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CANADA
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR DOMINION PARKS BRANCH
HANDBOOK
OF THE
ROCKY MOUNTAINS PARK
MUSEUM
ADMISSION FREE
OPEN 9-6 DAILY
OTTAWA
GOVERNMENT PRINTING BUREAU
1914
^Sf
H57!f
CANADA
DIPABTMINT OF THE IKTBRIOH DOMINION PARKS BRANCH
HANDBOOK
OF THE
Rocky Mountains Park Museum
By HARLAN I. SMITH
ST. STA*.!-.Aj; r^v:'iArE -iLnaqp I IDRARY
ADMISSION FREE Op ^ .6 daily
OTTA 1 GOVERNMENT PFIWrlNG BUREAU
PREFACE
^HE Rocky Mountains Park Museum is m aained in the midst of the Rocky Mountains Park at Banff, Alberta, bv
Alberta and British Columbia generally. The visitor is no confused by specimens of more distant parts of the mountains
fn fl^"u^T^ °^ • ^'i *;*".''*• ^"' specimens such as are found in he Park are included even if taken far outside tho Park itseu. • «"»
»ho I}f '^'^Ju' "uP! "°.'* '""strations of the museum eventually h«H n ^°"f *^* •T.*'°'* "."*• =*>*P»"> sub-chapter and paragraph headings, text, illustrations, maps and legends of a complete na ura history book on the region, and conversely an fdeS natural history book on the Rocky Mountains Park might be cut up and supply all the labels for the museum. The cover represents the museum's outside door label; the chapter heads tne arge museum division labels; the sub-chapter heads
c?l««*/ K-"*/' «!i°"£ ^''^^'' '^' *"*• framed labels to
vS 3%?il':; "''' ''^ "^'^^ ''"•"^ '^'''"' "^"^''^ '0 "'^'-
This handbook is intended to give something to the p.- ic now, and to serve as a basis for a future book which ma p^ re-arranged, unified, made more complete, and i lotc appronn xtc in style for the use of the average citizen. It .tended not only to present in book form and in order some of the labels of the museum as they are and it is to-day, but also some of the
oth'er'IZlf InH ^'h^'TK^f ' ''*"''^« ^°' " P°^"^l« ^"^"'« ^ditSn ?> « . K , K *'"*• '•'^ ^''^^^ *=°Py y«^ to be written. Some of the labels here given are already illustrated in the museum by specimens. The museum will be modelled after pre^nt and
Sh * •'."'^f ^°°k matter for labels. Future editions may be
Sl*° .i^'u"*^* * complete list of all the natural history
asS h-i''K^°°r°^ ^^ '^^ ^°^^y Mountains Park, so f J as tney have been learned.
From another standpoint this handbook presents a clas- sified list of the chief or outstanding natural history objects and phenomena of the region with some popular explanatory matter.
The book thus serves as a reference handbook to the natural history of the whole region in and around the Rocky Mountains Park, as well as to the specimens in the museum, the living animals in the Zoo ne.i.r the museum, in the large Paddock, about two miles away on the road to Bankhead, and running at large in the vicinity of Banff; all of these, like the museum, being maintained by the Dominion Government.
As the museum is maintained primarily for Canadian citizens as a whole, the scientific facts regarding natural history are presented and arranged not in the usual scientific order, but so as to bring to the fore some of the more noticeably Rocky Mountains and western matters, although in general the scientific order is preserved. Scientific names are inter- preted into the language common to every day speech as far as possible.
