North America

asure from assisting each other, is the geographical distribution of animals. In this connection

LES OF GEOGRAPH

d 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 o

tribution 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 d

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 present

lm. 1. Austr

nesian

aiian

o-Malaya

lm. Neotrop

alm. 1. Mala

iopian

ental

arctic

oran r

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 f

ONS AND L

de 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

as divided North America into the f

Regions. Zones. Go

IMIT. SOUT

ove 6° C. or 43° F. Normal mean temperat

g. F. Deg.

al. Arctic. ...

... ... 1

. ... ..

sition. 5,500

al. 6,400 1

l. 10,000 18

present unclassified.

from insuff

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 i

MA

e 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

S-MA

rders. Example

Eurasia. Afr

. Man, lemurs, apes,

era. Bats.

oles, shrews, hed

tigers, cats, dogs,

rats, mice, squirrel

orse, elephant, ta

ugong and man

es, dolphins, na

s, armadillos, ant

pialia. Kangaroos, op

tremata. Ornithorhync

n North America. Several species are common in Central America, but they are abs

argely in caverns. One family of the Chiroptera, the leaf-nosed bats (Phyllostomatid?), are strictly American, having their principal habitat in the southern continent, but ranging as far north as the West Indies, Mexi

by a large number of genera and species, of

), wolves, bears, racoons, martens, etc. Many species of the seal family occur about the en

individuals, but of species and genera; as rats, mice, j

f 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 mo

ne mammals of wide distribution, are represented on the borde

to the coast, more especially in the north, where whales

exception (the scaly ant-eater, not found in America) do not occur in the Old World, only th

except in Australia and America, are represented by the opo

ta, represented in Australia by the duck-billed platypus

ores. 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 dim

ESENTATIV

ttract the sportsman, are of value for food, or furnish fur and skins for clothing. Of such animals the norther

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

ght at the shoulders. The thick-set, shaggy body is supported on short stout legs, and the feet are broad, to serve bo

rom 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

f 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

n. 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 anima

h is unknown, is the Eskimo dog, the range of which has no doubt been extended while

e 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

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 th

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 supplie

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

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

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 i

s with numerous sharp points sometimes measure 8? 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

rness, 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 prairie

ree 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 abunda

r 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 i

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

ulf 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 w

ly 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 dec

ike, 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

alls of the Grand Ca?on 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 th

f 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 52? inches in length, measured along the outer curve, and 18? 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 statem

ir, 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. T

ed 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 wh

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 exterm

ights, Winnipeg. (Photograp

), 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

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

bull is about 2,000 pounds

Range of

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 in

uld 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 n

ed by Hornaday, the bisons running at large in North America numbered but 635. In 1902 the number of bison in the United States

ntinental 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 th

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, t

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-o

le-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 plac

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 pres

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

r 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 procur

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

es 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 cla

al 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

ing the breeding season, when it is sometimes met with 25 miles from the ocean. Its southern range on the Atlantic coast is in northern Labrador, but it is occasionally carried on floating ice as far south as Newfoundland. It inhabits the shores of Hudson Bay and the Arctic Ocean. On the west coast it reaches Bering Strait, and is carried on floating ice to the islands in the

elage is long, almost shaggy, and gives the animal even a more formidable appearance than its great size and strength justifies. It is not only one of the largest of the American bears, ranking in this respect with the polar bear and the largest of the huge brown bears, but is al

low, while others become dark and are scarcely distinguishable from the true grizzly. They reach a great size, particularly in southern Alaska, and possibly in certain instances even exceed the polar bear in dimensions and weight. The tracks of one which I me

ntinent and are usually harmless, but at times when attacked or approached suddenly, especially if accompanied by their young, become formidable enemies. Their colour is usually a glossy black, but much variation occurs, especially about the h

