1908.] 



MAMMALS. 



187 



J. Alden Loring reports that in the autumn of 1895 three caribou, 

 two of which were killed, were seen by members of his party in the 

 Jasper House region, in mountain parks near timber line. In 189G 

 tracks were seen in a valley 15 miles south of Henry House in July, 

 and in the early autumn its presence was noted both in the high 

 mountains and in the valleys on the route between Jasper House and 

 Smoky River. About the middle of October tracks were frequently 

 seen in Eodent Valley, about 2^5 miles west of Henry House. 



This form is believed by A. J. Stone to inhabit the Rocky Moun- 

 tains in northeastern British Columbia for a considerable distance 

 north and south of the latitude of the Cassiar Mountains (about lat- 

 itude 59°), where he took specimens in September, 1897.^^ 



The caribou of the Liard River mountains, which the Indians dis- 

 tinguish from the lowland form, is probably referable to this race. 

 It is said to be fairly common in the Nahanni and other mountain 

 ranges of the lower Liard. 



Rangifer arcticus (Richardson). Barren Ground Caribou. 



This famous animal, usually in the north called ' deer,' and often 

 mentioned in the narratives of Arctic travel, occurs more or less 

 abundantly on the Barren Grounds of the region treated of, and on 

 the large islands to the northward. (See PL XIX.) It is the caribou, 

 more than any other animal, which renders human residence in this 

 desolate region possible. 



Within this great area it is probable that there are two or more 

 races, or perhaps distinct species, since the animals are separated by 

 the physiographic conditions of the country into different herds, or 

 aggregations of herds, which never associate with each other at 

 any time of the year, and which have somewhat different habits. 

 A series of skins and skulls will be necessary to a decision as to the 

 number of recognizable forms. For the present, however, all the 

 caribou of this region, excepting the woodland species, may without 

 violence be considered as one species, for which the name arcticus^ 

 applied by Richardson to the animal inhabiting the main area of the 

 Barren Grounds between Great Bear Lake and Hudson Bay, may be 

 used. It is reasonably certain that within this latter area but one 

 species is represented. 



During my first visit to the Great Slave Lake region, in the summer 

 of 1901, this species was not observed. I learned, however, that 

 during the previous winter the caribou approached within a short 

 distance of Slave River, half a day's journey east of Fort Smith, 

 for the first time in many years. In the country south of Athabaska 

 Lake the natives assert that long ago the animals extended their 

 migrations to the neighborhood of Fort McMurray. I was after- 



« Bull. Am. Mns. Nat. Hist., XIII, p. 52, 1900. 