The Museum is indebted to the Geological Survey, Ottawa, for maps and books; the Public Museum, Milwaukee, and the United States National Museum, Washington, for labels; the American Museum of Natural History, New York, for labels, maps and books; the Conservation Commission of Canada and the Central Experimental Farm, Ottawa, for books; Alexander G. Ruthven, A. Knechtel, S. J. Schofield, John Treadwell Nichols and L. D. Burling, for label copy; the United States Fish Commission for pictures of fish ; to Allan Brooks, Okanagan Landing, B.C., for the chief assistance in making up the list of birds, which list is only tentative and is based upon the A. O. U. check list, Riley's list in the Canadian Alpine Club Journal of 1912, and Mr. Brooks' own observa- tions in the region; and to N. B. Sanson, the curator and meteorological observer, for label copy and an inventory of the miTseum specimens. These courtesies are indicated by the initials of the donor in each case. In writing labels, I have found the literature listed in chapter 17 useful, especially The American Natural History, by Hornaday, and American Animals by Stone and Cram. The bird labels are quoted by permission from Charles K. Reed's Bird Guides, and very slightly modified.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Geography of the Rocky Mountains Park
2. Mammals of the Rocky Mountains Park
3. Birds of the Rocky Mountains Park
4. Fish of the Rocky Mountains Park
5. Reptiles of the Rocky Mountains Park
6. Amphibians of the Rocky Mountains Park
7. Shell-fish of the Rocky Mountains Park
8. Insects of the Rocky Mountains Park
9. Plants of the Rocky Mountains Park
10. Minerals of the Rocky Mountains Park
11. Rocks of the Rocky Mountains Park
12. Fossils of the Rocky Mountains Park
13. Weather of the Rocky Mountains Park
14. Antiquities of the Rocky Mountains Park 16. Indians of the Rocky Mountains Park
16. History o( the Rocky Mountains Park
17. Literature of the Rocky Mountains Park
iPiliiiiRi
i
L
1. Geography of the Rocky Mountains Park
THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS PARK
*rHE Rocky Mountains Park is maintained by the Canadian Government under the supervision of the Parks Branch of the Department of the Interior. It is located in Alberta and consists of about one thousand square miles or 640,000 acres of the eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains, its eastern boundary being fifty miles west from the city of Calgary and its western limits the crest of the Rocky Mountains or the eastern boundary of British Columbia. In width it varies from ten to forty-five miles. In a north-west and south-east direction the length is about seventy mUes. It includes the towns of Banff, Canmore, Exshaw and Bankhead. The chief tourist resorts are Banff with its hot springs and the Lake Louise Alpine district with its glacier near Laggan station. The Canadian Pacific Railroad and the Calgary-Vancouver automobile road cross it.
Within the Park are a variety of hotels ranging from two dollars per day up to the luxurious accommodation provided by the Canadian Pacific Railway.
The most important moimtains are : —
As one enters the Park from the east :—
The Three Sisters, near Canmore, 9,704 feet in height. Near Lake Minnewanka : —
Mount Aylmer, 10,333 feet. Peechee, 9,585 feet. Inglismaldie, 9,685 feet. In the immediate vicinity of Banff : — Rundle, 9,615 feet. Cascade, 9,830 feet. Sulphur, 8,030 feet. Bourgeau Range, 9,510 feet. Tunnel, 5,510 feet. To the south of Banff, along the Divide : —
Mount Assiniboine, 11,860 feet. West of Banff :—
Castle Mountain, 9,000 feet. Near Lake Louise : —
Mount Lefroy, 11,290 feet. Victoria, 11,400 feet. Fairview, 9,001 feet. Temple, 11,637 feet. Hungabee, 11,305 feet. Deltaform, 11,225 feet.
^^^
Bow River empties into the South Saskatchewan, whose waters finally reach Lake Winnipeg, Nelson River, and Hudson Bay. Lake Minnewanka, about eleven miles long, is located eight and a half miles from Banff. Hot Sulphur Springs are found in several places in the Park, the highest temperature being 114 degrees.
The Rocky Mountains Park Museimi, the Zoo, immediately adjacent to it, and the Paddock, about two miles away on the road to Bankhead and Calgary, and on either side of the Canadian Pacific Railway, are among the chief points of interest in con- nection with the museum.
The native wild animals at large in the Park are protected. No hunter is allowed inside the Park with an unsealed gun. The magnificent forests are also protected from exploitation and fire.
