April. 1920] 



The Canadian Field-Naturalist 



63 



families or colonics along other brooks, beside the 

 river or about beaver meadows. The other small 

 mammals taken in the traps set for N. albibarbis 

 were Blarina brevicauda, Sorex personatus, and if 

 I remember rightly the only specimen of Sorex 

 fumeus which I collected on the trip. 



Short-tailed Shrew, Bob-tailed or Mole 

 Shrew, Blarina brevicauda Say. 



The eastern shrew is very common at Ridout. 



The seven specimens collected average larger 

 than those given by Merriam from type locality* 

 (near Blair, Neb.) and considerably larger than 

 his eastern specimens from Martha's Vineyard, 

 Mass. 



The Ridout specimens are also larger than the 

 average of nine specimens taken from my collection 

 at Preston, Ontario. 



As IS usual within its range, this shrew was found 

 at Ridout in nearly all situations, from low, mossy 

 swamps to wooded ridges. Scarcely a trap in any 

 of these places but sooner or later yielded a Blarina. 

 It was uncommonly abundant in low grassy mea- 

 dows adjacent to dank spruce woods. By pressing 

 the vegetation aside in these places I discovered small 

 feeding pockets beneath, arched over thickly with 

 grass, the bottoms, being covered with varying 

 depths of excrement. Examining these places, the 

 first day at Ridout, I credited the sole ownership 

 to the Forest Vole (M. fontigenus) but soon dis- 

 covered my mistake, for from six traps set in a 

 grassy depression not over fifty feet in diameter, 

 the following morning I took three blarinas and only 

 one Microius. Favoring Blarina, the ratio as a 

 whole was even greater than this ; in fact it is the 

 mos abundant species of mammal in the region and 

 perhaps anywhere in Eastern North America. 



Occasionally I found specimens in traps set for 

 Evotomys and S^naptom\)s under logs in the deep 

 moss of spruce woods ; other times in hill-side sets 

 among the pines intended for Perom^scus and just 

 as often in the subterranean tunnels of albibarbis 

 along the streams. The grassy sink-holes or mea- 

 dows dotted with low bushes and shrubs, appear, 

 however, to constitute the over-flowing nucleus from 

 which, radiating, they invade every conceivable 

 surface situation. 



Black Bear, Ursus americanus Pallas. 



The black bear is reported as being tolerably 

 common throughout the region. Although numerous 

 signs both recent and old were observed, no indi- 

 viduals were encountered. The black bear usually 

 eludes the hunter very cleverly, offering compara- 

 tively few shots, but large numbers are taken in 

 heavy steel traps every spring. The following brief 

 "experience" was told to us by a trapper on Oct. 30. 



* N. A. Fauna. No. 10, p. 11, 1895. 



in search of good trapping grounds, he came sud- 

 denly upon a big black bear feeding, partly con- 

 cealed behind a low windfall. The trapper carried 

 no fire-arms, only a light axe and a hunting-knife, 

 but was determined not only to discover what the 

 bear was feasting upon but also if chances offered 

 to kill it with the axe. But contrary to the usual 

 custom, bruin preserved a stern front and refused 

 to quit the scene. Several experimental advances 

 on the trapper's part ended with negligible results 

 and the conviction that discretion was here the 

 better part of valor. Several times old bruin wad- 

 dled a few paces away, but would immediately re- 

 turn with wicked eye, watchful and sullen. After 

 some manoeuvering however the trapper delected 

 the protruding blade of a moose's antler but further 

 critical scrutiny was suspended as impracticable. 



The interesting point lies in the fact that a few 

 days previously a bull moose was wounded near the 

 Ridout river five miles to the east, and when last 

 seen was running in a westerly direction. We sup- 

 pose that the dead moose and the wounded one are 

 identical and before succumbing to injuries had 

 traversed the considerable intervening distance. 



Gray Wolf, Canis occidentalis (Richardson). 



Wolves are reported as occuring throughout the 

 timbered portions of Algoma and Sudbury, but 

 never numerous. None of recent occurence at 

 Ridout. Inferring from many wild wolf stories 

 afloat, the tribe seems numerous enough north of 

 Superior and surrounding Lake-of-the-Woods. 



Common Red Fox, Vulpes fulva Desmarest. 



The red fox occurs in fair numbers at Ridout 

 judging by reports and the numerous tracks ob- 

 served in the snow about the wooded hills and over 

 the open ridges. All the freak color phases, black, 

 silver and cross are represented in the pelt collec- 

 tions taken from the country. 



Marten or American Sable, Maries ameri- 

 cana (Turton). 



No sign of the marten was seen at Ridout, al- 

 though I traversed several tracts of very likely look- 

 ing country. My friend Mr. Visser informed me 

 that three skins were procured by him from Indians 

 coming in from the south, apparently from the re- 

 gion of Wakami, Pike, Trout and Kebskashishi 

 Lakes. It is quite likely that all the old forests in 

 Algoma not visited by fire are inhabited by marten 

 in varying numbers. While on a canoe trip north 

 of the confluence of the Ridout and Walkam 

 rivers in Oct., 1917, I saw what looked like good 

 marten country but had no time to investigate. 

 This was high, heavily-timbered country about a 

 fair sized lake. On the Standard Top. Map (Car- 

 tier Sheet) this body of water bears no name. 



While exploring some heavily timbered country 



