Chapter V: Animal Life (1)

A common ground to zoologists and geographers in the exploration of which they derive mutual pleasure from assisting each other, is the geographical distribution of animals. In this connection the fauna of North America presents perhaps even more interesting problems than does its flora.

GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION

In the study of the distribution of animals over a continent, the discovery of the laws determining the intangible boundaries which the members of a species may not pass is even more difficult than the similar task in the case of plants. Plant species for the most part advance and retreat slowly as conditions change, and, with minor exceptions, there is no freedom of movement for the individual; but animals, and especially the higher forms, are sensitive to even slight changes in their environment, and there is more or less individual freedom to travel over the land, to fly through the air, or to swim through the water. Why the members of a given species which have apparently unlimited power to travel should be confined to a certain and frequently a narrowly circumscribed area has excited the curiosity of man for many centuries.

A point is gained in reference to the distribution of animal species when it is remembered that animals are either directly or indirectly dependent on plants for food, and it follows that if plants, as we have seen, are so largely controlled in their distribution by climate, the secret of the distribution of animals is to be sought in the same direction. When a thoroughly satisfactory classification of climatic provinces is arrived at, it will no doubt be found to agree with the larger features of plant distribution, and should coincide, although perhaps less definitely, with the major divisions into which the zoologist partitions the earth's surface. This principle has been recognised by C. Hart Merriam in subdividing the United States into "life-zones and crop-zones," and in the following pages his view will be discernible, although losing much of their clearness by reflection.

_The Place of North America in the Life Realms of the Earth._--The geological distribution of animals has been critically studied by P. L. Sclater, A. R. Wallace, T. H. Huxley, and others, and the entire land area of the earth subdivided into realms, regions, etc., in such a manner as to indicate the present grouping of animals. One of the latest of these broad views of the life of the earth is presented by Richard Lydekker, who, from the evidence furnished by both living and extinct mammals, has divided the world into three great "realms," two of which are again subdivided into "regions," as follows:

{ 1. Australian region.
Notogaeic realm { 2. Polynesian region.
{ 3. Hawaiian region.
{ 4. Austro-Malayan region.

Neogaeic realm Neotropical region.

{ 1. Malagasy region.
{ 2. Ethiopian region.
Arctogaeic realm { 3. Oriental region.
{ 4. Holarctic region.
{ 5. Sonoran region.

In this classification, North America falls in part in two realms, the _Arctogaeic_ and _Neogaeic_, the former embracing the table-land of north-central Mexico and all of that portion of the continent lying to the northward, while the lowland of Mexico, together with Central America and the West Indies, falls in the latter realm. The Arctogaeic includes also nearly the whole of the eastern hemisphere. The relationship expressed in this classification of both the living and extinct mammalia of North America to that of Eurasia, is supposed to be due to a former land connection between the Old and the New World at Bering Strait, and is most clearly marked by northern species, the intercontinental bridge being too far north to be available for southern forms. The mammals and many of the other animals of the low, hot borders of Mexico and of Central America are a northward extension of the fauna of South America--that continent constituting nearly the entire Neogaeic realm. The mammals of the West Indies are few in species, and have their nearest relationship with the fauna of the continent to the southward.

LIFE-REGIONS AND LIFE-ZONES

The detailed study of the zoology of North America is far from complete, but the voluminous results reached have led to several attempts at broad generalization in reference to geographical distribution. Important and highly instructive memoirs have been presented in this connection by J. A. Allen, Angelo Heilprin, E. D. Cope, and others, who have in the main attempted to correlate the distribution of animal species, but principally the mammals, with variations in mean annual temperature. Among the latest of these contributions, and marking the advance made at the close of the nineteenth century, is the classification proposed by C. Hart Merriam, already referred to in the sketches that have been given of the climate and of the flora of the continent. The basis for this classification is the seemingly well-determined law that the northward distribution of terrestrial animals and plants is controlled by the sum of the positive temperatures for the entire season of growth and reproduction, and that the southward distribution is governed by the mean temperature of a brief period during the hotter portion of the year. By "positive temperatures" is meant the sum of the mean daily temperature above that which determines the period of physiological activity in plants and of reproductive activity in animals, assumed to be 6 deg. C. or 43 deg. F. The exact length of the period to be taken as the hottest portion of the year has not been definitely determined, but must be short enough to fall within the hottest part of the summer in high northern latitudes, and probably increases in length from north to south; the time assumed is the six hottest consecutive weeks of the year.

On the basis just stated, Merriam has divided North America into the following life-regions and life-zones:

+--------+---------+---------------+---------------------------------+ | | | | Governing Temperatures | | | | +-----------------+---------------+ | | | | NORTHERN LIMIT |SOUTHERN LIMIT | | | | +-----------------+---------------+ | Realms | Regions | Zones | Sum of normal |Normal mean | | of | | | mean daily |temperature of | | Ly- | | | temperatures |the six hottest| | dekker | | | above 6 deg. C. |consecutive | | | | | or 43 deg. F. | weeks | +--------+---------+---------------+--------+--------+-------+-------+ | | | | Deg. C.| Deg. F.|Deg. C.|Deg F. | | | |{Arctic | | | 10[3] | 50[3] | | |{Boreal |{Hudsonian | | | 14[3] |57.2[3]| |Arcto- |{ |{Canadian | | | 18 | 64.4 | | gaeic |{ |{Transition | 5,500 | 10,000 | 22 | 71.6 | | |{Austral |{Upper austral | 6,400 | 11,500 | 26 | 78.8 | | | |{Lower austral | 10,000 | 18,000 | | | |Neogaeic |Tropical |(At present | | | | | | | | unclassified) | 14,500 | 26,000 | | | +--------+---------+---------------+--------+--------+-------+-------+

[3] Estimated from insufficient data.

