148 



NORTH AMERICAN FAUNA. 



[NO. 27. 



Ehoads, in 1897, described the northern bison as a subspecies under 

 the name Bison hison athabascoe^ his type being an adult male in the 

 collection of the Canadian Geological Survey, taken by Indians about 

 50 miles southwest of Fort Resolution, presumably in March, 1892. 

 This form is said to be larger and darker, with hair more dense and 

 silky, and with the horns slenderer, larger, and more incurved than 

 the typical j^lains species. Regarding its range and abundance, he 

 publishes a letter from H. I. Moberly, of the Hudson's Bay Company, 

 in which he says, in part: 



At present there are not more than two liundred and fifty to three hundred 

 ali^e, and they are in two bands, one on the lower Peace River, north of it, and 

 run from close to Great Slave Lake at [to] Peace Point, which is some 90 miles 

 below Fort Vermilion. The other is on the upper Hay River, and ranges be- 

 tween Peace River and the Liard River, and run down some 250 miles east of the 

 Rocky Mountains and up to the foot of the Rocky Mountains.'^ 



One of the latest published items in regard to the northern herds 

 of bison is comprised in the following extract from a letter by 

 J. A. Macrae, Indian commissioner in the Athabaska region in 1900 

 (when the notes were written), to Otto J. Klotz, and published by 

 him : 



At Fort Chipewyan, Fort Smith, and Fort Resolution I made close inquiries 

 into the number of Wood Buffalo remaining, having an opportunity to do this 

 owing to meeting so many Indians fresh from their grounds — such as, I think, 

 no one else has enjoyed. Some of the Indians who came in to meet me at 

 each place had lately been near the buffalo and had counted the different 

 herds, which are, generally speaking, three in number; one ranging from Salt 

 River to Peace Point on Peace River, one from Salt River north to Great Slave 

 Lake, and one from Salt River east and west. They number, I conclude, from 

 500 to 575 head. * * Some 8 or 9 were killed last winter, but as I tried 

 and punished those who killed them it is thought * * * that no more 

 depredations will occur. I understand that there has been an increase, since 

 the animals were protected, of perhaps a couple of hundred, and it would appear 

 to be only necessary to continue vigorous protective measures in order to 

 perpetuate the herd.* 



MacFarlane states that during a residence of fifteen years (1870 to 

 1885), at Fort Chipewyan, the fort hunters seldom failed to kill a 

 few bison each winter, mainly on the north side of lower Peace River. 

 In the winter of 1871-72 an Indian shot an albinistic individual, of a 

 faint yellowish w^hite color, 35 miles nortliAvest of Fort McMurray. 

 In March, 1879, a herd of 20 was discovered near the Birch Moun- 

 tain, and all were killed. According to Indian report the animal 

 rarely has more than one calf at a birth. ^ 



«Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1S97, pp. 497, 498. For additional details re- 

 garding the extent of range and numbers of this species during recent years, 

 see Allen, Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., XIII, pp. 63-67, 1900. 



^ Ottawa Nat., XIV, pp. 228, 229, 1901. 



^Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., XXVIII, p. 691, 1905. 



