-«-4Z. FUR ANIMALS OF LOUISIANA « -..*>■ Bulletin No. 18 REVISED Published by the STATE OF LOUISIANA PARTMENT of CONSERVATION New Orleans JANUARY, 1931 MARINE BIOLOGICAL LABORATORY, • ■»- Received Jul.y. ...?.? J?.?..? 32184 Accession No. Given by Julian P. Sep tt Place, "."... *** No book or pamphlet is to be removed from the Lab- oratory without the permission of the Trustees. 3l (o State of Louisiana DEPARTMENT OF CONSERVATION ROBT. S. MAESTRI, Commissioner Bulletin 18 (Revised) THE FUR ANIMALS OF LOUISIANA •mmm = nj o= S <-n I== = t-=\ £B =S CD -j== = □ cd—: $m ^ n^ — o = m *#3 \^§5]r5f^/ PUBLISHED BY THE Department of Conservation NEW ORLEANS COURT BUILDING January, 1931 This bulletin has been prepared for free dis- tribution to the citizens of the State of Louisiana, who may obtain copies at the office of the Department of Conservation, 126 N. O. Court Building. Owing to the size and expense of printing this bulletin, free distribution by mail cannot be undertaken. Those who wish to obtain copies by mail should send 25 cents in stamps to the office of the Department of Conservation to cover mailing costs. Rwmires-Jones Ptff. Co. Baton Rouge 193 1 PERSONNEL Robert S. Maestri Commissioner James P. Guillot Secretary Dr. J. A. Shaw Director, Division of Mines and Minerals V. H. SONDEREGGER Forester and Director, Division of Forestry Armand P. Daspit Director, Division of Fur and Wild Life James N. McConnell Director, Division of Oysters and Water Bottoms J. B. Dauenhauer, Jr. Director, Enforcement and Fisheries Division Philip A. Gehlbach Superintendent of the Department's Flotilla Richard B. Otero Director, Bureau of Education Mrs. Estelle Cottman B. A. in Education Assistant Director, Bureau of Education James Nelson Gowanloch Chief Biologist of the Bureau of Scientific Research and Investigation Wm. G. Rankin Auditor of the Department and Acting Director, Division of Statistical, Biological Research and Information / V This volume is a revised edition of the bulletin published in the year 1928 by the Louisiana Department of Conservation and compiled under the direction of the Department by Stanley C. Arthur, then Director of the Wild Life Division. COPYRIGHT, 1931. BY LOUISIANA DEPARTMENT OF CONSERVATION THE FUR ANIMALS OF LOUISIANA The annual fur crop of Louisiana is worth six million dollars and more to the trappers of the state. The taking of fur animals for their pelts is one of the more important vocations of many thousands of our citi- zens during the winter months. The fur industry is a very important one not alone to the trapper, buyer, dealer and garment manufacturer but to those who wear furs. Unless the fur animals are rigidly conserved, unless proper laws are enacted for their protection during the reproduction periods of the year, unless suitable habitats and marsh areas are preserved, unless those who take these animals in their traps and those who deal in the pelt, recog- nize the soundness of open and close seasons, the time is not far distant when most of our fur animals will be ex- terminated, and furs worn only by the well-to-do. It is to direct attention to the great commercial impor- tance of our fur animal fauna, and to emphasize the neces- sity of maintaining the supply, as well as to give those interested a life history of the several species of mammals that go to make up the fur animal fauna of Louisiana. This bulletin has been in process of compilation for more than three years and it is believed that the informa- tion it contains will aid materially in bringing about a condition in Louisiana that will make the fur animals found here a constant source of profit. We are justly proud of the position that Louisiana holds as the chief fur-producing territory on the North American continent for, directly or indirectly, fur contributes to the support and comfort of a large proportion of our popula- tion, and the industry is one of the natural resources of the state that the Department of Conservation is charged with, under the constitution, conserving, protecting and upbuilding. Commissioner of Conservation. TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter One Page Introductory 9 Chapter Two The Early Fur Trade of America 15 Chapter Three The Early Fur Trade of Louisiana 19 Chapter Four Our First Natural History Writers 33 Chapter Five Louisiana Indian Animal Stories 39 Chapter Six The Fur Industry of Today 47 Chapter Seven Furs as a Source of State Revenue 73 Chapter Eight The Opossum 77 Chapter Nine The Raccoon 87 The Ring-tailed Cat 9S Chapter Ten The Mink 103 Chapter Eleven The Weasel 113 Chapter Twelve The Otter 119 Chapter Thirteen The Skunk 127 Chapter Fourteen The Little Spotted Skunk ("Civet Cat") 136 Chapter Fifteen The Wildcat 139 Chapter Sixteen The Wolf 145 Chapter Seventeen The Gray Fox 151 Chapter Eighteen The Beaver 155 Chapter Nineteen The Alligator 165 Life history 166 Where it gets its name 168 Alligators and Crocodiles 171 Food 174 Mating data 174 Incubating eggs 178 Early life and growth 180 'Gator hunting 184 Chapter Twenty The MusKrat 187 Molts 194 Key to North American Muskrats 195 Louisiana Muskrat 198 "Where it got its name 200 Earliest mention in Louisiana 204 Life history 206 Longevity 218 Differences in sexes 220 CONTENTS— Continued Fage Breeding habits 223 Scent glands 228 Muskrat voices 228 Sex determination 230 Food 232 Food planting 240 Foods, soils and Muskrats 242 Importance of humus 245 Habits 246 The Muskrat as an engineer 248 In levee banks 252 Muskrat houses 2 55 Feeding platforms 259 Marsh fires 262 Enemies 265 Muskrat meat as food 273 Utilization of carcasses -75 Chapter Twenty-one The Field Biologist's Report 277 Fighting -s" Vocal