The boundaries of the regions and zones given in the above table are shown on the map facing page 173, but for detailed information concerning the basis of the classification the reader is referred to the monographs by Merriam mentioned at the end of this chapter. In the publications referred to lists are presented of the resident mammals and birds characteristic of each region and of its subdivisions to the north of Mexico. While the boundaries shown on the accompanying map can be recognised in nature by the naturalist and serve a useful purpose, to the unskilled observer each region would appear to blend with its neighbours by intangible gradations. In fact, in this, as in the case of so many other similar instances in nature, there is an absence of definite, or what may be termed hard and fast lines. The significance of the boundaries referred to, to the unskilled observer, is still more obscure by the fact that the migratory birds, and to some extent the mammals, annually pass from one zone to another, and besides, several conspicuous mammals and birds are permanent residents in more than one zone.

THE MAMMALS

The relation of the mammals of North America to the similar animals now inhabiting other portions of the earth may be briefly shown by indicating the distribution of the orders into which the mammalia are divided. It will be remembered that in general each order is subdivided into families, these again into genera, the genera into species, and a species may contain several varieties. The classification here adopted is the one used by Lydekker in his Manual of Palaeontology. An order when represented in the fauna of a continent is indicated in the following table by a plus, and when absent by a minus sign.

CLASS--MAMMALIA

+-------+-------------+--------------------+--------------------------+ | | | | DISTRIBUTION | | Sub- | | +---+---+----+------+------+ |Classes| Orders | Examples | N.| S.|Eur-| |Aus- | | | | |Am.|Am.|asia|Africa|tralia| +-------+-------------+--------------------+---+---+----+------+------+ | {|1. Primates |Man, lemurs, | + | + | + | + |(Man) | | {| |apes, monkeys. | | | | | | | {|2. Chiroptera|Bats. | + | + | + | + | + | | {|3. Insecti- |Moles, shrews, | + | + | + | + | - | | {| vora |hedgehogs. | | | | | | | {|4. Carnivora |Lions, tigers, cats,| + | + | + | + | - | | {| |dogs, seals, etc. | | | | | | | {|5. Rodentia |Beavers, rats, | + | + | + | + | + | | {| |mice, squirrels, | | | | | | | {| |rabbits. | | | | | | |Eu- {|6. Ungulata |Ox, horse, elephant,| + | + | + | + | - | |theria{| |tapir, etc. | | | | | | | {|7. Sirenia |Dugong and | + | + | + | + | + | | {| |manatee. | | | | | | | {|8. Cetacea |Whales, dolphins, | + | + | + | + | + | | {| |narwhals. | | | | | | | {|9. Edentata |Sloths, armadillos, | + | + | + | + | - | | | |ant-eaters. | | | | | | +-------+-------------+--------------------+---+---+----+------+------+ |Meta- |10. Marsu- |Kangaroos, opossums,| + | + | - | - | + | |theria | pialia |etc. | | | | | | +-------+-------------+--------------------+---+---+----+------+------+ |Proto- |11. Monotre- |Ornithorhynchus, | - | - | - | - | + | |theria | mata |echidna | | | | | | +-------+-------------+--------------------+---+---+----+------+------+

1. Of the _primates_, exclusive of man, the monkeys are the only representatives in North America. Several species are common in Central America, but they are absent from the West Indies, and do not occur north of the _terra caliente_ of Mexico.

2. The bats are world-wide in their distribution, and several genera and species occur on this continent, their northern limit being in central Canada; during the winter in the United States and Canada they hibernate largely in caverns. One family of the _Chiroptera_, the leaf-nosed bats (_Phyllostomatidae_), are strictly American, having their principal habitat in the southern continent, but ranging as far north as the West Indies, Mexico, and southern California. These are the vampires of which many harrowing tales are told. The Central American species are small, not larger than an English sparrow, but do not hesitate to attack cattle, and even men.

3. The insect-eating mammals are represented by a large number of genera and species, of moles and shrews, but hedgehogs are absent.

4. The flesh-eating animals are well represented by the cats (jaguars, panthers, and lynxes), wolves, bears, racoons, martens, etc. Many species of the seal family occur about the entire coast-line from Panama to the Arctic Ocean. The lion, tiger, leopard, hyena, are absent.

5. The rodents are present in great numbers not only of individuals, but of species and genera; as rats, mice, jumping-mice, squirrels, porcupines, beavers, rabbits, etc.

6. The hoofed animals, _ungulates_, are represented by the bison, musk-ox, several deer, antelope, mountain-sheep and mountain-goat, tapir, and swine (peccary). Abundant remains of extinct species of the horse family have been found, ranging far back in geological time, but native horses are not known to have existed since the coming of Europeans. The most notable vacancies in this order in the living fauna are the rhinoceros, hippopotamus, camel, giraffe, and elephant, although these are abundantly represented by fossil forms.

