MAMMALS OF NORTHERN CANADA 247 



Another informant, speaking of his own experience at 

 Frazer Lake, British Columbia, and of his residence at posts 

 on the Saskatchewan, Athabasca, and Peace rivers, writes 

 that " the musquash copulates in the months of May, June, 

 and July; that the females have three litters each season — 

 the first being the most numerous, the second less, and the 

 third the least fertile in the series — that they are born sight- 

 less, and that the male assists in the rearing of the young." 



Jumping Mouse — Zapus hudsonius (Zimmerman). 



In the early sixties of the nineteenth century the Smith- 

 sonian Institution at Washington received from Liard River, 

 Fort Resolution, Great Slave Lake, and from the Peace 

 River several examples of this mouse, but from report I do 

 not think it is very common in these localities. Mr. B. R. 

 Ross states that it is numerous in the Portage la Loche coun- 

 try, but rather rare in the district of Mackenzie River, but 

 I do not remeniber having seen any at Good Hope or the 

 Anderson. They may, however, be ■ sparingly represented 

 by examples at Liard and other points in the distant north. 

 Mr. P. Deschambeault informs me that he has seen some 

 jumping mice both at Isle a la Crosse and Lac du Broohet. 

 Mr. Moberly has also met with them on the Athabasca and 

 Peace rivers. 



PoLAK Haee — Lepus arcticus Ross, and L. groelandicus 



Rhoads. 



I doulbt if this hare is " abundant " in the Barren 

 Grounds, or on the coast shores of Arctic Canada, with the 

 exception of the isthmus of Boothia Felix. We hardly ever 

 observed an individual on our many summer and winter 

 journeys in the far Northland, while I think we secured 

 but three specimens during our five years' residence at Fort 

 Anderson. Two or three skins were also obtained by Chief 

 Factor Lawrence Clarke from the Barrens north-east of Fort 