species are present, one being abundant in the eastern portio

d by two genera, Felis and Lynx, ea

e 4 feet or more in length to the base of the tail, and the tail is about 3 feet long. Its general colour is a soft-yellowish passing into dark brown and black, with large rosette- or somewhat lozenge-shaped spots, which take the form of indefinite rings of dark fur with lighter centres, within which there are one or two dark

nian forest, but it ranges over nearly all of South America, throughout

xamples being nearly 5 feet long from the tip of the nose to the base of the tail. The stout cylindrical tail is from 20 to over 30 inches long. In spite of its size and great strength the panther is not to be feared so long as room for its escape is open, as it is a great coward. One of the most interesting facts concerning this species is its unusual

or American wildcat. The latter, of which there are at least three varieties, is yet common, and maintains approximately its or

iven of encounters with wolves. These stories as they have been handed down have probably in many instances been magnified, but there is no doubt but that the larger wo

requently 5 feet or more in length and weighs 50 to 60 pounds. Individuals have been killed, however, which exceed these measures. The range of this species, or group of species as the case may be, was originally continental, but more particularly in the forested regions. Its hair, which is frequently 4 i

hat of the gray wolf. Its range is from northern Mexico northward throughout the great plateaus, and in the valleys of the Pacific mountains into Canada. It is usually the first of the larger mammals the traveller in that region learns the existence of, even at the present day. Several individuals frequently gather together just after sunset and make their p

s at present available. Indeed, of the smaller mammals much more research is evidently needed before even the number of genera and species can be enumerated, much less their life

as far south as the South Atlantic States. Of less extensive range is the gray squirrel and the black squirrel, common in New England, and the somewhat larger and yet more beautiful fox squirrel of the central part of the continental basin. There are also a large number of species of ground squirrels, and several species of flying-squirrels. The rodents are also represented by the marmots, certai

ies, all of them confined to the New World. Of these, two species are common in North America: one, the Virginia opossum, abundant throughout the eastern portion of the United States to the south of New York, and the other and smaller species, which inhabits Mexico and extends northward into southern California and Texas. Many representatives of this same family occur in Central and South Americ

The Canadian porcupine is found throughout nearly the entire forested portion of the boreal region and extends as far south as the Middle Atlantic

inents. They are common in the forests of Central Ameri

-known mammals peculiar to this continent, menti

umber of fossil forms whose bones have been discovered in the rocks, the menagerie would be vastly enlarged, and many excee

BI

utiful forms and the air filled with such a discordant clamour mingled with the sweetest of music that failure to convey an adequate i

una of the world, may perhaps be best indicated by noting first of

the scheme of classification adopted by Wallace in his great w

SS-

s. Ex

atchers, larks, jays, crows, blackbirds, finches, sparrows, warblers, chickadees, swa

toucans, kingfishers, swifts, g

aci Parr

Pigeons a

nts, quail, jungle-fowl,

e hoazin of Guian

owls, vultures, hawks,

plovers, cranes, herons

ulls, petrels, pelicans, p

rich, rhea, cassowa

e the ostrich-like birds, of which the only species in the New World is the rhea, of the southern porti

tc. According to Wallace's summary, the 8 orders referred to contain 124 families, of which 75 are not represented in North America to the north of the lowlands of Mexico, while 47 families are present. Of thes

and Central America, the above summary does not represent its entire bird fauna, but presents, perhaps, the best general idea of it that is at present attainable. To include t

, as given in the check-list of the American Ornithologists' Union, at 181. Of these, 55, or 30 per cent, are circumpolar or otherwise wide-ranging Old World forms; 1

he American Ornithologists' Union (1895), is 768, together with a large number of subspecies. If the trop

the warm temperate belt 95 genera occur which do not range into the cold temperate belt, and of these only 12 are Old World forms, while 83 are exclusively American, and in addition 60 genera are common to both the cold and the warm temperate zone, of which 46 are represented in the fauna of the Old World, while 14 are Amer

oast of the continent, and in this connection it is to be remembered that the land contracts in breadth towards the south. In number

cies common to America and Eurasia has previously been referred to, and the same explanation applies in each case, namely, the near ap