7. The _Sirenia_, which includes certain large herbivorous marine mammals of wide distribution, are represented on the borders of the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea by the manatee.

8. The _Cetacea_ are present in the marine waters adjacent to the coast, more especially in the north, where whales of several species, dolphins, the narwhal, etc., are found.

9. Of the _Edentata_, which are so characteristic of the fauna of South America, and with one exception (the scaly ant-eater, not found in America) do not occur in the Old World, only the armadillo can be credited to North America; of this, two species occur from Texas southward.

10. The marsupials, found nowhere else in the world to-day except in Australia and America, are represented by the opossum, of which two species are common in the United States.

11. The lowest known order of the mammalia, the _Monotremata_, represented in Australia by the duck-billed platypus (Ornithorhynchus) and the _Echidna_, is unknown in America.

Considered in reference to their abundance, large size of individuals, and number of species, in comparison with the other orders present, North America may be said to be the home of _herbivores_. The only continent in rivalry with it in this respect is Africa. More abundant in individuals and species than the herbivorous mammals, however, but smaller in size and frequently diminutive, are the rodents. The carnivores are fortunately limited in number of species, although the individuals of certain species are at times numerous, but not in general dangerous to man.

SOME REPRESENTATIVE MAMMALS

To the general reader the animals of greatest interest are no doubt the mammals, and particularly those which attract the sportsman, are of value for food, or furnish fur and skins for clothing. Of such animals the northern portion of North America and the mountains extending southward into the austral region furnish a large number.

_The Musk-Ox._--In the far north, mostly beyond the arctic circle, lives the musk-ox, the hardiest of herbivores, in which, as expressed in its generic name, _Ovibos_, there is a curious mingling of the characteristics of the sheep and the ox. The teeth are similar to those of the sheep, the female has but two mammae, and beneath the long yellowish-brown hair of the outer coat there is a thick wool-like growth. Its gentle, inoffensive nature is also similar to that of the sheep. The large feet and the horns, however, are like those of the ox tribe. The horns resemble those of the Cape buffalo, being broad at the base and covering nearly the entire forehead. They slope downward at the sides, and then curve forward and outward, at the same time tapering to a sharp point, which renders them efficient weapons. These characteristics, although intermediate between those of the sheep and the ox, are more strongly inclined to the former. In reality, however, the musk-ox is more goat-like than sheep-like, as is indicated by its covering of hair, its short sturdy legs, the cannon-bone being remarkably short, and its ability as a climber.

A full-grown musk-ox measures about 8 feet in length, inclusive of the short tail, and is 3 feet, 8 or 9 inches in height at the shoulders. The thick-set, shaggy body is supported on short stout legs, and the feet are broad, to serve both as scrapers in clearing away the snow from the moss and herbage on which it lives and in climbing ice-covered slopes.

Its range is over the Barren Grounds of Canada, the islands of the arctic archipelago, and the border of Greenland. Peary found it grazing in herds in the far north of Greenland beyond the inland ice, and was saved from starvation by the food it furnished. Although hardy and well adapted by nature to withstand the most severe cold, it moves southward over the Barren Grounds in winter and to some extent at least seeks shelter in the subarctic forest, but apparently does not pass to the southward of latitude 59 deg.. Like certain other animals of the northern portion of the continent, its habitat is to the northeastward and it is unknown in Alaska.

Bones of the musk-ox found in the frozen soil of Siberia indicate that it formerly had a circumpolar distribution. A skull obtained near Salt Lake City, Utah, in 1871, and the presence of its bones in the superficial deposit of Europe as far south as the Pyrenees, show that it formerly lived far to the southward of its present southern limit. This was during the Pleistocene division of geological history, when glacial ice covered all of Canada and the arctic animals were crowded southward. As the ice melted and its southern margin receded, the musk-ox moved northward. The absence of this species in northern Europe and Asia, where the climatic conditions, nature of the vegetation, etc., are similar to those of its present home, is perhaps due to the influence of man. The successful introduction of the domesticated reindeer into Alaska suggests that beneficial results would follow the transplanting of the musk-ox to northern Siberia.

_The Polar Bear._--About all of the northern coast-line of America, including the shore of Bering Sea and Baffin Bay, lives the well-known polar bear, which is circumpolar in its distribution. The wide range of this the most northern of the bear tribe is due not only to its strength and ability to make long journeys over rough ice-floes and the wide distribution of the animals it feeds upon, principally the hair-seal, but is aided by the fact that it takes to the water readily and is a good swimmer. It has also been known to make long journeys on floating ice.

_The Eskimo Dog._--Another animal of circumpolar distribution, the original home of which is unknown, is the Eskimo dog, the range of which has no doubt been extended while the distribution of many other animals has been curtailed, owing to human influences.

_The Caribou._--The neighbour of the musk-ox in the desolate solitudes of the far north, and in part ranging over the same ground, is the caribou, the American representative of the reindeer. Indeed the caribou and the reindeer have been considered as belonging to the same species by some naturalists, but recently the American division of the genus has been shown to consist of at least five species, each of which differs from the one found in Europe and Asia. Among hunters and sportsmen, two divisions have long been known, namely, the woodland caribou and the Barren Ground caribou. The former includes the larger species, or the caribou proper, as it may be termed, and the recently described species from Newfoundland and Alaska; while the latter is represented by a single species, the _Rangifer articus_.

