220 



i^ORTH AMERICAN FAUNA. 



[xo. 27. 



during the same year is not given, but probably ran into the 

 hundreds. 



Fort Anderson, during the first year of its existence (outfit 1861), 

 traded 360 skins of this species, inckiding 10 ' bhie ' foxes. During 

 the following j^ear its returns included 330 skins, of which 10 were 

 in the blue phase. 



Hubert Darrell, who accompanied Hanbury through the Barren 

 Grounds in 1901-2, writes me that a number were killed during 

 the early spring of 1902 while the party was traveling northward 

 from Aberdeen Lake to the Arctic coast. He states that they were 

 much smaller than the incliyiduals obtained about Fort Eesolution. 

 where he had become familiar with the species during the preceding 

 winter. 



Several imperfect skins in the National Musetnn from the Ander- 

 son and Lower Mackenzie rivers show considerable variation in color, 

 ranging from the normal to the sooty phase. 



TJrsus americanus Pallas. Black bear. 



The black bear occurs more or less abundantly throughout the 

 greater part of the region now under review, its range being practi- 

 cally coextensive with the forest. 



In 1901 we saw a skidl in a grove of Banksian -pines a few miles 

 south of Athabaska Landing, and the species was said by the resi- 

 dents to be fairly common in the vicinit}^ The valle}^ of the Atha- 

 baska is a favorite resort, and while descending that river early rii 

 May we saw a number on the fire-swept hills overlooking the river. 

 Later in the month the fresh tracks of a small individual were noted 

 near our camp at Point La Brie, near Fort Chipewyan. Numerous 

 skins were seen at Fort Smith, Fort Kesolutiom and Fort Eae, all 

 representing the black phase. In August, while ascending the Atha- 

 baska on our return trip, we saw a number between Fort McMurray 

 and Athabaska Landing, noting 5 in a single day, btit the necessity 

 for rapid travel forbade hunting. At this season the bears live 

 largely on the ripening berries of cornel {Cornus stolonifera) , high- 

 bush cranberry {Vihurnum opidus). few-flowered vibimmm {Yilnir- 

 num faiici-fiorum)^ mountain cranberry {Yitisid(va vitisidcea) ^ rasp- 

 berries (Buhus strigosus). bearberries {ArctosfajyhyJos uvaursi), and 

 blueberries {Yaccinium canadense) . They also pick up an occasional 

 fish in the eddies. 



In the spring of 1903^ when we again descended the Athabaska, we 

 noted a few black bears along its banks. AYe saw tracks also at sev- 

 eral points on Slave Eiver between Fort Smith and Great Slave 

 Lake iii June. After the division of the party Alfred E. Preble and 

 Merritt Gary observed bears at Hay River and at several points on 

 the upper Mackenzie. AATiile making the traverse between Fort Eae 



