October, 1902.] MAMMALS OF KEEWATIN. 61 



and forth over the ridges. Hundreds of Lapland longspurs flitted 

 from boulder to boulder, but otherwise few signs of life were evident 

 on the semibarren tracts, and 1 bad walked several miles before my 

 attention was attracted by what at first appeared to be a boulder on 

 which a small restless bird was perched. A second glance showed 

 that the object was an Arctic hare whose ears, twitching slightly, 

 completed the resemblance that had deceived me. Another was after- 

 wards started from beneath a dwarfed willow near hy. Both ^vere 

 secured and proved to be males, evidently young of the year, but full 

 grown. 



Lynx canadensis Kerr. Canada Lynx. 



Found throughout the region between Lake Winnipeg and Hudson 

 Bay, but not common in the vicinity of York Factory. The abundance 

 of Ij'nxes from season to season is said to depend on the abundance 

 of rabbits. We obtained a summer skin from the vicinity of Island 

 Lake and a number of skulls from Cross Lake and Oxford House. 

 The skin is apparenth^ that of an adult. It difi'ers considerjiblj' from 

 the winter pelage, and may l)e described as follows: General color 

 on back and sides yellowish brown, the hairs tipped with light grayish 

 brown; a median dorsal stripe reaching from between ears nearly to 

 tail dusky brown, the hairs tipped with light brown; a few obscure 

 spots on sides; beneath dirty yellowish white, with a few spots of 

 dusky on chest and bellj'^; head and neck colored like sides, but tips 

 of hairs more whitish ; ' chin beard ' white, with a conspicuous black 

 blotch; ears grayish, edged and tipped with black with a few white 

 hairs intermixed; legs concolor with sides; tail yellowish brown above, 

 indistinctly banded with whitish, lighter below and tipped with black. 



The average measurements of six adult skulls from Oxford House 

 are as follows: Occipito-nasal length (measured to anterior point of 

 nasals) 123; zygomatic breadth 93.3; breadth of braincase 58.6. 



Dr. Bell says: 



This animal in its apparently erratic migrations does not reaoh the verge of the 

 forest. A few skins are obtained at Fort <-Teorge on the East-main coast and at York 

 Factory. It has been occasionally rather numerous about Oxford House." 



Hearne saw its tracks near Fort Churchill.* 



Canis albus (Sabine). Barren Ground Wolf. 



Wolves were fairly common in the vicinity of our camp on the Bar- 

 ren Grounds 25 miles south of Cape Eskimo, and several were seen. 

 They were dirty yellowish white in color, and were conspicuous on the 

 barren ridges. Their howling frequently reached our ears, especially 

 at night, when their wild cries seemed peculiarly in keeping with that 



aRept. Prog. Can. Geol. Surv., 1882-3-4, App. II, p. 49DD (1885). 

 ''Journey * * « to the Northern Ocean, p. 366, 1795. 