The woodland caribou is in general about twice the size of the species inhabiting the Barren Grounds, has a height of 41/2 feet at the shoulder, and weighs some 250 pounds, although the males sometimes reach a weight of 400 pounds. Its range is from Nova Scotia and Newfoundland northwestward through the subarctic forest to British Columbia and northeastern Alaska. As its popular name signifies, its home is in the forest, and although meeting the smaller form during the latter's southward migrations, it does not extend its range to the Barren Grounds. On the south, it was formerly found in northern Michigan and in southern New York, and thence eastward through Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine. Owing to the activity with which it has been hunted, it has for the most part been crowded to the north of the St. Lawrence, and is reported to be greatly diminished in numbers even in the wilds of Labrador. It still wanders into the woods of New Hampshire and Maine, and occurs somewhat abundantly in Nova Scotia and Newfoundland. It is the caribou of Newfoundland, etc., which comes nearest the reindeer in size and in the shape of its magnificent antlers, but none of the American species has been domesticated.

The Barren-Ground caribou still occurs in large herds in northern Labrador, on the treeless region to the west of Hudson Bay, and in winter migrates southward into the shelter of the subarctic forest. In its northern range it reaches the shore of the Arctic Ocean and the islands adjacent, and on the west follows the tundra to the Bering Sea coast. In Alaska it formerly occurred in immense herds, especially in winter, when it made long inland journeys through the forest and across the frozen rivers, but the invasion of the region by miners and the supplying of the natives with firearms has led to a great reduction in its numbers. In the barren and but seldom traversed region to the west and north of Hudson Bay the caribou is still in its primitive condition and moves in bands numbering several thousand. In this connection an extract from the journal of J. B. Tyrrell, of the Canadian Geological Survey, is of interest: "All day [July 30, 1893] the caribou have been around us in vast numbers, many thousands being assembled in a single herd. One herd collected on the hill behind our camp, and another remained for hours in the wet bog on the point in front of us. The little fawns were running about everywhere, often coming up to within a yard or two of us, uttering their sharp grunts as they stood and looked at us or as they turned and ran back to the does. About noon a large herd had collected on the sides and summit of the hill behind us. Taking a small hand-camera with which we were supplied, we walked quietly among them. As we approached to within a few yards of the dense herd, it opened to let us in and then formed a circle around us, so that we were able to stand for a couple of hours and watch the deer as they stood in the light breeze or rubbed slowly past each other to keep off the black flies. The bucks, with their beautiful branching antlers, kept well to the background. Later in the afternoon a herd of bucks trotted up to us and stood at about 40 yards distant. This was a most beautiful sight, for their horns were fully grown, though still soft at the tips, but unfortunately we had no camera with us. We did no shooting to-day." The herd of caribou just described was estimated to contain between 100,000 and 200,000 animals.

The destruction of the woodland caribou in the eastern portion of Canada has been so great that it is in danger of being exterminated, and great suffering, and even starvation has overtaken the Indians of that region in consequence. Similar, but even more alarming results have followed the thoughtless slaughter of the Barren-Ground caribou in Alaska, and to prevent the suffering and even threatened extermination of the natives, reindeer from Siberia and northern Europe have been introduced by the United States Government[4] and are thriving under the care of herders from Lapland. The moss on which the reindeer feed is abundant in Alaska, and there seems no good reason why they should not become as numerous and useful in their new home as they were in the boreal portion of the Old World. The first reindeer were introduced in Alaska in 1881, and the several herds, collectively, now number 3,323.

[4] The introduction of domesticated reindeer into North America is a very important matter, and one which if properly conducted will add vastly to the food supply and resources for clothing for both native and white people. The civilization of the natives in the northern portion of the continent and the securing for them of a source of subsistence which will depend on their own care and industry hinges on the success of this undertaking. Much information in this connection may be found in the reports of Sheldon Jackson, published by the Bureau of Education at Washington between 1893 and 1900.

_The Moose._--This, the largest living representative of the deer tribe, and with the exception of the bison the largest existing land mammal of North America, formerly inhabited the continent throughout its entire breadth from the forty-third to the seventieth degree of latitude, or from the mouth of the Ohio to the mouth of the Mackenzie. Although crowded northward and now found only sparingly in the United States, as, for example, in the extensive forests of Maine and in the still larger forests clothing the mountains of Montana and Idaho, it has held its own in the wildest and most remote portions of the Pacific mountains in Canada and Alaska, where its numbers are perhaps nearly as great as they were a century ago. Its preservation is due not only to its shyness, remarkably quick hearing, and keen sense of smell, but to its solitary habits and the fact that it does not gather in herds during the breeding season, like most other deer.

A full-grown male moose is from 7 to 8 feet high at the shoulder, and from 10 to 12 feet high at the tip of the magnificent antlers when standing erect, and is from 800 to 1,200 pounds in weight. The broad palmate antlers with numerous sharp points sometimes measure 81/2 feet or more from tip to tip. The does are without antlers, and are still more ungainly than the long-legged and apparently awkward males. Stringent laws are now enforced for the protection of the moose in all of the inhabited portions of its range, and it is likely to survive and to continue to tempt the sportsman to traverse the wild regions it inhabits for several generations to come.

