and is used only by natives who have not steel traps or gins. An enclosure of twigs is made and the bait laid in the centre and a snare set in the entrance with a road fenced in like manner leading to it. The principle of construction is the same as in lynx-snaring, and alike in every respect excepting that the enclosure is larger. Foxes are sometimes found hung in snares set for rabbits.

5. By hook and line. This cannot be exactly considered a legitimate method of entrapping foxes, though I have seen one killed by it. An Indian at our establishment was visiting and arranging his lines for catching Loche (Gadus lota), when he observed a fox at a short distance from him regarding his operations; .he immediately flung the baited hook towards it, and concealed himself behind a block of ice. Reynard approached, smelt rather suspiciously at the bait and at length swallowed it, whereupon the Indian without giving the animal time to cut the line, hauled in and killed it.

6. By hunting. This method is practised in the fall before there is enough snow to set the traps. The hunter conceals himself close to the fox's hole, and shoots him as he passes to it.

8. By ice-traps. This is a tolerably successful way, more so than by wooden traps. A block of ice of considerable weight is tilted on end at an angle of about 45°, a piece of stick supports this, placed well under the block, the lower end resting on the bait. The animal in his efforts to obtain the bait drags the stick off the perpendicular when the ice falls on him and kills him, This method is much used by the Yellow Knives to trap white foxes.

9. By poison. For this purpose strychnia is used. I have tried aconitine, atropine, and corrosive sublimate without success. The two former may not have been pure enough, though I obtained them from the first chemical works in England and at a very high price. The only poison that I have found strong is strychnia. One or two grains of this are mixed with a little tallow, forming a small ball, and covered with a coating of grease outside to prevent the animal from tasting it. A quantity of pounded dried meat and morsels are strewn about so that the animal after swallowing the poison may be detained a sufficient time for it to operate. The distances which animals go before they die vary greatly; in some instances they fall directly, in others they run several miles with the same dose, and arranged in like

manner.

This I attribute to several causes; to their fatness, and to the quantity of food in their stomachs, as lean and hungry foxes die much more quickly than others. The medium in which the poison is given also causes a great difference. When put up in fresh meat a very long time elapses before it operates.

Wishing to preserve a specimen of the Hare-Indian dog for the Smithsonian Institution, I resolved to kill the animal by poisoning. Two grains of strychnia of the first strength were administered in a piece of fresh meat, at the end of two hours the animal was as well as ever. I then administered one grain more mixed with grease, in two minutes the spasms began, and in five the animal was dead. The first symptoms were a restlessness and contraction of the pupil of the eye, and a flow of saliva from the mouth, violent cramps then ensued, the head shook violently, like a paralytic person, the legs were drawn up, and the spine took a circular shape, a lull of a few seconds then ensued, when after an attack of great violence the animal died. On dissection the blood vessels of the head and neck were found very full of black and clotted blood, such as I have seen in the jugular vein of a person who had died of apoplexy. There was no inflammation of the stomach, and the fatal bait was found in the throat entire. Once seen, the symptoms of poisoning by strychnis are easily recognized, and I would be certain now of passing a correct opinion on a case of the kind.

Dogs take a longer time to expire than either wolves or foxes; the latter dying most quickly; in fact according to the ratio of the wild nature of the animal who cats it will be the quickness and violence of its death.

VULPES LAGOPUS.-Arctic Fox.

Var. A. Lagopus-White Fox.

Sp. Ch. Smaller than American Red Fox; tail very full and bushy, soles of feet densely furred, tip of nose black.

Var. B. Borealis.-Blue Fox.

Sp. Ch. Similar to the white in every particular except that

of color.

Lagopus-White Fox.

On

This diminutive Fox which is about as large as a small terrier inhabits the barren grounds and sea coast of this district. only two occasions have I known it to be caught on the South

side of Slave Lake, once at Resolution and once at Big Island. Its fur is thick, about 2 inches long, white in color with the under fur a lead tint. In winter the animal is white all over excepting the tip of the nose which is black, a light shade of lead is, however visible on the shanks and feet. These are densely furred and the nails are brown. In summer the fur is about an inch in length, white beneath the belly, but owing to the falling off of the long hairs a stripe of plumbous grey annulated with white, and about three inches broad extends from the nape of the neck to the tail, widening towards the rump and passing over the tops of the thighs. The whiskers white in winter, have brown hairs intermixed, and a yellowish tint surrounds the ears, eyes, and mouth, and tinges the shanks and feet. A few long dark hairs may be perceived by careful examination, sprinkled down the back, and the tail has a slight plumbous shade mixed with faint yellow. The color does not approximate in either summer or winter pelage to that of the blue Fox which has been erroneously stated to be the young of the white. The white fox measures in a good specimen which I have before me 22 inches from the tip of the nose to the root of the tail, which measures 13 inches to the end of the hairs. It is an extremely stupid animal, easily killed and very tame. It is sometimes knocked on the head in open day while following the sleds of the Indians. It lives on mice, carrion, birds, especially Ptarmigan, to which it is a deadly enemy.

