llG 



NORTPI AMERICAN FAUNA. 



[NO. 27. 



liiver, near its entrance into Great Slave Lake, and there found the bnffalo 

 still common, occupying a restricted territory along the southern border of the 

 lake. This was in 1871. They made inquirj' concerning the large number of 

 skulls seen by them on the portage, and learned that about fifty years before 

 snow fell to the estimated depth of fourteen feet, and so enveloped the animals 

 that they perished by thousands. It is asserted that these animals are larger 

 than those of the plains." 



In the summer of 1879 Dr. G. M. Dawson, while exploring on 

 ' Grande Prairie,' north of the headwaters of Smoky River, saw 

 many wallows and scattered bones of the bison, and was told by the 

 Indians that the animals had been exterminated by an excessively 

 severe winter many years before. During the same summer the 

 Beaver Indians reported seeing six bison, of which the}^ killed one, 

 on the Ponce Coupee Prairie, in the same region.^ In 1888 J. B. 

 Tyrrell stated, on the authority of Mr. King, a Hudson's Bay Com- 

 pany officer, that " One band of about five hundred lives on what is 

 locally known as the ' Salt Plain ' Avhich is a prairie * * * 

 stretching for five hundred miles south-westward from the vicinit}^ 

 of Fort Smith on the Slave River to the foot of the Rocky Moun- 

 tains." ^ Warburton Pike found a herd of eight about 50 miles south- 

 west of Fort Resolution in February, 1890: and in the autumn of the 

 same year, while ascending Peace River, was told by the Indians at 

 Fort St. John that they occasionally found small bands to the north- 

 ward of that post, toward Liard River. ^ 



William Ogilvie. from information obtained in 1888, writes : 



The wood buffalo, which formerly roamed around all the upper waters, is 

 now nearly a thing of the past. A few still remain scattered over a wide dis- 

 trict. Could some means be devised to protect them for several years, they 

 would probably soon multiply and become a source of food supply and revenue to 

 the natives. Mr. McDougall, who has for some years past been gathering infor- 

 mation concerning the number of these animals and their locality, has kindly 

 given me the following notes: In the winter of 1887-88, on the headwaters of 

 Hay River, which flows into Great Slave Lake, and west of Battle River, a 

 tributary of the Peace, the Indians saw three bands containing 17, 10, and 4, 

 respectively; they killed 5, but Mr. McDougall did not ascertain whether these 

 were in addition to the above numbers. The same winter three bands were 

 seen between Salt River and Peace Point, on Peace River, numbering 50, 25, 

 and about 25, respectively. None of these are reported to have been killed. 

 During the winter of 1886-87, between the north end of Birch and the south 

 end of Thickw^ood Mountains, distant about one day or 30 miles from Fort 

 McMurray, on Athabasca River, one band of about 13 was seen. Since then 

 5 of this band have been killed. Below Red River, a tributary of the Atha- 



« Am. Nat., XI, p. 624, 1877. 



^ Rept. Prog. Can. Geol. Surv., 1879-80, p. 54B, 1881. 



^ The Mammalia of Canada, p. 8. (Read before Canadian Institute Apr. 7, 

 1888, and published separately.) 



^ Barren Ground of Northern Canada, p. 145, 1892. 

 e Ibid., p. 230, 1892. 



