RECENT LITERATURE 
57 
there had, however, never been very many. Our bear of the year was living on 
berries Ptarmigan were all but wanting, old birds and young. It 
is fair to suppose that in previous years they were let alone by their natural 
enemies in the presence of the superabundant mouse supply, and were enabled 
to increase to their unusual number in 1905 For the first time we 
heard the wolves nights, a far, high-pitched howl — their hunting cry. I suppose 
it is for the ears of the caribou. Uneasy, they move, a track is left for the wolf 
to find and sooner or latey the chase is on Once the wolves found 
themselves upon the hard times of early 1906 they may have sought the caribou 
and started them to move. They certainly did move, as the twelve or fifteen 
hundred carcasses [killed by the Indians for winter use] at Mistinipi that year 
went to show. 
‘‘The bearing of the mouse situation on the human interests of the region is 
easy to see. It affected all the game, food game and fur. The abundance of 
mice tended to build up the ptarmigan, which are of vital importance in the 
winter living of the Indians through the whole forested area to the Gulf. Like- 
wise it built up the caribou herd by providing easier game than they for the 
wolves. The departure of the mice did the reverse, reducing the deer and ptar- 
migan, but it may have brought the deer migration as suggested Nor 
were the shore people by any means untouched. All their land game came and 
went, was plenty or wanting, shy or easily taken, according to the supply of 
mice. London and St. Petersburg, easily, were affected through their great fur 
trade.” These and other relations in the interdependence of animals are force- 
fully suggested. 
Under the heading “Creature Colorations” are gathered a number of keen 
observations as to the adaptive significance of the color pattern of certain north- 
ern species, including the wolverene, the arctic and varying hares, weasels and 
ptarmigan. These and numerous other items told in passing constitute all to- 
gether a valuable contribution to the natural history of the North. 
The book itself is attractive to the eye and hand; its story of travel, hardship, 
and discovery is well and simply told, intimate yet restrained. The spirit of 
out-doors runs through it all ; one comes regretfully to the last page. 
— Glover M. Allen. 
Thorburn, Archibald. British Mammals. Longmans, Green, and Co., 
London. 4 to, Vol. 1, pp. i-viii, 1-84; col. pi. 1-25, line cuts in text, 8. 1920. 
Vol. 2, pp. i-vii, pp. 1-108; col. pi. 26-50, line cuts in text, 8. 1921. 
The purpose of this splendid work as set forth in the preface “has been to 
provide pictures in colour of all those animals classed as mammals which inhabit 
or visit our islands.” The author includes in this scope the Cetacea, twenty 
forms in number, making the treatment very comprehensive. 
To quote again from the preface: “Planned as a companion to the volumes on 
‘British Birds’ and ‘A Naturalist’s Sketch Book,’ recently published, it gives a 
series of reproductions from water-colour drawings of the seventy species which 
make up the list, and in addition to these are shown various subspecies or closely 
allied forms, among others some of the local races of mice which have attracted 
the attention of naturalists during recent years.” “A short description of the 
animals represented has been included, giving the general distribution, colour, 
measurements, and some notes on the habits of the various species, . . . 
