188 University of California Puhlications in Zoology [^oi-- 24 



Lepus americanus macfarlani Merriam. Mackenzie Varying Hare 

 We were told that some years rabbits occurred in abundance in 

 the country about Telegraph Creek, but we were there during a period 

 of scarcity, and they were all but totally absent. As evidence of former 

 abundance we found scattered through the woods many crumbling 

 rabbit skeletons, bleached and weathered, which had lain there for a 

 year at least, perhaps longer. On June 18 fresh rabbit tracks were 

 seen in the dust of a trail some five or six miles west of Telegraph 

 Creek, and on July 7 a young rabbit about two-thirds grown (no. 

 31003) was taken near the Stikine Kiver opposite Glenora. No others 

 were seen, nor any indication of their presence, at any other point. 



Castor canadensis canadensis Kuhl. Beaver 



An abundant species on the lower Stikine, where the many miles of 

 flooded bottom lands, the mazes of winding channels and sloughs, and 

 the abundant forest growth, all combine to make conditions that are 

 well-nigh ideal for the beaver. Above "the Canon" the species is 

 scarce. There are undoubtedly many obscure little ponds hidden in 

 the woods and blind sloughs and channels running back from the river 

 that still shelter small and scattered colonies, but the beavers have been 

 so nearly extirpated in this region that trapping is no longer profitable. 



A few miles from Telegraph Creek there were beaver ponds, some 

 of considerable size, but we were told that the beavers had long been 

 wiped out. At Glenora, one evening, the resounding "plop" of a 

 beaver's tail in the water near the river's edge gave evidence of one 

 survivor, at least. Near Docti-da-on Creek, several miles back from 

 the river, there was a series of ponds, all occupied by beavers, though 

 so many had been caught there during the several years immediately 

 preceding our visit that there were probably but few still left. 



At Flood Glacier and at Great Glacier beavers were seen, and also 

 abundant evidence of recent activities. At Farm Island, just above 

 Sergief Island, at the mouth of the river, Dixon found a colony of 

 some size, and on September 5 he trapped two at that point. These 

 two specimens (nos. 31013, 31014), immatures, probably born the 

 preceding year, were the only ones taken. 



This material is too scanty to definitely determine the subspecific 

 position of the beaver of the Stikine region, but it may be said that the 

 two animals obtained are appreciably paler in coloration than phaeus, 

 of Admiralty Island, or even than leucodonta, of Vancouver Island. 



