 half a dozen nests in different places, finally laying three 

 unfertilized eggs in one, with the regularity of clockwork. 



The numbers of animals killed by man each year vary 

 greatly. Thus in 1910 and 1911 large numbers of foxes 

 were killed, while in 1911-1912 scarcely a fox was caught 

 and all fur was scarce. The reasons attributed were that 

 in 1910 the mice and learnings were very few and the foxes 

 had to come to the outer trapping grounds, hunting food 

 nearer the land-wash, and their hunger made them readily 

 take bait. In 1911 mice were again very plentiful, and 

 some foxes certainly went farther inland for them. Some 

 were caught, but probably too large a toll of breeders had 

 been taken the year previous. 