THE ZOO
^HE Zoo is immediately adjacent to the Museum. Here may be seen the following animals of the Rocky Mountains Park :—
Black Bears
Cinnamon Black Bepr
Grizzly Bears
Red Foxes
Kit Foxes
Timber Wolves
Coyotes
Lynx
American Panther
Badgers
Pine Martens
Porcupines Mountain Gopher Albino Gophers Marmots Fox Squirrels Black Squirrels Canada Geese Hawks
Golden Eagles Bald headed Eagle Owls
The following animals from distant parts of the world may also be seen in the Zoo : —
Ringtail Monkey Rhesus Monkeys Polar Bear Raccoons Orange Squirrel Silver Pheasants
Golden Pheasants Amherst Pheasants Reeves Pheasants Common Pheasants Pea Fowls
THE PADDOCK
'pHE Paddock is about two miles from the museum on the * road to Bankhead and Calgary and on either side of the Canadian Pacific Railway. Here may be seen the following animals of the Rocky Mountains Park : —
Rocky Mountain Sheep Rocky Mountain Goats Buff ilo herd American Elk herd
Virginia Deer herd Mule Deer Moose
The following animals from distant parts of the world niav also be seen m ihe Paddock:—
Persian Sheep Four-Horned Sheep
Angora Goats Yak
IB
10
2. Mammals of the Rocky Mountains Park
M
MAMMALS
AMMAL" is the correct term for all tliat division of liie that is generally recognized under the term " animal" in its most popular and vernacular meaning. They are so-called from the fact that all suckle their young by means of mammary glands. Mammals include man, monkeys, bats, insect eaters, like the ant eater, flesh eaters, like the cat, marsupials, hke the kangaroo, rodents or gnawers, like the rat, edentata or toothless animals, like the armadillos, pachydermata, like the elephant, ruminants, who chew the cud like the deer, and cetacea, hke the whale. They are those, of the warm blooded animals having back bones, that are put in the first class at the head of the animal kingdom because they have the most faculties, most specialized and complicated structure, varied movements, and highly developed intelUgence. They all bring forth their young alive, some of which at birth have their eyes open and can run around at once: others are helpless. All have hair, though some, like the whale, lose it early. Most of them walk, a few, like the bat, can fly, and some, like the whales, live in the water. Man stands at the head of the class, the whale near the foot. The bones of all are alike in general, but modified according to the life of the animal. There are about ten thousand species or kinds of mammals, of which over forty are found m the Rocky Mountains Park.
The chief mammals of the Rocky Mountains Park are as follows : —
A. HOOFED ANIMALS:— I. Herbivora or Cattle
Roc". 7 Mountain Sheep RockyKountain Goat American Buffalo
II. Pronghorn
"Antelope " III. Deer and Related Animals American Elk or Wapiti Virginia Deer Mule Deer Caribou Moose
11
B. CARNIVORA OR MEAT EATERS
I
II.
Ill
IV.
Bears Black Bear Grizzly Bear
Foxes and Wolves or Doglike Animals Red Fox Grey Wolf Coyote
Felines or Catlike Animals Canada Lynx
American Panther Weasels and their Relatives
Otter
Skunk
Badger
Long-tailed Weasel
Least Weasel
Mink
Fisher
Marten
Wolverine RODENTS OR GNAWERS I. Rabbits and Hares
Varying Hare
Jack Rabbit
Little Chief Hare Porcupines
Western Porcupine Rats Mice and Voles
Muskrat
Bushy-tailed Wood Rat
White-footed Mouse
Jumping Mouse
Red-backed Vole IV. Beavers
Canadian Beaver
V. Squirrels and Marmots Red Squirrel Northern Flying Squirrel Northern Chipmunk Golden Mantled Ground Squirrel Richardson Ground Squirrel Canadian Woodchuck Yellow-footed Marmot Hoary Marmot or Whistler Columbia Ground Squirrel Mountain Chipmunk
11
III
12
D. SHREWS
Marked Shrew Dusky Shiew Marsh Shrew
E. BATS
Brown Bats Little Brown Bats Silver-Haired Bat Hoary Bat
The Rocky Mountain Goat and Rocky Mountain Sheep receive their names from the Rocky Mountains. The American Elk, Buffalo, Grizzly Bear, Mule Deer and " Antelope, are usually thought of as of the Rocky Mountains, Great Plains, or West, and with the Rattlesnake, Sage Brush, Cactus and Indian, are certainly closely identified with the West.
