400 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
The Arctic Prairies; a Canoe-Journey of 2,000 Miles in Search 
of the Caribou, ¢dc. By Ernest THompson Seton. Con- 
stable & Co., Ltd. 
Mr. Seton has written a lively account of a hard journey in 
a dismal land—the realm of the Hudson Bay Company. The 
book is very fully and well illustrated, but these artistic em- 
bellishments only nore accentuate on the mind of the reader 
the impression of a barren and lonely region. 
The animal life of this area is subject to vicissitudes. 
Sudden rises of the water after the ice has formed, or a dry 
season followed by severe frost, are sinister agents in the promo- 
tion of a high death-rate. In 1900, Mr. Seton was assured that 
along the Mackenzie ‘‘one could shoot 20 Muskrats in an 
hour after sundown. Next winter the flood followed the frost, 
and the Rats seemed to have been wiped out.” In 1907, Mr. 
Seton spent ‘‘ six months outdoors in the region, and saw only 
17 Muskrats the whole time; in 1901 the H. B. Co. exported 
over 14 millions; in 1907, 407,472. The fact that they totalled 
as high was due, no doubt, to their abundance in eastern regions 
not affected by the disaster.”’ As the author remarks, ‘ there 
is only one continuous statistical record of the abundance of 
animals, that is the returns of the fur trade,” and he secured 
the Company’s returns for the eighty-five years, 1821-1905 
inclusive. The analysis of these returns is, zoologically, perhaps 
the most valuable element in the volume. The expedition seems 
to have been a successful one, though the wreck of a canoe 
almost caused the loss of. ‘‘ three precious journals; 600 pages 
of observation and discovery, geographical, botanical, and zoo- 
logical, 500 drawings,” &c. That this catastrophe did not 
ensue is a matter of scientific and personal congratulation. 
There are appendices, both botanical and zoological, and though 
a large part of these have appeared elsewhere, their absence 
from this volume would have been deplorable. 
