138 



ITOKTH AMEKICAN FAUNA. 



[NO. 27. 



wards informed by Mr. Thomas Anderson that during the winter 

 •of 1902-3 they reached the southern end of Cree Lake, Saskatchewan. 



During my trip northward between Great Slave and Great Bear 

 lakes, in August, 1903, I learned from the natives that large numbers 

 of the Barren Ground caribou cross this route at several points, 

 usually arriving about the time of the first heavy snows. Points on 

 Lake Faber and Lake Rae were said to be especially good ' i)asses.' 

 Tracks made during the previous spring before the animals had left 

 on their return journey to the Barren Grounds were often seen in 

 the muddy or sandy margins of the lakes and streams. While as- 

 cending Grandin River we were passed by several families of Dogribs, 

 then on their way to the region of the Coppermine to live on the 

 caribou. 



Along the southern shore of Great Bear Lake, especially at the 

 point where we reached it on MacTavish Bay, numerous well-worn 

 trails testify to the great numbers of caribou that pass back and 

 forth in spring and fall. They arrive from the Barren Grounds 

 about the time of the first deep snows, usually by the middle of 

 October, and sometimes extend their migration west to the outlet of 

 the lake, though they are not common in that vicinity. In the spring 

 the greater number return, though a few remain through the summer 

 on the semibarren areas near Leith Point, and westward to the 

 vicinity of Mc Vicar Bay. We saw fresh tracks of a number near 

 our camp east of Leith Point during the early days of September. 



The Hare Indians living about the southern and western shores of 

 Great Bear Lake repair to its eastern end about the end of July, 

 usually coasting the southern shore, and spend a month or two among 

 the caribou on the treeless country between the eastern end of the 

 lake and the lower Coppermine, returning to their winter hunting 

 grounds earl}^ in October. 



During the winter of 1903-4 caribou reached the Northern Arm 

 and the eastern part of Great Slave Lake in great numbers, and 

 some were killed within a short distance of the buildings at Fort Rae 

 for the first time in several years. 



Mr. John Firth, of the Hudson's Bay Company, for many years 

 stationed at Fort McPherson and on Porcupine River, informed me 

 that the herds of caribou west of the Mackenzie have a semiannual 

 movement to and from the seacoast. In their journeys they head 

 toward the prevailing winds, and consequently occasionally pass 

 to the eastward of the mountains, though usually to the westward. 

 The southward movement commences in August, and extends only 

 about 400 miles. They start to return in March. Though the bulk 

 of the animals then proceed to the coast, a few remain throughout 

 the summer in the elevated and semibarren country between the Peel 

 and the Porcupine. The Indians from La Pierre House, who arrived 



