190S.] 



MAMIMALS. 



245 



Valley. 50 miles north of Jasper House. August 27; Sulphur Prairie, 

 Grand Cache River, September 11 and 11:; at several points on Mus- 

 keg Creek. Sej^tember IT to 29; Rodent Valley. 25 miles west of 

 Henry House, October 11:. The specimens taken subsequent to Sep- 

 tember 26 are mainly in the dark winter pelage. 



An alcoholic specimen in the collection of the National Museum 

 (Xo. 11323) proves referable to this species. It was collected by 

 Kennicott and is labeled simply 'Arctic America,' withotit definite 

 locality, thotigh probably taken somewhere in the Mackenzie region. 



Sorex richardsoni Bachman. Richardson Shrew. 



This is one of the less abundant of the shrews of this region, and 

 extends northward to Fort Rae and the mouth of Bear River. 



In the summer of 1901 we first trapped this species at our camp on 

 Slave River. 10 miles below the motitli of Peace River, where we took 

 an adult male on June 10. A single specimen was secured 25 miles 

 below the Peace three days later, and another at Fort Smith June 21. 

 The species was next detected at Trout Rock, 25 miles south of Fort 

 Rae, where I took 1: specimens, including adults and young, on July 

 IT and 18. Another was secured at Fort Rae, July 26. 



In 1903 my brother and Cary took specimens on the Athabaska at 

 Pelican Rapid and near Athabaska Landing in the earl}^ autumn, 

 and in the late atitumn of the same year I trapped a fcAV in the full 

 winter pelage at Fort Simpson, finding it both in the woods and 

 about the post buildings. During my trip down the Mackenzie in 

 the summer of 1901 I took an adult male at Fort Xorman, the most 

 northerly point from which the species is known. 



The side glands in this species are conspicuous, occupying a space 

 about T mm. in length, or half the length of the hind foot. They are 

 covered with short, stitf hair, of the same color as the surrounding 

 fur, but so glossy as to appear of a silvery color in certain lights. 



J. Alden Loring found this specie- coiiimon in central Alberta in 

 1891: and 1895, and specimens taken l)y him at Edmonton, St. Albert, 

 and Island Lake (15 miles west of Ste. Anne), have been recorded 

 by Merriam.*^ They were taken mainly in tall grass bordering lakes. 



A comparison of the specimens taken by us in the Athabaska and 

 Maekenzie region, with an extensive series from Alberta and Kee- 

 watin, shows no important difference. Merriam (loc. cit.) gives the 

 average measurements of 25 specimens from Edmonton as follows: 

 Total length 113.2, tail vertebrae ^OA, hind foot 13.9 ; two from Slave 

 River average 120.5, 43, 14; four from near Fort Rae average 116.5, 

 lO.T, 13.5; two from Fort Simpson, 113, 42.5, 13. T; one from Fort 

 Xorman measures 120-. 45, 14. 



°N. A, Fauna, No. 10, p. 64, 1895. 



