132 Canadian Record of Science. 
country, but congregate at certain localities, say a mile or 
two in extent, where their favorite food of various kinds 
abounds. I believe these grounds after a time become 
poisoned by the excreta from the multitudes of hares, just 
as is the case with domestic poultry when kept too long on 
the same piece of land, or with grouse in Scotland, when 
allowed to increase too much. In winter when the grouse 
collect in great packs, and select as a shelter from westerly 
storms some favorite lee hill-side, | have seen the ground 
thickly covered with their “droppings,” even in Orkney, 
where grouse have never, as far as I know, been numerous 
enough to be attacked with disease. 
The effect of these epidemics is very peculiar and im- 
portant, to the Indian, the fur trader and the fur-bear- 
ing animals in the far north-west. When the hares are 
numerous, the Indian pitches his tent at one of the locations 
I have named, and immediately cuts down a number of 
small pine and spruce trees as barriers, in which small gaps 
are cut for the hares in their “runs” to pass through. At 
the same time birch and other trees, the bark of which 
forms a favorite food of the hares, are felled, and on these 
they fatten rapidly. 
Then many snares, perhaps a hundred or more, are set 
in the gaps mentioned, these snares are generally set and 
attended by the wife and children (if any), whilst the 
Indian himself constructs ranges of traps for the marten, 
fisher, lynx, &c., (which come to feed on the hares), extend- 
ing for perhaps ten miles in two or three directions. These 
ranges are visited two or three times a week, the animals 
caught, taken out, and the traps re-set and freshly baited 
with meat or fish. In this manner the Indian passes a by 
no means laborious winter, his food being easily obtained, 
and the skins of the hares making excellent warm sleeping 
robes * and clothes for the children, and at the same time, 
he makes a good “ fur hunt.” 
1 In making these fur-blankets, the hare-skins are cut up into 
strips, sewed together into a long line, which is roughly netted 
together, and although the fingers may be pushed through any- 
where, it is one of the warmest robes known. 
