MAMMALS. 



279 



Tbey occur upon the peuiusulaof Aliaska, aud Nuuevak and Saint Micliaels Islands, but are 

 not found upon any of the other islands of Bering Sea. Like the mink they are trapped in small 

 steel traps or in wicker fish-traps, aud many are speared from canoes or shot with pronged arrows. 



Their skins are used for making fur clothing and blankets or robes, and are only bought by the 

 fur traders for the purpose of bartering them off iu other localities for marketable furs. Among 

 the many thousands of their skius seen by me there were only a very few albinos. Melanistic 

 individuals were much more common, but were maiidy takeu in certain districts. South of the 

 Yukon black Muskrats are very rare, but near the head of this river and about Selawik Lake a 

 number of black skins are taken each year. An average of twenty-five or thirty such skius were 

 obtained each year during my residence at Saint jMichaels. 



Castor fiber Linn. Beaver (Esk. Piilolc-tulc). 



List of specimens. 



Biograimicul notes. — The range of this species covers all of the maiulaud of Alaska excepting 

 only the belt of barren coast country bordering the Arctic Ocean from Point Hope north, and 

 east to the British line. From tlie peninsula of Aliaska north to Bering Straits they are only 

 occasional visitors at present to the immediate vicinity of the sea-coast, although they were 

 formerly very common in the streams and ponds a few miles back from tide water, and are still 

 taken there in small numbers. 



During my residence at Saiut Michaels two Beavers were killed on the salt marshes between 

 there aud the Yukon mouth. One of them was speared in a tide creek close to the sea, and the 

 other was taken in a brackish pond. Such cases are now i-are and only include stray individuals. 



The clear .streams of the interior, bordered by alders and willows, and the numerous lakes 

 aud ponds are their favorite resorts. As a rule the large streams are avoided, owing to the great 

 change in level they are subject to at difterent seasons. The wooded portion of Northern Alaska 

 may be takeu as covering the area iu which the Beaver is most numerous, and beyond the tree- 

 limits they become less and less common as the forest is left further behind. 



Being one of the most valuable fur-bearing animals of the Territory, the Beaver has been 

 hunted with such vigor, i)articularly since the American occupation of the country, that at present 

 its numbers are very much diminished and are becoming less each year. 



The continued pursuit by the natives is the main factor in this decrease, but one or two excep- 

 tionally unfavorable winters within the last ten or fifteen years have aided in their destruction. 



During one winter in particular the snow melted suddenly iu midwinter, aud, flooding the low 

 ground and raising the streams, drowned large numbers of them in their houses or under the ice. 

 Then the wolverines dug into the tops of some of their houses and killed some, and during the 

 succeeding cold weather the water froze in their houses and filled them so full of ice that the 

 Beavers were made prisoners and starved, or were shut out from their shelter and food supply. 



The year immediately following such a winter shows a very marked falling off in the yield of 

 beaver skins, according to the fur traders. In autumn the beavers gather a large store of willow 

 aud alder twigs and sticks for winter use aud strengthen their dome-shaped houses so as to render 

 them more habitable during the cold months. Old beaver meadows or flats, with ruins of the dams 

 and domed houses, are not uncommon thronghout the interior, though one of])resent occupation is 

 much more rarely found. 



The natives, both Indian and Eskimo, catch Beavers in steel traps set at a frequented 

 spot, or shoot them from a concealed place near their house or dam. In winter they often cut a 

 square piece from the top of a house, giving a view of the interior, and then run a slender stick 

 into the chamber, with one end projecting. The earth is then replaced over the hole, aud spear iu 

 band the hunter awaits the return of the Beaver. The motion of the stick tells when the animals 