ROCKY MOUNTAIN SHEEP
ROCKY MOUNTAIN SHEEP, BIG HORN, Ovis canadensis, Shaw
'T.HE Rocky Mountain Sheep are the best and longest known ^ of the true wild sheep of America. They are subdivided into several geographical races, clearly distinguishable but closely allied, and all may have descended from ancestral stock that crossed from Asia to Alaska. The Mountain Sheep is the chamois of the American West, a fine, strong, sturdy, active, bold, mountaineer with a keen eye. His tribe are the only wild animals having circUng horns. Both rams and ewes have horns, but those of the ewes are short and httle curved, like the horns of an immature ram. The mistaken belief in the existence of an "Ibex" in America is probably because of these neariy straight horns of the females or young males. Some of the Indians make beautifully carved spoons from these horns. These sheep are skilful, reckless climbers for heavy animals, travel easily where man and most other animals can scarcely follow, and jump well from a height, but they do not land on their horns as novices in the woods are often told.
They feed weU all the year round, mostly on grasses on open slopes above timber line. They are seldom driven down to timbered slopes or foothiUs by bUzzards as are elk and deer. In spring they venture down for food, but soon return.
The rams contest for the ewes, each gathering as large a harem as he can protect from his rivals, anywhere from three to about twelve. These families keep together until spring,
13
when the rams separate from the flock, and in May or June one or occasionally two lambs are born to each ewe, in the most dangerous and hidden places above timber line, where the eagle is about the only foe able to reach them when the mother is off guard. In spring and summer the larger bands consist of ewes and their lambs, with yearlings and young rams, the older rams keeping by themselves in smaller bands. The meat is savory to man and much sought by mountain lions.
They live in the most inspiring scenery in cloudland on crag and in canon among rugged badlands, plateaus and moun- tain peaks, and ran^e usually above timber line in the Rocky Mountains from Arizona to Alberta, while their near relatives range from Mexico almost to the Arctic Ocean. Their more distant relatives among the true wild sheep are found in Central Asia and the Islands of Corsica and Sardinia.
Living specimens may be seen in the paddock and at large in the Park within three miles of Banff.
No. 18.— Ewe. From mountains, November, 1902, or February 16, 1903.
Received 1904. No. 19.— Lamb, male, 3 week old. From WUcox Pass, 1906. Received
January 3, 1906. No. 20.— Lamb, f em lie, 8 days old. From Wilcox Pass. Purchased in 1906. No. 67.— Head of ram, 18 months old. From Rocky Mountains. Received
1911. No. 68. —Head of ram, 18 months old. From Rocky Mountains. No. 7.— Pair of Homcores on Skull. From Banff. Presented by C. A.
Stewart, 1896.
ROCKY MOUNTAIN GOAT
ROCKY MOUNTAIN GOAT, WHITE GOAT, Oreamnos montcnus, Ord.
QF all the wild goats, ibexes and other goat-like animals so ^^ numerous in North Africa, Europe and Asia, the several varieties of the Rocky Mountain Goat are the only represen- tatives found in the New World. They are not true goats, being mere closely related to the European chamois and the Asiatic goat-antelope. They look slow and clumsy, have a rheumatic gallop and their motions remind one of a bear, but while curious and somewhat stupid, they are the most skilful and brave alpine cHmbers of all the hoofed animals of the Americas. They seem to prefer a climbing path to the level, and can cross where Rocky Mountain bheep, except when scared, dogs or men dare not follow, but are not absolutely sure-footed as is generally believed, and so sometimes have fatal accidents.
14
In shape they resemble a little buffalo, having high shoul- ders, thick body, stocky legs, and carrying the head low. Their faces are long, and with a short beard appear dreary. Both billies and nannies have short slender black horns. The coat is all yellowish white, which distinguishes them as the only all white ruminant or cud chewer in the world. It makes them inconspicu'' as against the snow, and they look like spots of snow aga' H a dark rock background until they move, when it is no longer a protection. It is of a fine dense wool next the skin, with a long thatch of hair growing through it, and is short in summer but long and si^ky in winter. The flesh is so dry and musky that white men dislike it. The Rocky Moun- tain Goat lives mostly on moss and is fond of sorrel. Very few have as yet been kept or bred in captivity.
A sagacious old nanny usually leads a band of goats. They watch for danger from below and retreat upward, but seem never to suspect that a nunter may approach from above them.
They live on grassy places above timber line, usually above the home of the Rocky Mountain Sheep, are fond of resting on shale slopes and travel over ice covered slopes. They still range in the highest peaks of the Rocky Mountains and the Coast Range from Alaska to Idaho.