_The Wapiti._--Next in size to the moose, and in many ways the grandest of the deer tribe not only of America, but of the world, is the wapiti or American elk. In language not pedantic, W. A. Perry speaks as follows of this noble animal: "Monarch of the wilderness, lord of the mountain, king of the plain, what hunter who has sought thee in thy pine-embowered home whose heart-beat does not quicken and whose eye does not brighten at the mention of thy name! For with it comes the recollection of boundless prairies, grass-robed and flower-decked; of pine-clad, snow-capped mountains; of sweet breezes, gentle melodies, and grand trophies. I once heard an Indian speak his last words, and they were these: 'To-morrow, in the Spirit Land, again shall I chase the wapiti.'"

Although the wapiti is one of the typical animals of the boreal region, in its primitive freedom it overstepped the boundaries of the life-zones which science seeks to define, and marched southward far into the austral region. It was found at the coming of the white man in nearly all parts of what is now the United States, and extended from the table-land of north-central Mexico northward to the fifty-sixth or fifty-seventh degree of latitude, or about the position of Lake Athabasca. Its northern range thus overlapped the region inhabited by the moose and caribou, while at the south it was exposed to the attacks of the jaguar. As civilization advanced across the continent, the wapiti slowly retreated, and in diminished numbers it now lives in the wildest portion of the Pacific mountains to the north of Snake River and the Columbia. It is still abundant in the Olympic Mountains of Washington, the Bitter Root Mountains of Idaho, and in Montana. A large herd finds protection in the Yellowstone National Park, but in winter, when migrating southward, is exposed to most destructive attacks from both white and Indian hunters. Among the mountains of the mainland in British Columbia and the central and more rugged portion of Vancouver Island it is still the "king of the wilderness."

The male wapiti at maturity is some 7 or 8 feet high at the shoulders, and lifts its wide-spreading antlers fully 11 feet from the ground. Its weight is from 800 to possibly 1,100 pounds. The colour is, in general, dark brown, with lighter shades on the thighs, and changing to black beneath the body; there are stripes of light brown on either side of the tail which join an area of similar colour beneath the hind legs; the colour varies, however, at different seasons and in different individuals. The head is small, well formed, and beautiful. The carriage of the animal and its bold, undaunted mien, when roaming its native mountains and glens, is all and more than poets ascribe to the stag of the Old World.

Stringent laws are now on the statute-books for the protection of the wapiti, both in the United States and Canada, but the difficulties in the way of enforcing them in regions remote from civilization are great. The wapiti does not extend into the most forbidding wilds of the far north, where its safety as a species, as in the case of the moose, would be insured, and besides, congregates in bands, which facilitates its slaughter. Its range has been steadily decreasing since the coming of the white man, and particularly since the introduction of firearms among the Indians, and its extinction, outside of reservations and parks, is to be expected in the near future.

_The Smaller Deer._--Besides the caribou, moose, and wapiti, there are half a dozen or more members of the deer family (_Cervidae_) represented in the fauna of North America. Of these the Virginia deer is best known, as its range embraces the most thickly settled portion of the continent between Maine and the Gulf States, and from the Atlantic coast to the Rocky Mountains. In spite of indiscriminate slaughter and poorly enforced game laws, this species has not only held its own, but in recent years has greatly increased in number in certain localities. To the west of the range of the Virginia deer and merging with it in part, in the Pacific mountain region occur the white-tailed, black-tailed mule, and sonora deer, and perhaps other species. The combined ranges of these several species embrace the larger part of the continent and extend from eastern Canada to the Pacific coast, and from southern Alaska to Panama.

Next to the deer comes the antelope, formerly so common on the Great plateaus. This, the pronghorn antelope, as it is usually termed, is about the size of the domestic sheep, but with long slim legs, and is a most active and exceedingly graceful animal. Its true home is on the treeless plateaus east of the Rocky Mountains, but its range extends from Saskatchewan to northern Mexico, and from the Prairie plains to the Cascade Mountains in Oregon. It has steadily decreased in number, especially during the last quarter of a century, and is now no longer seen in the large bands that were formerly an attractive feature of the sea-like plains over which it travels seemingly with the freedom of a bird.

The animals thus far referred to have their range determined mainly by the broader features of climate, but not in a conspicuous way by the relief of surface. They inhabit mountains, plateaus, and plains alike, as is shown most conspicuously in the case of the wapiti, which formerly grazed in large herds on the prairies of the Mississippi Valley, and has been killed at an elevation of over 10,000 feet in the Pacific mountains. Not so, however, with the mountain-climbers whose names follow, which have their chosen "station" on the mountains at timber-line and ascend as far above that horizon as vegetation grows.

_The Bighorn or Mountain-Sheep._--The bighorn, of which three species are now recognised, has its home in the Pacific mountains from northern Mexico to central and northern Alaska. Its vertical range is also great, as it has been seen on the precipitous walls of the Grand Canyon of the Colorado, but a few hundred feet above sea-level, and about the summits of the peaks of Colorado and in the Sierra Nevada and Cascade Mountains at elevations of from 10,000 to 13,000 feet. An exception to the fact that the bighorn is usually found on rugged mountains and is most at home on seemingly inaccessible cliffs is furnished by bands which live and appear to thrive amid the Bad Lands along the Missouri River, some 400 miles to the eastward of the Stony Mountains.