ost universally distributed throughout the warmer latitudes, and in part from tropical America, but to a marked extent the species present developed where they are

with the bird life, none present a more fascinating field for study than th

n all winter and may justly claim to be citizens. Besides these, there are several visitors that come from the north and belong to the vast army of migrants, but which are contented with a comparatively small change of position during the periods of greatest cold or heaviest snow. In the far north the number of

s occur. The migratory birds are actuated by such a strong desire to regain their nesting places and summer homes that they embrace every opportunity to journey towards them, and not infrequently suffe

nd increases in strength until the middle of May, when it is at its height, and then rapidly declines and is practically over by the beginning of June. In the far north, the first arrival from the southward, and that a species which does not make a long annual journey, usually appears early in April. At Point Barrow, the most northern portion of Alaska, as was observed by John Murdock in 188

c. As the weather in spring-time is fickle, and its variations not the same for any two consecutive years, so the gathering of the birds into flocks and their northward flights vary, although for a term of years the arrival of a given species at a particular station does not depart far from a mean date. With the northward sweep of the waves of bird life over the temperate and boreal portions of the continent comes the awakening of plan

time of the greatest movements in the northern portion of the United States a large number of species frequently arrive at a given locality in a single night. At sunset t

de of temperature are in some instances 100 or 200 miles long and have a breadth of perhaps a score of miles. The distance between the waves varies with

hthouses along the coast and on the shores of the Great Lakes, when migration is in progress, dead birds are frequently found in considerable numbers and of various species. In these cases the birds are evidently attracted by the lights and killed on striking the windows that protect them. This occurs particularly on stormy or cloudy nights, w

At the approach of cold weather reassemblage occurs, frequently great flocks being formed, and the southern movement begins. The southward migration is less c

onditions. The greater part of the migratory birds, however, pass the winter in the Gulf States, Mexico, the West Indies, and Central and South America. In some cases they go well to the south of the equator. The annual flight going and coming measured in a straight line, between the nesting place and the winter home, cannot be l

ld weather approaches and while food is yet abundant. Then, too, crippled individuals have been known to survive the winter in regions from which their summer companions have departed. Instinct, therefore, plays a part in even the fall migration, where at first glance sufficient physical reasons may seemingly be claimed for it. During the spring migration the birds are moved by a strong impulse to regain their breeding-grounds. Each species seems to have adapted itself to certain conditions of temperature, food

ange not only in colour and movements, but in sound. This is the season of bird courtship and more than usual happiness among t

acts interrupt their even flow. In the profound silence of a calm winter night the distant dismal howl of a wolf, the cry of an owl, or the bark of a fox alone reminds one that life still continues, but these animate sounds are far more frequently absent than present. With the coming of the spring there is a marvellous awakening and unfolding. The brooks, swollen to overflowing by the melting of the snow, make music as they run. The northward flight of the birds brings to every grove

he music gradually subsides. But the glad tidings of the coming of the day are passed westward from grove to grove and from meadow to meadow, and a wave of song sweeps on ahead of the wave of light, induced by its coming. The song-wave spreads to the north and south and flows steadily westward over the forest-covered mountains, across the great central basin of the continent, breaking on the treeless plateaus into many streams which follow the grove-fringed rivers, passes through the depressions in the Rocky Mountains, and although weaken

in the great forests or amid the solemn mountains is the coming of the wave of song in

ur to convey to the reader some idea of the varied reptilian, fish, and invertebrate life of the continent, but the limitations of space prohibit such a review. Even the great probl

ERA

hical Survey of the Territories, vol. iv, Washington, 1878, pp. 313-377; The Geographical Distribution of Nort

gical Distribution of Animals. International

f the Mammalia in North

Report of the Smithsonian Institution for the year

s of a Biological Survey of the San Francisco Mountain Region and Desert of the Little Colorado, Arizona, United States Department of Agriculture, Division of Ornithology and Mamm