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 Mustelidæ, 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