FOREST AND STREAM. 
[April 18, 1908. 
614 
bers are indicated by the fact that about seventy- 
five animals, the majority being of this species, 
are killed annually around Juneau, 
The brown bear group extends from this point 
westward along the south coast of Alaska out 
into the Alaska Peninsula. Several species have 
been described, but they can all be safely 
grouped together under the common designa¬ 
tion of Alaska brown bear. They extend far 
up the Copper River, but I could not obtain any 
definite record of the occurrence of members of 
this group north of the mountain region and in 
the area drained by the Yukon. 
Polar bears occur quite abundantly north of 
Bering Straits and are occasionally found on the 
Seward Peninsula, and occur as far south as 
St. Matthew's Island in the middle of Bering 
Sea. 
Caribou of several species are found more or 
less numerously throughout Alaska and occur 
in herds around the upper Yukon, with localities 
of especial abundance such as the head of Forty- 
Mile River. An examination of the antlers 
found at various points, from the upper Yukon 
River to the sea. would indicate an almost 
complete transition of antler type from the 
woodland (Osborn) caribou, to the barren 
ground (Grant) caribou. A further study of the 
caribou of this region will ultimately lead to a 
merging of the various species. The work of 
Charles Sheldon, who is now studying sheep 
in the Mt. McKinley district, has broken down 
the specific distinctions of the sheep in Alaska 
in the same way. 
That caribou were formerly very abundant on 
the Seward Peninsula is proved by the abun¬ 
dance of bleached' skulls and cast antlers ap¬ 
parently about twenty or twenty-five years old. 
The cause of their disappearance is as yet an 
unsolved problem. The possession of firearms 
by the natives first obtained from winders is 
considered as the cause by some, and epidemics 
by others. The natives themselves claim that 
about a generation ago the winter cold con¬ 
tinued throughout an entire year, and all the 
caribou perished in consequence. All these ex¬ 
planations leave much to be desired as there is 
an abundance of caribou in the wooded dis¬ 
tricts at the eastern end of the peninsula, and 
the explanation of the fact that in the course of 
all these years the caribou have not wandered 
back to their old feeding grounds remains a 
mystery. A few scattered individuals at the 
very most are all that have been seen since the 
founding of Nome seven or eight years ago. 
Domestic reindeer have been introduced into 
Alaska successfully and form a valuable resource 
for the natives. I. however, saw nothing of 
them beyond the fact that their meat forms a 
part of the menu in the various restaurants at 
Nome. 
Moose occur everywhere throughout Alaska 
within the timbered region, but seldom leave 
the shelter of the woods. They extend close 
to the Arctic Sea in the north, and occasion¬ 
ally wander far out on the Alaska Peninsula 
The giant moose occurs on the Kenai Peninsula, 
but it is probable that this animal is only an 
outlying member of the type species which in 
that district, for some unknown reason, produces 
horns of extraordinary size and complexity. A 
few instances of moose with antlers of great size 
are known in the interior, and it is a matter of 
doubt whether or not in bodily size the Kenai 
Peninsula moose excels that of his kin in the 
interior or in the Yukon territory. 
Sheep occur everywhere in the mountain 
regions throughout Alaska, being especially 
abundant in the country around the upper 
Yukon and around Mt. McKinley, extending 
thence as far south and west as the Kenai 
Peninsula. They also occur on the upper 
Porcupine River, but the great Yukon Valley in 
its lower reaches is without sheep. 
Goats occur throughout the mainland from 
the American boundary north, but are never 
found, so far as I know, on any of the islands 
lying close along the coast in southeastern 
Alaska. In size and abundance the mountain 
goat appears to culminate in the region of the 
White Horse Pass. They can still be seen with¬ 
in half a day’s march of Skagway. They occur 
in abundance around the St. Elias Alps and ex¬ 
tend as far west as the head of Cook Inlet. I 
only heard of one doubtful case of Kennedy’s 
goat, the horns of which have been described as 
lyrate. 
Walruses are found every winter and spring 
in the Bering Sea, and many are killed at that 
season by the natives for ivory, which sells at 
a dollar a pound. The walrus formerly ex¬ 
tended down to the Alaska Peninsula and 
Aleutian Islands, but the rookeries there have 
been destroyed. The first mammal should re¬ 
ceive absolute protection in the entire Bering 
Sea region except on the Prib.lof Islands, where 
only a few are annually killed by the natives. 
