186 



THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



Photograph by George Shiras, 3d 



FLASHLIGHT OF A BEAVER TOWING A SAPLING, WHICH IS TO BE ADDED TO ITS STORE 



OF FOOD FOR WINTER 



Unlike the muskrat, with its body well out of the water (see page 199), the beaver swims 

 nearly submerged, with only the head showing (at the right). At a distance it is sometimes 

 hard to tell one from the other when swimming, except by the greater speed and wake of 

 the beaver. 



following year it was decided to investi- 

 gate, for except on Isle Royal, the largest 

 island in the lake, the moose had not been 

 authoritatively reported as island occu- 

 pants. 



It should be stated that for some years 

 after the writer came to Lake Superior 

 moose and white-tail deer were unknown 

 on the north shore, although caribou were 

 abundant, especially in the fall and winter. 



MOOSE MIGRATED FROM OL'EBEC 



About 1885 a steady movement of the 

 moose westerly from Quebec was ob- 

 served and a slower easterly migration 

 from northern Minnesota. Eventually 

 these animals commingled and took pos- 

 session of the entire shore, later extend- 

 ing into the interior until they reached 

 the waters flowing into Hudson Bay. 



Following the moose came the white- 

 tail deer and many timber-wolves, when 

 the caribou began yielding the possession 

 of centuries. 



After the construction of the railroad, 

 extensive lumbering and many forest 

 fires changed the face of the country, 

 large clearings and a mixed vegetation 

 succeeding dense evergreen forests, and 

 to this change may be principally attrib- 

 uted the influx of new animals and birds. 



Most of this land being unsuitable for 

 settlement insures a permanent and 

 widely extended range for many of the 

 big-game animals suffering eviction in 

 districts valuable for mining or agricul- 

 ture. 



In September, 19 17, our party arrived 

 at Rossport, a little fishing village be- 

 tween the railroad and a bay opposite 

 Simpsons Island, next in size to St. 

 Ignace. Here provisions and canoes were 

 obtained, and a few hours later the little 

 tug was on its way, the party alert to de- 

 tect the first island moose, the pilot hav- 

 ing given assurance that before reaching 

 the camp site several would be seen. 



MOOSE FOUND FEEDING IN THE LAKE 



When passing through the broad chan- 

 nel separating the two larger islands, 

 three moose # were noted well out in the 

 shallow water at the end of a long bay, 

 the first time in my experience that any 

 such game animal was found feeding in 

 the waters of Lake Superior, which, by 

 reason of its depth and temperature, con- 

 tains little aquatic vegetation. 



Along the winding shores was noted 

 a great variety of second-growth trees 

 particularly suitable as browsing material 

 for the moose, such as poplar, cherry, 