Living specimens may be seen in the paddock and at large in the Park.
No. 16. — Full growr Aam. From the Rocky Mountains. 1910.
No. 17. —Head of i^ grown Ewe. Taken on Februarf 20, 1903. Purchased
in 1904. No. 70.— Head of Ram. 1900. No. 5.— Skui; From Banff, July, 1906. Collected by N. B. Sanson, July,
1900.
AMERICAN BUFFALO AMERICAN BUFFALO, BISON, Bison bison, Linnaeus.
'pHE American Bufifalo, as he is popularly known, should be ^ called a Bison in strict parlance. He is the finest quadruped and most noted hoofed animal in all the New World, but is not one of the true bufifalos, as he has a hump, while they have none and are only found in Asia and Africa. He is of great size, weighs up to 2,100, has a large head with a beard, immense shoulders with long brown hair terminating in magnificent locks, small hindquarters with short hai* id a tassled tail. He sheds his winter coat in March and li isreputable until
it is fully shed. He carries his head low, v lu makes his hump
appear higher, and has short, curved, black horns which turn upward and out, those of the bulls being heaviest. He faces storms and does not hesitate to swim large rivers. The power- ful bulls often bellow and paw up the earth. He is stupid, slow of comprehension, stolid, and indifferent to all be does not understand.
His typical feeding ground was usually -ered with low buffalo grass Bouteloua , and tufts of tall ' uunch grass," or broom sage lAndropogom, interspersed with which were sage brush {A.'emisia), and a species of prickly-pear Opuntia). Buffalo paths resulted where they went in single file as when searching for water. He migrated north in the spring and south in autumn. He wallowed in mud to rid and protect himself from fiies, and this made saucer shaped buffalo wallows which stil! remain in places where he is extinct.
He is polygamous like other cattle. The calves are born m May, and are of a brick red color. Timber wolves and coyotes skulked among the herds after the calves, dodging the charges of the .lothers. While the calve„ are small, <he old bulls associate by themselves.
The buffalo weie "aluable as the cattle of the Indians, nearly as tame as th? wildest domestic cattle. The Indians ate the meat which tastes like beef, made houses and clothes from the skin, tools from the bones and horns, and used the dung, which also was extensively used by the pioueers, for fuel. The white man saw the first one in Montezuma's menagerie m Mexico in ''521, and the first one not in captivity in Texas in 1630.
Buffalo were more numerous than any other large mammal (a historic times, and once ranged over one to two-thirds of North America, from Pennsylvania to Mexico, and to Great Slave Lake and the land of the musk ox, about 2,000 miles east and west by over 3,000 north and south. Centering in his natural home, the billowy great plains, he also lived on the plains of northern Mexico, the Great American Desert, up into the Rocky Mountains to an elevation of 11,000 feet and even nearly to tide water east of the Appalachian Mountains. At one time a man could drive for twenty-five miles through an unbroken herd. They even obstructed steamboats, and de- railed railroad trains. He was hunted for his hide and tongue until almost completely exterminated in his natural range. Not more than 1,000 remained, these being chiefly in Yellow- stone National Park and the Great Slave Lake region, in which latter place there are about 600 of a variety known as the Wood Buffalo. In 1870 they ranged from Texas to Great Slave Lake. In 1890 they were to be found only in parks and the Great Slave Lake region. There are now slightly over 1,500 in captiv- ity, which are increasing slowly, but they deteriorate in small
14
inclotuns. CoiwidarinK these iameue herds, and how few there sie left, he msy be considered an animal of the past. A relative was found in Europe, but if now only in a few Russian forests.
Living specimens may be seen in the paddock and there ii a herd of over a thousand in Buffalo Park, at Wainwright, Saslutchewan.
Ifo. 23.— Cow From MoaUM. Rocalrod in 1007.
No. 24.— H«»J of lui* anlaul. Rceeivtd in 1010.
No. 2S.— Htad of Urge ttimtl.
Ifo. 20.— Htad.