Borealis.-Blue Fox.

In the lack of positive information upon the subject I am uncertain whether to consider this as a mere variety of the white fox, or to class it as a distinct species, but I will, for the present, consider it as the former.

The Arctic Blue Fox measures 35 inches from the tip of the nose to the root of the tail, which is 13 inches in length to the end of the hairs. Its color in winter is a plumbous brown; the under fur plumbous, and the larger hairs brown at the tips, with white hairs interspersed but not in great numbers. On the head and nape of the neck the color is a reddish grey, like the tint of a silver fox in summer pelage. Under the throat down to the chest, the color is nearly a pure chocolate paling on the belly. into a shade similar to that of the back, the sides and flanks are nearly pure plumbous, mingled with white hairs. The legs are brownish grey, and the fur, which covers the soles of the feet

densely, is a dirty white. The claws are nearly an inch long, brown in color, strong, and well curved. The tail is of a like tint with the back, but of a lighter shade. The nose is reddish with a black tip. The fur is remarkably thick and fine, and the tail very full. In summer pelage it is difficult to define the color, but it may be called a smoky brown, on the forehead the grey of the winter coat still remains, and there is also a faint stripe of the same shade down the centre of the back. There is less of the reddish tint throughout than in the winter fur.

It has been supposed that the blue fox is the young of the white fox but this I do not think possible. The specimen now before me is full grown, and in fact it would be a very large animal of the other color. The color is also very rare, for while hundreds of white are traded, not more than six, on an average, of the blue are exported yearly from this District. If they were the young of the white the number would be certainly greater. What are traded are all obtained from the Eskimos inhabiting the sea coast, so that it may justly be termed a littoral animal. On only two occasions, to my knowledge, has it been killed inland, and then at the eastern end of Slave Lake close to, or on the barren grounds. But on inspecting the two animals minutely, so close is their resemblance to one another, except in color, that I am inclined, in default of more precise information, to class them as varieties of the same species, the blue being a rare one and holding the same position that the silver does in the Fulvus species. An examination of a number of skins would doubtless show shades of color filling up the intermediate position that the cross fox holds to the other group.

FAMILY.-Mustelidæ.

Fam. Ch. Carnivora with a single tubercular molar tooth only, on either side of the jaw; the sectorial premolar of typical shape; feet five toed plantipode, or digitipode. Coccum wanting.

The preceding diagnosis, taken from Wagner, expresses in a few words the characters of a group of the carnivora, of which there are several representatives in this District.

In this family are contained three sub-families Martinæ, Lutrinæ and Melinæ. These include several genera, comprising species of some of the most valuable and beautiful fur animals of North America. Of the Mephites, I found the bones, and a portion of the skin of a common skunk, (Mephitis mephitica) lying partially

decayed in the woods, at a short distance from Fort Resolution on the shores of Great Slave Lake. But as I have never seen the animal alive there, and the natives report that it does not frequent the county within a considerable distance of that post, this sub-family must be considered as unrepresented in the fauna of Mackenzie's River.

The food of the Mustelida is animal. Birds, reptiles, eggs, and especially mice, are eaten by the martins; the otter, and mink eat fish; but the wolverine delights in carrion. This last is a most destructive beast, but an account of its propensities will be given when I come to review the subject in detail.

Although these animals are so fierce and blood thirsty when in their natural state, they are far from difficult to tame, and I have seen martins, ermines, minks and otters, in confinment which appeared affectionate and graceful pets; and there is no reason why the wolverine, fisher, and skunk, should not become equally docile, though I doubt if any person would much like the latter animal about the house.

SUB-FAMILY.-Martina.

Upper true molar short, transversely elongated, molars unequal in the two jaws. Soles generally hairy, the walk more or less plantigrade. In this sub-family are included several animals inhabiting the colder regions of North America, and whose fur is among the most valuable produced on this continent. It contains 3 genera:

1. Mustela.

2. Putorius.

3. Gulo.

All of which have representatives in this District.

1. MUSTELA.-Lin.

Teeth 38. Molars one above, and two below, premolars four on each side above and below. Lower sectorial tooth with a small internal tubercle. Body slender: tail rather long.

This Genus embraces the martins in distinction to the weasels. Its species are usually of large size, arboreal habits, and all of them yielding peltries of great value. Two and possibly three species inhabit this district, the largest of which is M. Pennanti, another is M. Americanus, or American pine martin; and the sable, M. Zebellina, will probably be found in the Northern and N. W. regions to constitute a third.