No. 22. NORTH AMEEIOAN FAUNA. October, 1902. 



A BIOLOGICAL INVESTIGATION OF THE HUDSON BAY REGION. 



Bv Edward A. Preble. 



INTRODtrCTION AND ITINERARY. 



In 1610 Heni-y Hudson, while searching for a northwest passage, 

 entered and partially explored the great inland sea that bears his 

 name. In 1670 the Hudson's Bay Company was organized to trade 

 for furs with the natives of the great unexploited teri'itory adjacent 

 to the Bay. This company first established several trading posts at 

 the mouths of the rivers tributarj' to the Bslj and then gradually 

 extended its field of operations inland. By this means the southern 

 and western shores of Hudson Bay and the principal rivers emptying 

 into it on the west had become fairlj' well known at a time when 

 immense areas in North America, apparently more favorably located 

 and more accessible, were still unexplored. As a natural result the 

 birds and mammals of this semiarctic region were early brought to 

 the attention of naturalists, and many species whose ranges extend 

 over a -^ery large area were first described from specimens sent to 

 Europe from Hudson Bay. This was mainly due to the labors of the 

 employees of the Hudson's Baj^ Companj', who, residing at trading 

 posts and coming in contact for purposes of trade with practically all 

 the natives of the region, were able to secure natural history speci- 

 mens with comparative ease, especially the larger species. The manj'^ 

 collections thus made were conveniently sent to England by the ships 

 which paid annual visits to the posts. In this way a number of mam- 

 mals and many birds, mainly littoral and pelagic species, first became 

 known to science. As time went on, however, less attention was 

 given to the fauna of this region, while most other parts of North 

 America were ransacked for natural history material, so that the 

 close of the nineteenth century found Hudson Bay one of the most 

 neglected fields of modern zoological research. Some species, orig- 

 inallj' described from poor specimens, and in the loose and inaccurate 

 st3le of a hundred years ago, were known by these descriptions 

 alone, while others were represented in mu.seums only by poorly 



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