214 



NORTH AMERICAN FAUNA. 



[no. 27 



one seen in the central part of Prince of AYales Land in April, 1852." 

 While in the Barren Grounds to the northeast of Fort Kae in the 

 early spring of 1894, Russell found wolves rather common. Of a 

 band of six, two were snow Avhite, the others a light gray.* During 

 his exploring trip between Great Slave Lake and Hudson Bay in 

 1900, J. W. Tyrrell found large wolves on the east side of Artiller}^ 

 Lake.^ J. M. Bell informs me that during the same season he oc- 

 casionally saw wolves near the site of Fort Confidence, near the 

 eastern end of Great Bear Lake. Hanbury, while traveling overland 

 between Baker Lake and the Arctic coast in the early spring of 1902, 

 noted an occasional wolf.'^ On April 30, when the party was near 

 latitude 67°, between Lake Garry and Ogden Bay, Darrell, his com- 

 panion, encountered a band of 16 large wolves.^ Darrell writes me 

 that of this band 13 were of the ordinary dirty white color, 2 were 

 nearly black, and 1 pied. He states that though these wolves live 

 largely on caribou, they are not very successful in killing these 

 animals unless they can separate one from the herd, and that they 

 always seem to be starving. Though of large size, he does not con- 

 sider them dangerous, and states that only one instance of the death 

 of a man by wolves was related by the natives, and in that case the 

 victim was a cripple. The band of 16 was the largest pack seen, the 

 animals usuall}^ being found singly or in pairs, though occasionally 

 half a dozen were observed together. He claims to have seen tracks, 

 made on a hard surface, which measured by 8^ inches. 



Skins of wolves from the Barren Grounds, some nearly pure white 

 in color throughout, were seen at Fort Rae during my visit to that 

 post. The wolf skins at Fort Good Hope also included a large pro- 

 portion of very light examples, said to have been brought from the 

 Barren Grounds to the northeastward. Fort Anderson, during the 

 first year of its existence (outfit 1861), traded 5 wolves; during the 

 following year it received 4 skins. 



Canis latrans Say. Coyote. 



In 1901 we heard several prairie wolves on the Athabaska Landing- 

 road, about 60 miles north of Edmonton, on the evening of May 3, 

 and saw one on the bank of the Athabaska a few miles above Little 

 Cascade Rapid on May 13. At Fort Smith I was told by Mr. Bra- 

 bant that one was occasionally killed in the vicinity, and received the 

 same information from an old Indian hunter residing there. A skull, 

 without the lower jaw, was found near a native cabin on the east 

 bank of the Slave, 8 miles below Fort Smith. 



o Narr. Second Voy. Prince Albert, p. 139, 1853. 

 » Expl. in Far North, p. 241, 1898. 



^Ann. Rept. Dept. Interior (Canada) for 1900-1901, p. 115, 1902. 

 ^ Sport and Travel in Northland of Canada, p. 110, 1904. 

 ^ Ibid., p. 134, 1904. 