Ho. 27.— Youni Bull, S or 0 montht old. From Btnfl, Albarta. RocoiTtd In
1003. 2S.— Very youni calf. From Baafl. Rocoived In lOOJ. i,o. 6.— Skull. F.-om Banll, 1897. CoUected by If. B. Sanion, 1807. No. J.— Inner part of Slnill. From Albortt. Pretanted by R. Robartaon,
July, 1906.
" ANTELOPE "
"ANTELOPE", PRGNG-HORN, PRONG-BUCK, AntUo- capra americana, Ord.
THE "Antelope " are found only in North America, where they are one of the most characteristic animals. They stand be- tween cattle and deer and are the only species of the family to wbii.h they belong. They are known from the antelopes of the old world, which are cattle, by the facts that the horn- sheaths aie shed every year, which is peculiar to this species, and all the hair on the rump, surrounding a musk gland, can be erec ted, also by the fact that the horns have a prong. From this prong the name, prong-horn, is derived. The sunlight reflects on the rump hair, and when it is raised and lowered a musky odor s given out. The Prong-Horn has a short mane. Oniy the bucKs have horns. On the other hand, deer shed the entire antler and have no horn-sheath.
" Antelope " are trustful, affectionate and fond of being noticed when in captivity. They are very swift nmners, and capable of jumping far, but not high. They are rovers after water, food and shelter, gathering in large herds in autumn and in winter j"ing to heltered places where the snow is not deep. They do not try to hide, but rely on their keen hearing and sense of smell, and being the swiftest runners in North America, depend on their fleetness for safety. The/ defend themselves from such enemies as wolves by F*riking, and it is said they can kill a rattlesnake before it can si\.ike. ihey are so curious that strange movements, such as waving flags, attract them, which often leads to their death.
They eat only grasses and other herbage, at cannot live
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on the rich green gruu of the east. In the iprUur the doe* SS\«*fV"**'^u°."'* ^^^""^ '«' ♦*» w4ek. untU they ««
;ii:y7,o«°t?.i;'?.^j5er"- ^° •^"='^" ^« «>"» *>-•»«-
-oJl^iSri"?? " ""* °? ''I*" P**^ "»«* foothill!, but shun 7olSb^ti ^i\nTJ%^\ They ranged -om Cental Mexiw «liSw^ «-^ ^ *£? *^**"* ■?* ^■*=»<*« -^"K"' One near 7itt?i '°'*' '^ **•!?" •°'* "o"**' ^ Low California. Formerly numeroua, all are now nearly exterminated.
Ifo. IS.— HMd of Buck. Poreliutd 1907.
AMERICAN ELK AMERICAN ELK, WAPITI, C*tvu, canadensis. Erxleben.
T^L^ISril" ^* \?!Hr* ^•P***' ••P«ci*Uy by Europeans, who uae the name Elk for a mooae-like animal. He U one
t^LJ^f^A^ ^, ^^ ^}' " t*ll "d a. majeatic i ^S .™!?i^,^"^**' , ^^°^* ^ luxuriant, his legt «d hoofs f^«#^K.f?,"*'r .u^' '°'^** »»*• *><>»• "» "oSd ground, is h«»K ^ bathing in the warm summer months, and feeds by both grazing «,dbrow«ng. The elk is eaaUy bred in wnfiniJ
♦K- ''^^"«*>,f» fioMt apecimens were found oa the crest of the continent, he originally covered nearly the same coSitry aV.*^* Anwricun buffalo, or about 76% of the States of SJ ^t'*f",„^'"*'° ""^ P"t «' Canada. He ranged from\ew
Tn iS^ThSf i^»H* "♦^•i^* °*'*' °<''**' °' *»>« Saskatchewan, in the hot weathe.- the elk may ascend to an altitude of over
kme?off^?«*!|."h ?• Ro'^J^/Mountain.. The Sk has ffn kUled off from sU but 6'o of his former range. Today there «e^probably less than 26,000 and they are ne«ly il prJteJted
Living spucimens may be seen in the paddock.
'■~1^5i o#?!*^\i.'^'- ■?"*" »^" '^•♦"° Po""'* "«« • ipread
i^ pS;^!a TgS^"- ^"" **°''^"' **^''"'»' «''-^''«.
*~pSu»1ed tolSW?'" S^'''^'**" Ri'". J'o^thai,, Albert.. 18W.
