FOREST. FISH AND GAME COMMISSIONER. 26 1 



therefore, strongly of the opinion that these two factors — poor food supply 

 and fluke disease — are responsible for the death of these animals. In regard 

 to this possibility I wrote to Dr. Chas. Wardell Stiles, Consulting Zoologist 

 of the Bureau of Animal Industry, Washington, D. C, giving him complete 

 data of the situation. In his reply, Dr Stiles says: " Several outbreaks of 

 liver fluke disease in deer have been reported and, if the infection is severe, 

 I think it very possible that that parasite is responsible for the trouble 

 you are investigating." 



I regret that after exhausting every promising method of investi- 

 gation I cannot come to a more definite conclusion. 



Respectfully, 



Richard M. Pearce. 



Dr. Ward's Findings. 



June 5, 1904. 



Hon. DeWitt C. Middleton, Forest, Fish and Game Commissioner: 



My Dear Sir. — To accompany Dr. Pearce's report on the autopsies 

 of four deer which died in the Moose River region, during the past spring, 

 I have been requested by Colonel Fox, the Superintendent of Forests, to 

 add some remarks of a general character. 



Almost every spring, reports come from some portion of the North 

 Woods that an unusual number of deer have died. These reports spread 

 rapidly, are usually greatly exaggerated as they pass from one reporter to 

 another, and it is very difficult to ascertain the exact truth. In order to 

 get some facts, Colonel Fox and I wrote many letters to actual winter resi- 

 dents in various parts of the Adirondacks and received thirty-nine replies. 

 From these it is perfectly clear that in most localities the deer wintered 

 well, some of the writers estimating the mortality as no greater than usual, 

 and a few as being even less. 



On the other hand, in the two localities the number of dead this winter 

 appears to be larger than usual. Mr. Elbert Parker, who is in charge of 

 Mr. Robert C. Pruyn's preserve, near Newcomb, Essex county, writes that 

 he has himself found three dead deer on the preserve, and estimates the 

 total deaths this winter at 25 to 50. On a preserve of about 15,000 acres 

 this is certainly a large number. In the same region, near the edge of the 

 burned district, in Township 20, adjoining the Pruyn preserve, Mr John 

 Anderson, of Xewcomb, reports that quite a number of dead deer have 

 been found. Mr. A. J. Chase, also of Newcomb, says that he has not been 