The bighorn resembles the wapiti in colour, although it is of a lighter brown, especially in winter. It is clothed with wool beneath the stiff outer coat of hair, and is a true sheep, but larger than any domesticated variety of _Ovis_. The rams attain a height of at least 3 feet 6 inches at the shoulder, and weigh some 300 or 400 pounds. Both sexes are provided with horns, but those of the male are much the larger, and in the finest examples attain a length of 30 inches, measured along the outer curve, and a circumference at the base of 15 or 16 inches. The most magnificent head ever obtained, so far as the writer has been able to learn, is that of a ram shot in the Selkirk Mountains, the horns of which are 521/2 inches in length, measured along the outer curve, and 181/2 inches in circumference at the base. These immense horns are used, as in the case of the domestic ram, in fighting, but the widely current statement in reference to the animals alighting on them when jumping from precipices is entirely mythical. The bighorn is a fearless and skilful mountaineer, and will climb or descend precipices by bounding from ledge to ledge where the most reckless hunter dares not follow. Its ability to find a sure footing on even smoothly glaciated rocks is due to the peculiar structure of the feet, which have a rubber-like pad beneath the sharp-pointed and sharp-edged hoofs.

_The Mazama or Mountain-Goat._--The companion of the bighorn on the lofty mountains, but even more thoroughly a mountaineer, is the so-called mountain-goat, _Aplocerus montanus_, which, in spite of its long hair, short curved horns, sturdy legs, bearded chin, and general goat-like appearance, and more than the goat's ability to climb, is in reality more nearly related to the antelope than it is to the sheep. This alpine antelope, unlike its cousin of the plains, is only at home on dizzy heights, and summer and winter alike lives at timber-line on the mountains or in the alpine gardens adjacent to perpetual snow.

One of the earliest generic names under which it is assumed this alpine antelope was included, namely, _Mazama_, although rejected by naturalists, has recently been revived and adopted by an enthusiastic mountaineering club in Portland, Oregon, as their name, and is likely to become widely known. Among the hunters and the inhabitants generally of the region where the animal under consideration lives it is termed the mountain-goat, and no protest from naturalists, however well founded, is likely to bring about a change in this connection.

The mazama is entirely white, excepting its hoofs, horns, and narrow lines about the eyes and nostrils, which are black. In general, it is smaller than the bighorn, but bucks have been reported to attain a length of nearly 6 feet and a weight of some 300 or 400 pounds. Its habitat is not only higher on the mountains but more restricted in geographical extent than that of the bighorn. It is said to live about Mount Whitney, the highest summit in the Sierra Nevada, but is unknown farther south; in Colorado it is reported to have been seen on a few of the higher peaks, but its main range begins well to the north of these outlying localities, in the mountains of Montana and Idaho and in the Cascades. To the north of the United States it occurs throughout the higher ranges of British Columbia and in the mountains of southern Alaska as far west at least as Cook Inlet. It is plentiful and as yet undisturbed by hunters on the foot-hills about Mount St. Elias, where the alpine conditions congenial to it occur at an elevation of from 2,000 to 3,000 feet above the sea. Like all of the larger animals, and especially the herbivores, the bighorn and the mazama are sought by sportsmen, but on account of the ruggedness of the regions they inhabit and their wariness they are likely to survive when most other examples of "big game" shall have been exterminated. Both the bighorn and the mazama are sought by Indians for food and for their pelts, and their horns are frequently used, especially in Alaska, in the manufacture of spoons. They are practically of no economic importance to white men, although their flesh when young is excellent food, and their fleeces would be of value to the weaver if they could be obtained in sufficient quantity. They serve, however, to entice the sportsman, who is usually an ardent lover of nature, into some of the wildest and grandest regions the continent affords. Their value in this connection is not to be measured in dollars, and strenuous efforts should be made to insure their continuance.

_The Bison._--Of all the larger mammals of North America, none was more numerous at the time Europeans advanced over the continent than the bison or "buffalo" (_Bos americanus_), and none more important alike to the Indian and the white man. The part played by this relative of the domestic ox in the history of the country is not only instructive, but one of the best illustrations that can be furnished of the practical extermination of a species through the greed and lack of forethought of so-called civilized man.

The bison is a shaggy, brown animal, about the size of the well-known Durham breed of cattle, but with a larger head and a prominent hump on the shoulders (Fig. 31). The hind quarters are small in comparison with the massive head and shoulders, and appear weak. The head, neck, shoulders, and fore legs are covered with thick matted hair, at times 16 inches long and of a dark-brown colour merging into black. The straight black hair beneath the chin of the bull is usually some 10 inches in length, and as the animal carries its head low, frequently sweeps the ground. Back of the medial portion of the body the hair is short and of a yellowish-brown colour, or "between dark umber and a living-liver brown," as Audubon says. There is much variation in colour, however, and distinct varieties have been stated to exist. The horns, hoofs, and a bare space about the nostrils and mouth are black.

The weight of a fully grown bull is about 2,000 pounds, and of a cow 1,200 pounds.

