)

from actual sight of the animals, and from the study of tracks and
animal ‘sign! generally, it is necessary to draw upon the observa-
tions and experiences of others.

It is fortunately a fact that mammals in the category mentioned
are objects of vital interest and a source of profit to trappers,
guides, and woodsmen. Thus a fund of information has accumulated
that may be gathered by means of personal interviews, and its value
assessed on the basis of probability and the reliability of the
source. With this object in mind I made a point of interviewing
guides, trappers, ranchers, andthe older residents in all the local-
ities visited. The inrormation thus received, supplemented by other
information obtained through local game wardens, forms the basis of
the section dealing with the larger mammals.

There is no such source of information in respect of the smal-
ler mammals upon which all the valuable fur-bearing species, except
beaver and muskrat, largely subsist. For the most part trappers and
woodsmen have little knowledge of the former, and few realize that
fluctuations in the fur catch are directly connected with a cyclic
rhythm of scarcity and abundance in rabbits, mice, and voles. Thus
the data submitted on the distribution and current abundance of the
smaller mammals were obtained solely by observation and by extensive
trapping.