188 



THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



In a week one hundred and fifty moose 

 were seen, all apparently depending upon 

 water plants for support, the numerous 

 ponds and lakes yielding a sufficiency, 

 though often the animals were forced to 

 feed in water well over their backs, as 

 they dived out of sight in search of food 

 (see page 162). 



Only on the face of inaccessible cliffs 

 was the vegetation undisturbed, and jnst 

 how these animals survived the long 

 winter, when the waters were closed, was 

 a problem, though many of them may 

 have crossed to the main shore and re- 

 turned in the spring. In a patch of spruce 

 were discovered two large pairs of inter- 

 locked moose antlers, where these ani- 

 mals, in the fierce rivalry of the mating 

 season, had gone down in mutual defeat 

 forever (see page 161). 



At the time of our visit no one was 

 living on any of these islands, but near- 

 by inhabitants supplied themselves with 

 moose meat regardless of the law, justi- 

 fying it on account of war conditions. 

 At a salt spring several hundred yards 

 back of the camp I located the first blind, 

 where it was disturbing to see a four- 

 year-old bull moose lying dead within 

 thirty yards, killed but a few hours before 

 and abandoned by reason of our proxim- 

 ity. Here, festering in the sun, it soon 

 drove away any of its surviving associates 

 (see page 159). 



MOOSE DIG A BASIN OF CLAY AT SALT 

 SPRING 



Several days later another blind was 

 placed opposite one of the best natural 

 licks I have ever seen, located a mile up 

 the stream from the first. Here the 

 moose during many years had dug out a 

 large clay basin, into which trickled a 

 salt spring from the adjoining bank, the 

 mixture resembling liquid mortar. 



Every time we passed the place one or 

 two moose would leave hurriedly, but a 

 trial in the daytime showed that the scent 

 circled toward the lick, covering every 

 approaching runway; so a flashlight and 

 camera were set up, and on the night fol- 

 lowing a large cow moose took its own 

 picture at a distance of fifteen feet. The 

 analysis of this salt lick is given in the 

 text beneath the picture (see page 164). 



On several islands adjoining, the moose 

 were numerous and tracks proved the 



presence of a considerable number of 

 caribou. All these animals visited licks 

 similar to those on St. lgnace. ( )n the 

 opening of the hunting season, the same 

 fall, one party of five from Port Arthur 

 killed their limit of five big bull moose on 

 the first day of the hunt, the antlers rang- 

 ing in spread from forty-eight to fifty- 

 four inches. The question uppermost in 

 the author's mind is whether any of the 

 fine bulls pictured in this chapter fur- 

 nished some of these trophies. 



Just as the south shore has been almost 

 depleted of its trout by taking them at 

 the mouths of all the spawning streams 

 during their fall migration, similar con- 

 ditions now prevail on the north shore, 

 while a worse habit of running the gill- 

 nets to the beach, ostensibly set for lake 

 trout and whitefish, results in taking all 

 the speckled trout exceeding two pounds 

 in weight, and soon only the Nipigon, 

 always under rigid government super- 

 vision, will remain. 



CHAPTER X 



WILD LIFE IN AND ABOUT THE CAMP 

 GARDEN, WHITEEISH LAKE 



In a previous issue of this Magazine* 

 reference was made to the large number 

 of birds and animals visiting the clearing 

 and log cabins of a wilderness camp; for 

 such a place is often an oasis in a dense 

 and monotonous forest, where sunshine, 

 wild berries and seeds, shrubbery and 

 ground vegetation, insects, and small ro- 

 dents offer food or a trysting place to 

 many a creature outlawed by man. 



Mention, too, was made of smaller and 

 less timid animals which came at night to 

 the gardens and poultry yards of many a 

 rural home, especially when there are 

 thickets, swamps, or rocky ravines in the 

 vicinity. The tenacity with which these 

 refuges are occupied by certain wild ani- 

 mals in the midst of encroaching civiliza- 

 tion is an interesting study in resource- 

 fulness and adaptability, wherein reason 

 plays a part quite as important as that of 

 instinct. 



For nearly thirty years my camp was 

 occupied only in the fishing and hunting 

 season, followed by intermittent or long 



* See "Wild Animals That Took Their Pic- 

 tures by Day and by Night," July, 1913. 