The boundaries of the region in which the bison has been seen by white men, together with the dates of its extermination in various sections of the country, etc., are shown in Fig. 32. In about 1870 the vast herd which ranged over the treeless plateaus and Prairie plains between the Rio Grande and Great Slave Lake was divided, owing to the great slaughter that occurred in the vicinity of the Central Pacific Railroad, into two herds, one of which had its summer range in Montana and neighbouring territory, but moved northward in summer into Canada, while the other fed on the plains of the west Texas region in winter and moved northward in summer as far as southern Nebraska. In each case a southward movement was begun as winter approached, but these seasonal changes scarcely warrant the name of migrations.

The number of these large animals living between the Mississippi and Rocky Mountains previous to 1872, even after being hunted for centuries by the Indians and killed in constantly increasing numbers each year by white men for half a century, can only be reckoned in millions. Many trustworthy observations are on record, however, from which the vastness of the herds can be approximately judged. For example, R. I. Dodge thus refers to a herd which he passed through in the Arkansas Valley in May, 1871, when it was moving northward: "The great herd could not have averaged, _at rest_, over 15 or 20 individuals to the acre, but was not less than 25 miles wide, and from reports of hunters and others it was about five days in passing a given point, or not less than 50 miles deep. From the top of Pawnee Rock I could see from 6 to 10 miles in almost every direction. This whole vast space was covered with buffalo, looking at a distance like one compact mass, the visual angle not permitting the ground to be seen." From this and other observations, W. T. Hornaday has estimated that the herd referred to numbered not less than 4,000,000 individuals. From the records kept by railroad companies of the number of skins shipped over their lines and other evidences, it has been computed that of the southern herd mentioned above over 3,500,000 individuals were killed during the years 1872, 1873, and 1874. The northern herd seems to have been at least as large as the southern one, so that the entire number on the Great plateaus in any one year for the decade preceding 1870 was not less than 8,000,000, and even this vast number seems to be an underestimate.

The great slaughter of the southern herd occurred from 1872 to 1874, and of the northern herd ten years later. In 1889, as stated by Hornaday, the bisons running at large in North America numbered but 635. In 1902 the number of bison in the United States was reported to be 800, the increase being due to protection extended to the herds, and perhaps also to a more accurate count.

_Fur-Bearing Animals._--Of the animals of North America which are taken for their fur, the seal and sea-otter have already been referred to in connection with the brief review presented of the life of the continental shelf. As is well known, the colder regions of the earth are the ones which yield the most valuable furs, and in the fur trade of the world this continent, on account of its wide expansion at the north, has taken the leading place as a producer. In fact, the fur trade is a prominent feature in the history of America, and one whose followers experienced great vicissitudes and countless adventures.

The animals that tempted the tireless and fearless sons particularly of France, England, Scotland, and Russia to build their fortified trading-posts throughout the subarctic forest from the St. Lawrence to the Mackenzie and Yukon, were principally the beaver, sable, ermine, fox, mink, wolverene, bear, otter, wolf, lynx, musk-rat, skunk, marmot, etc. Nearly all of these animals are forest dwellers, and several of them, as the beaver, otter, mink, and musk-rat, haunt the shores of streams and lakes. Of the sable, there are two species, known as the marten and the fisher. The bears are represented by at least four species. The foxes number at least a dozen species, of which four are especially prized for the beauty of their fur, namely, the arctic, red, cross, and silver.

While the fur-bearing animals named above are characteristic of the life of the boreal region of North America, a number of the species, and, in fact, nearly all of them, range southward into the austral region, especially in the more humid and generally forest-covered portions of both the Pacific and Atlantic mountains, while one of the most important as regards the beauty of its fur--the otter (_Lutra canadensis_), frequently termed the land-otter, in order not to confound it with its larger and far more valuable cousin, the sea-otter (_Enhydra marina_)--reaches the torrid region and is still living in Florida, and has been reported as occurring in Central America.

Of all the fur-bearing animals referred to above, the most valuable when the total number of skins that have been taken is considered, and in many ways the most interesting, is the beaver, of which but one living species (_Castor canadensis_), closely allied to the beaver of northern Europe, is known in America. Fully grown individuals are about 3 feet in length, one-third of which is to be credited to the broad, flat, scale-covered tail, and weighs some 50 or 60 pounds. The outer coat of its pelage consists of rather coarse brown hair, beneath which there is a fine, soft, dark fur, which makes its skin of commercial value. In dressing the skins the hair is plucked, the fine fur beneath being clipped to a uniform length and usually dyed. The formerly well-known beaver hat was made from this fur, but in recent years silk has taken its place. The importance of the American beaver is illustrated by the fact that some 7,000,000 skins have been sold in London by the Hudson's Bay Company since the year 1752. Not only is the fur of the beaver in demand, but its flesh, and especially the muscles of the tail, are prized for food by hunters and others who live the free, open-air life of the frontier, although it is seldom exposed for sale in the markets of cities.