'■~?h!iJ !'i,?l^'i°f[.?'"i^''?5*•?° '°°°*^« °'''- Pronss thirty-one and • h^ inches, other twenty- nine and a half inches This is a record
SlS'ln^^. "" ^''^^' Manitoba. faU of 1898 pJi!
••—Elk Fawu. Purchased in 1901.
'•~f7*l9^*^.^d l^tX '^'^ "* '^"'^''' ^' S'"''-"" 8.— Two anUers. From Banff. Alberta. Presented by G. A. Stewart
No.
Wo. No.
No. No.
No.
000^5051
IS
VIRGINIA DEER
NORTHERN VIRGINIA DEER, NORTHERN WHITE- TAILED DEER, FLAG TAILED DEER, RED DEER, Odocoileus virginianus borealis, Miller.
THIS variety of the common deer which is the best known hoofed animal except the buffalo because most widely and longest known, was the first deer met by the settlers of America, and will be the last of the large hoofed animals of North America to become extinct. They are named white-tailed deer because the long bushy tail is snow white below and on each edge. They carry it up when running in fright, so that it is conspicuous as it swings from side to side. In Canada they are called red deer, because of their reddish summer coat, but they are not like the red deer of Europe. They differ from all other deer in that the antlers bend forward suddenly and each have three tines, and in that the tail is long and pointed. They are distinguished from the southern variety by greater size, more massive horns, and a greater distinction between their red and blue coats. They stand the severest winter weather well.
Deer are largely forest animals, and are seldom seen in deforested areas, but do live in willow brush, quaking asp and Cottonwood groves on the Great Plains. In localities where they are frequently disturbed they are active at night or in the evening or early morning, and usually lie concealed later in the day, but where unmolested they may feed all the morning. They hide, crouch, carry the head low, and cling to timber. Though ordinarily wary, timorous, and unlike the mule deer in that they skulk, yet they return to a place they flee from rather than abandon it as do many other animals, and conse- quently they increase rapidly in suitable localities when pro- tected. On the whole they are happy and care free. Their grey colour makes them inconspicuous in brush and so protects them. They are fleet, remarkable jumpers, and graceful, especially when young. Only the bucks have antlers, the first year a single spike with additional prongs later. These are usually shed every year in January. In May the new antlers show, and they are covered with soft hairy skin called velvet, which supplies them with blood until mature in August, when it is rubbed off against trees.
They eat plant food only. It varies with locality and season, and includes many kiiids of leaves and twigs, berries, fruits, acorns, beechnuts, buds of trees and bushes, herbs, grasses, ferns, moss and lichens. During the summer and early fall they frequent the vicinity of water to get lilly pads
fvL /..""J'°"'' ^^•'^ ^"^^ «"°ther, sometimes to the death even attack men, and wildly track the does. Thl fawns
S eeTr "v^n'?our''Th?i'='^^'' T'''' ^^°' --silnaUyTe or mnrJ V^A !u a ^^^ ^^"^"^ ^^^y w^ere born a fortnight or more, and the doe returns morning, evening and nich to them. The fawn's spotted coat is shed in Septlmber Whpn
y'nxerandlxes'^f '^'^*'^^'^ ""T ^^^^ ^^^trs, JwS, wf on? ,^^ formerly caught the fawns, but now only
damage "" "' °"'"''""^ ^"^""^h to do much of thil
There are different varieties of this deer. accordin<r fn th^
ifZ\y. ^^"' r ^^°"* lOO'OOO •" Maine?a;d over IsU 2e kiUed there each year. They were once abundant over t^f entire country m southern Canada and in nearirevery stiti of the United States, except the extreme south-west Related forms with white tails are found in Florida, Tews and Wa?h ington They range over the Canadian or lower Bore J and" Transition zones of eastern North America.