Whales and porpoises occur in great abun¬ 
dance along the inside passage between Puget 
Sound and Lynn Canal and are interesting and 
harmless. There are now two plants on Van¬ 
couver Island very profitably engaged in kill.ng 
whales of all sizes and converting them into 
fertilizer. A new plant has just been established 
near Juneau, where whales are especially abun¬ 
dant. It would be an easy matter to protect 
these animals, especially with the co-operation 
of the Canadian authorities, throughout the 
inland passages and oceanward as far as the 
three-mile limit. Protective legislation of this 
sort should be urged. 
In any review of the present game conditions 
of the vast territory comprised within the dis¬ 
trict of Alaska, and the Canadian territory of 
the Yukon, a few remarks on the former oc¬ 
currence of related forms is not without inter¬ 
est. Bones, more or less fossilized, of large ex¬ 
tinct mammals, occur in abundance throughout 
the entire valley drained by the Yukon River 
from Dawsdn down, and in the valleys of the 
Colville and Porcupine rivers, and in still 
greater abundance on the Seward Peninsula, 
that projection of Alaska which reaches to 
within sixty miles of Siberia. Throughout tlTs 
enormous area remains of the mammoth and 
bison occur in such numbers as to indicate 
former herds of great size. We find also a 
smaller number of remains of horses, sheep, 
and at least two species of musk-oxen, to¬ 
gether with a deer, closely related to our wapiti. 
Teeth of mastodon, although very rare as com¬ 
pared with those of the mammoth, indicate the 
former existence of that animal. It is perfectly 
evident that in times comparatively recent, from 
a geological point of view, perhaps from 10,000 
to 25,000 years ago, Alaska had a fauna of 
large mammals not altogether dissimilar to ex¬ 
isting animals of North America and northern 
Asia. The mastodon and mammoth, of course, 
no longer exist on this continent, but the latter 
is little more than a hairy relative of the Indian 
elephant thoroughly fitted to meet boreal con¬ 
ditions. and the horses in Alaska were probably 
not unlike the wild Prejevalsky horses of Asia 
to-day. 
The ancient Alaskan deer were probably re¬ 
lated to the wapiti which swarmed over our 
American plains within the memory of living 
man, and the fossil remains of caribou and 
moose do not indicate any great departure from 
the living forms of these animals. 
Sheep still occur abundantly in Alaska, and 
the musk-ox, while no longer found in Alaska, 
inhabits the no less inhospitable regions of the 
barren grounds of North America and the land 
masses lying still further north. 
Bison skulls are quite common and indicate 
an animal much larger, but probably ancestral 
to our living buffalo. The history of the 
American bison which migrated in summer as 
for north as the Saskatchawan and southward 
in winter to the Mexican border, suggests that 
it is quite possible that these animals did not 1 
habitually spend the winter in Alaska, but on 
the approach of the cold season, migrated south¬ 
ward to warmer climates, or crossed into 
Siberia on the former land 'connection over 
what are now Bering Straits. If this hypothesis 
be correct, the. climate of Alaska during the 
Pleistocene and recent periods may not have 
radically differed from the climate of to-day. 
The extension of placer mining in Alaska, 
when conducted in a more systematic manner 
than at present, will undoubtedly bring to light 
other forms of large mammals, most probably 
types related to those already mentioned, to- . 
gcther with the remains of carnivorous types. 
An effort should be made in organized com¬ 
munities like Juneau, Valdez, Dawson, Fair¬ 
banks and Nome to establish museums and to 
endeavor to encourage and interest the miners 
to contribute to such museums whatever fossils , 
or bones that they may find. It is, of course, ' 
too much to expect that miners will donate to 
such museums mammoth tusks or bison skulls 
which have a commercial value, but the odds 
and ends of bones, especially those of small 
animals, could easily be obtained, and while 
much of it might be worthless, neverthe¬ 
less in the course of years objects of value 
would accumulate. A movement of this sort 
was started in the fall of 1907 at Nome, and it 
is greatly to be hoped that a sufficient amount 
of interest will develop to encourage its founders 
to continue their efforts. Museums of this char¬ 
acter are apt to have their attention diverted by 
objects which are curious or relics rather than 
objects of scientific interest; A series of 
Eskimo skulls has a far greater value than a 
series of Eskimo implements or utensils. There 
is no objection, of course, in collecting ethno- 
logical material, but in doing so objects of far 
greater value are liable to be disregarded. The 
people of Alaska are proud of their country 
and could be easily interested in maintaining a 
permanent record of some of its most interest¬ 
ing features. 
All the game lazvs of the United States and 
Canada, revised to date and now in force, are 
given in the Game Lazvs in Brief. See adv. 