The beaver is of interest to the geographer not only on account of its wide distribution, which embraced the entire continent wherever the willow, birch, alder, etc., on which it subsisted, could grow, from northern Mexico to the Arctic Ocean, but for the reason that it made more conspicuous and lasting changes in the minor features of the surface of the land than any other mammal. One of its peculiar habits is that it gnaws down trees frequently 6 or 8 inches in diameter, and after cutting them into sticks a few feet in length, uses them in making dams across small streams. These dams were built in thousands and tens of thousands all through the forested regions, and being plastered with mud, and still further enlarged and strengthened by the accumulation of driftwood and leaves, held the waters of the streams in check and caused them to expand so as to form small lakes, ponds, and swamps. These beaver-dam lakes are common even at the present day, and many of them which have been filled with sediment or drained furnish rich lands, now utilized for gardens and cultivated fields. In Michigan these beaver-dam lakes furnish the rich black soil so favourable for the raising of celery and other vegetables. The beaver has disappeared from all but the wilder and more inaccessible portions of the continent, but the influence of the changes it made in the drainage of the land will endure for many generations to come.

Of the fur-bearing animals mentioned above, none are more definitely American than the skunks, or, to use a more felicitous name, _Mephitis_, which ranges from central Canada to central Mexico, and is represented by four or five species. As stated by Elliott Coues in his instructive monograph on the North America _Mustelidae_, the skunks are closely related to the badgers, being heavy-bodied, short-legged, stout in build, with hairy tails and generally loose pelage. They neither climb trees nor swim in water; their gait is slow, and they do not allow themselves to be hurried, even in the face of danger; their retreats are burrows in the ground or dens in rocks and hollow logs, and sometimes in the nooks and corners of dwellings and outhouses. Their most common representative, _Mephitis mephitica_, is a beautiful animal some 15 or 20 inches in length, exclusive of its bushy tail, which is usually 12 to 15 inches long. The head is small, the ears low and short, and the hair of a glossy black, relieved by conspicuous white markings which are not only irregular in shape, but vary with individuals. The most marked characteristic of the skunks is their ability to emit at will a fluid which has the most disagreeable and sickening odour known. This fluid is secreted in two glands, each about one inch in diameter, situated at the base of the tail and opening into the rectum, but has no connection with the secretions of the kidneys, and is probably seldom discharged except when the animal is annoyed. It is a unique and most efficient means of defence. In this connection it is to be remembered, however, that the skunks belong to the family _Mustelidae_, which is characterized in part by the odoriferous secretions present in its various species, but, above all others, the odours emitted by the genera under consideration are the most dreadful. The stench produced by these animals when startled or enraged is not only horrible beyond description, but endures for months and even a year or more. The yellow liquid which is ejected is squirted in a fine spray for a distance of some 6 or 8 feet, but its odour may sometimes be perceived, even when the wind is still, for a distance of a quarter of a mile.

The skunk having this one unconquerable means of defence from all its enemies except man, exhibits evidence of degeneration in other respects. When discharging its odoriferous fluid it faces its enemy, who is held at bay or retreats, and hence, not being compelled to run, has acquired a slow, wavering gait and deliberate movements; having no occasion to ascend trees for safety, it has lost or failed to develop the ability to climb; and its lack of other powers which are highly developed in its near of kin may be used in illustration in a similar way. It is practically removed from the attacks of enemies excepting dogs and other canines and some birds of prey, but has to adapt itself to conditions of climate and food supply. In winter in the northern portion of its habitat it becomes more or less torpid, and during the coldest weather usually hibernates, thus lessening the exertion required to procure sustenance. When the temperature is not excessively low it seeks its food, which consists of insects, birds' eggs, small reptiles, mice, etc., and in settled regions visits the poultry-yards, and thus increases the enmity extended to it by all mankind, who have ever been disgusted by its odours. Another objectionable fact in reference to this despised yet, we may perhaps say, respectfully treated animal, is that its bite sometimes produces hydrophobia.

The skunks are not only widely distributed in North America, occupying perhaps a larger area in the austral than they do in the boreal region, but are influenced to a less extent by climatic and topographic conditions than probably any other genera among our mammals. It lives among mountains and on plateaus and plains, and in forests as well as on the open prairies, and extends from humid regions like eastern Canada and New England to the dry, semi-desert valley of New Mexico, and from the cold shores of the Great Lakes and central Canada to the warm Gulf States. Although offensive, and everywhere declared a nuisance, and persecuted as such, as well as trapped and hunted for its pelt, its range has been decreased but little since the settlement of the country by Europeans, although its numbers are greatly reduced. Its beautiful fur when deodorized and dyed of a uniform black is sold under the name "Alaskan sable," "black marten," "American sable," etc., and is extensively worn even by the most fashionably attired dames of every land.

_The Bears._--Of the bears native to North America, as was stated by S. F. Baird in 1857, the number of species is somewhat indefinite, but four are commonly recognised and mention is sometimes made of two others. This uncertainty as to the number of species of the genus _Ursus_, I believe, still exists, and in itself is significant. If the bears have not been satisfactorily classified, as is apparently the case, it suggests that they exhibit great variations and that the drawing of hard and fast specific boundaries among them is difficult, and perhaps impossible.

The species which are usually recognised are the polar bear, the grizzly, the cinnamon, and the black. Of the black and brown or cinnamon bears there seems to be several varieties, some of which are perhaps worthy of being considered species. On the other hand, it must be remembered that Baird and others makes the cinnamon a variety of the black bear. Again the grizzly and cinnamon intergrade in such a manner that an experienced naturalist has considered them to be but extremes of a single species.