Living specimens may be seen in the paddock. COLUMBIAN BLACKTAIL DEER
Kn u'~u^^M °l S"'"''- ^'■°'" Vancouver Island. N«" i^~S^*^ °{ °°=- ^™" Vancouver Island. No' 13"~HfnH , young Buck From Vancouver Island, no. 13.-Head of young Doe. From Vancouver Island
MULE DEER
MULE DEER, ROCKY MOUNTAIN BLACK TAIL JUMPING DEER, Odocoileus hemionus, Rafinesque. '
^HE Mule Deer or Rocky Mountain Black Tail, not to be * confused with the Columbia Black Tailed De^r derives ani™'«?rJ'°/? ^'' large mule-like ears, but is not a krge heavy fi^ «L ft. *^K ""^■^- "'- '^°'- '^'' '« "*'h^te with onlfa biaS tip, and the base is naked below. He is also known as the Jumping Deer because of his distinctive gait. When lone fast he does not lope or travel like the Virginia oirbu^ bucks or makes very long stifif-legged jumps '
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He is larger, heavier, coarser and darker than the Virginia deer, is handsome and the largest of what are usually caUed deer but smaUer than elk or moose. The general colour is dull yellowish with white underneath in summer, grey m tne fall and steel grey in winter, matching his winter surroundings. The antlers are very different from those of the Virgmia Deer. They fork equaUy, and each prong again branches into two. He is only surpassed in stateliness by the elk of all the round antlered animals. His scent is keen; his funnel-like ears aid his exceptional hearing, but his eyesight is considered rather weak. He is crafty, will try to stay hidden until molested, will not approach out of curiosity, and is a bold traveller.
He eats twigs, leaves, even spicy sage, and good gjass where it abounds. Two or three fawns are reared at a time. He is an unsurpassed, charming, proud spinted, game animal, making t; e finest of meat and the best of buckskin.
He is found in the most changing and picturesque, as weU as in the rough, badlands country, and also on plateaus and m ravines throughout the Rocky Mountains as high as ten thousand feet ranging eastward to Manitoba and Texas.
Living specimens may be seen in the paddock and at large in the Park, even in the streets of Banff.
No. 14.— Head of Buck. Purchased in 1907. .-,„„,
No. M.-Head of Buck. From Banff, Alberta. Purchased in 1907.
MOOSE
MOOSE, Alces americanus, Jardine.
THIS animal is called the elk in Europe and is the largest deer there ever was, surpassing even the extinct Insh elk, and appearing like a lonely monster lingering from the past. The lees are often four feet long and the shoulders seven feet high. The bulls have antlers spreading over six feet, flattened some- times to a width f nearly two feet, with a fringe at the outer edges of someti; s as many as thirty-four points, several of which extend forward.
He is thatched with coarse smoky purphsh grey hair, some of it six inches long, and some on the shoulders forms a characteristic hump. The hair was extensively used, like porcupine quiUs, by the Indians for embroidering. A hair- ^o^.^red skin "beU," perhaps a foot long, hangs at the neck of many of the bulls and a few of the cows. The ears are laree. the tail short, and the overhanging, broad, square- ended, prehensile nose is characteristic and useful in browsing.
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He is confiding, steady, afifectionate, can be trained to harness, and though nervous like all deer, has the most common sense of all. Moose meat is sold in the market for food.
He eats by browsing, and not by grazing like most deer, ndmg down bushes and small trees to get at the tops. He is fond of the bark, twigs and leaves of the spruce, hemlock, maple, alder, willow, aspen, Cottonwood, and birch. He has to kneel to reach the mosses and lichens easily. He needs vigorous exercise to digest his food and dies if fed only green grass, hay, grain, and vegetables. When the snow is deep, moose assemble, and treading down the snow, form a "moose yard." He is clumsily fleet of foot, due to the stride of his amble, although he does not jump or gallop. He has great endurance, and can penetrate such brush as turns most raen back.
The calves are born in May, with red hair. They stay with the (Others until about three years old, do not attain full size until perhaps fifteen, and live to be very old. The bulls are brave and have a louder whistle than the cows.
The Moose lives in evergreen forests, never in treeless plams, and is fond of the quiet water of ponds and lakes. He is a good swimmer and loves to wade. He still ranges in the north throughout the Rocky Mountains from Alaska to Wyoming and to New Brunswick.
Living specimens may be seen in the paddock.
No. 1.— Head of Buck. From Saskatchewan River, Alberta. Purchased in 1907.
CARIBOU
WOODLAND CARIBOU, SWAMP CARIBOU, Rangijei caribou, Linn.
n^HERE are several species of this deer-like animal. He is the North American reindeer, slightly different from his domesticated