APPENDIX 



375 



cattle as well as game animals. Dr. Hewitt gave preference 

 to the name "winter tick" for this species, the name referring 

 to its habit of infesting its victim in the winter and spring 

 months. Moose often find relief from insect pests in summer 

 by taking refuge in the water, or by wallowing in mud holes, 

 but the lakes are covered with ice, and the muskegs frozen, 

 in the season when the winter tick is active. 



One of the district game guardians of Saskatchewan de- 

 scribed the ravages of this parasite in his report as follows: 

 "Last spring many of the moose were literally eaten up by 

 a parasite spoken of as the 'wood tick.' This parasite has a 

 small head, which it buries in the skin of the moose, and then 

 sucks the blood, until its body becomes distended to about 

 the size of a large bean. They appear to cause such an 

 itching that the animal can neither rest nor feed, and in their 

 efforts to get rid of the pest will rub against trees until much 

 of the skin is rubbed off, and they gradually become so weak 

 that they lie down and die. In some localities it was estimated 

 that fifty per cent of the moose had thus been killed off." 



Probably the loss of moose from this cause was much less 

 than this report would lead one to infer. Dr. Hewitt, in a 

 letter from Ottawa dated August 15, 1919, stated that since 

 1916 he had received no records of moose being seriously in- 

 fested by ticks, and the matter is not referred to in the later 

 reports of the Chief Game Guardians of Saskatchewan and 

 Manitoba. 



A newspaper report, widely circulated in 19 19, to the effect 

 that "iniiuenza is decimating big game" in northern Saskatche- 

 wan, and that "investigation has disclosed diseased lungs among 

 moose, that become exhausted quickly when pursued," is con- 

 tradicted by the game officials of the Province. "Our investiga- 

 tions," they say, "have failed to reveal any facts that would 

 substantiate this report." 



