MAMMALS. 85 



the grades of color comprise but a single species or subspecies of the 

 red fox group. 



In 1895 Hank Xorris told me that there -n-ere a few red foxes about 

 St. Mary Lake, and Don Stevenson caught a pair on Swiftcurrent 

 Creek in 1903 and says that old trappers reported them abundant in 

 the eighties. In Julj^, 1917, one was seen near Piegan Pass, and they 

 are reported by Gibb as fairly common in the open along the crest 

 of the range. In their favorite haunts on Pludsonian Zone meadows 

 and open slopes, ground squirrels, mice, and birds supply them with 

 abundant food, and among the broken rocks safe dens are always 

 available. Their slender tracks in the trails and occasionallj' the 

 sharp fox bark are the usual indications of their presence, except as 

 one of the animals may be seen gliding lightly across the meadows. 

 While it is probable that they get some ptarmigan and grouse, their 

 numbers are so well kept down by the trappers around the borders of 

 the park that they are not likely to be a serious menace even to the 

 small game of the region. 



Kit Fox; Swift: Yulpes velox hehes Merriam. — These little 

 buffy gray foxes with black tips to the tails are conmion over the 

 Plains along the eastern edge of the park, and undoubtedly enter its 

 present borders in the open area at the lower end of St. Mary Lake 

 and in the Swiftcurrent and Belly Eiver valleys, but there seems 

 to be no positive record of their having been seen or taken within 

 the park boundaries. They are shy animals, not often seen even 

 where most common, but wherever they occur their tiny doglike 

 tracks may be found along dusty trails, and on rare occasions one 

 may be seen gliding through the prairie gi-ass with light, graceful, 

 rapid motions, which have given them their connnon name of swift. 



Family MUSTELID.^: Otters, Martens, Minks, Weasels, etc. 



Otter : Lutra canadensis canadensis Schreber. — Otters are said 

 to be fairly common along many of the streams in the park, especially 

 on the west slope and in the north fork of Flathead Valley. Donald 

 Stevenson reports them on Swiftcurrent Creek and St. Mary Eiver, 

 and in 1895 I was told that there were a few at Eed Eagle Lake. 

 Eanger Gibb reports them at Tavo Medicine Lake, on McDonald 

 Lake, and other localities in the North Fork Valley. Before the 

 Glacier Park was set aside otter skins were a small but important 

 part of the winter's catch of the trappers in this region, and some 

 very choice skins were obtained. 



While swimming in the water of the lakes or streams, where they 

 are most likely to be seen, otters may be recognized by their long 

 and slender bodies and rapid, graceful motions. Except the beaver 

 and muskrat, they are more perfectly adapted to life in the water 



