THE WILD LIFE OF LAKE SUPERIOR 



133 



Photograph by George Shiras, 3d 



TIMBER WOLVES POISONED ON WHlTEElSH LAKE 



Next to man, these animals are the most destructive foe of the white-tail deer in the 

 upper lake region. Fourteen years ago, during a severe winter, when deep snows were 

 crusted for several weeks, the wolves destroyed nearly all the deer within a ten-mile radius 

 of Whitefish Lake. From the carcasses found it was estimated that over two thousand deer 

 were killed in this limited area. A deer's fear of a wolf is only equalled by a wolf's fear of 

 man (see pages 160-166). 



grounds for better food or to escape in- 

 sect pests, returning again when deep 

 snows or killing frosts make the lowlands 

 preferable. 



But such movements, though well de- 

 fined and participated in by hundreds and 

 sometimes thousands of animals, are alti- 

 tudinal and not latitudinal, and therefore 

 not deemed migratory in the accepted 

 sense, because they may travel to the 

 north, east, or west in their ascent or de- 

 scent each year, and this usually occurs 

 when retreating or increasing snows reg- 

 ulate their movements. 



With the true migrant the condition of 

 the prevailing temperature, either in the 

 spring or fall, has little to do with the 



migration, however much it was the 

 original cause, for birds of many species 

 travel at about the same periods each 

 year, regardless of any then-compelling 

 necessity. 



DEER CHANGE THEIR MIGRATION HABITS 



On the south shore of Lake Superior, 

 including all of northern Michigan and 

 Wisconsin, there once existed a spring 

 and fall movement of the white-tail deer 

 which possessed all the characteristics of 

 a true migration. As this habit was 

 abandoned more than thirty-five years 

 ago, after continuing, doubtless, for cen- 

 turies, it is worthy of record, especially 

 in view of the fact that those who were 