noises 281 Foods 281 Feeding experiments 282 Houses and runways 283 Sanitation 285 Breeding 286 Enemies 287 Chapter Twenty-two 'Rat Ranching 288 Definition 298 'Rat ranching in Maryland 300 Maryland's "Black" Muskrat 302 Fur production on refuges 306 Delacroix Island region 313 Ditching with dynamite 318 Trappers' associations 322 Control methods of breeding 324 Introduction of Muskrats 332 Foods 334 Recovery after storms 336 Chapter Twenty-three Fur Farming of Muskrats 341 Chapter Twenty-four Trapping Methods 351 Chapter Twenty-five Ecology of the Louisiana Muskrat lands 365 Chapter Twenty-six The Different Muskrat Furs 372 Chapter Twenty-seven Grading Fur Pelts 387 Chapter Twenty-eight Skinning, Curing and Shipping Furs 403 Appendix — Comparative takes of fur animals 408 Fur production of Canada 413 List of references 423 Systematic list of Louisiana fur animals 12;» The Creating of Wild Life Refuges in Louisiana 439 3X1!* The first Louisiana fur-wearer. An Atakapa Indian wearing a buffalo robe, decorated on the innerside by designs in black and red. From a painting made in New Orleans about 1732 bv A. De Batz. Reproduced through the courtesy of David I. Bushnell. Jr. CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTORY The taking of FURS for clothing and the trading in pelts is undoubtedly the oldest industry in the world. This activity goes back many thousands of years into the dim reaches of the Stone Age when the cave man, crude hatchet or club in hand, killed the beasts of the field so that he and his family could have covering during the rigorous seasons of the year, and one may be safe in claim- ing that the Neanderthal Woman was the first to choose the handsomest pelt for keeping her flesh warm and for enhancing her physical charms. It is known from cave pictures, that the Cro-magon people wore animal pelts and, if styles in habiliments were in vogue in that time, undoubtedly our antedeluvian an- cestors had their favorites among the variety of haired skins that could be worn. Turning our attention to the age known as the Garden of Eden period, we find in the third chapter of Genesis, twenty-third verse, that Adam and Eve, at the behest of the Creator, wore the skins of the beasts of the field following their expulsion — thus creating £l change of style from the vegetable kingdom to that of the animal. The Babylonians, Assyrians, Greeks, and Romans wore furs, history tells us. Mention is made that Queen Semi- ramis of Babylon in 2182 B. C. brought 8,000 tiger skins to her country at the close of her campaign in India. Furs were mentioned by Herodotus. In Biblical and pre-Biblical times, Armenia was the principal fur center, its pelts being sent there from north- ern Asia and Persia and traded to Greece, and ermine, the fur insignia of royalty, is a word derived from Armenia, so it is claimed by etymologists. Furs were worn in Egypt, its early records show ; Chi- nese writings testify to the wealth they secured from furs three thousand and more years ago, and the people of 10 Department of Conservation of Louisiana Western Europe and England wore furs for protection and covering, until the Roman invasion introduced the use of fabrics. After the retirement of the Romans, the Euro- peans north of Italy returned to the wearing of the skins of wild animals. For a number of generations prior to the Norman conquest in 1066 homespun was worn by the nobility but the poor classes used furs and sheepskin for raiment. During the middle ages the men of Europe wore furs exclusively, but they were denied to woman, and it was not until the reign of Edward III of England that furs became fashionable for women, and they have remained so ever since. As native furs were scarce in England and their use confined to the wealthy, and in order to meet the demand for coats made from pelts of creatures of the wild, Prince Rupert in 1670 formed the famous Hudson's Bay Company known then as "The Governor and Company of Adventures of England trading into Hudson's Bay," to export pelts of fur animals from the New World, principally that section of the continent we now call Canada, and this company is still in existence. Other companies preceded and followed the Hudson's Bay Company into the fur business in America and this section of the world became famous for the pro- duction of the finest furs worn by the people of the civilized world. Furs have had their place in myth, song and ancient legend and it may come as a surprise to many to learn that Cinderella's slipper was not made of glass, as many of us were informed by fairy story books, but was, in fact, a fur slipper. The original of Cinderella and her famous foot-gear, which had its origin in Egyptian folk-lore, was written by a noted French author named Perrault under the title "Cindrillion" (little cinder girl) and although he wrote that the little heroine dropped on the steps of the palace a pantoufle en vair, (fur slipper) the printer set the type so as to read en verre, and verre in French is "glass," while vair, having the same pronunciation, is a fur represented in The Fur Animals of Louisiana 11 silver and azure in heraldric design and supposed to rep- resent the fur on squirrel bellies worn only by the nobility. So, a typographical error has been responsible for the belief long held by English and American children that the slipper the Prince found, which fitted only Cinderella's foot and not those of her ugly and wicked step-sisters, was made of a fragile substance such as glass and not of a durable material such as fur. Aside from being the oldest industry known to man- kind, the taking of furs has been instrumental, as has no other factor, in the advancement of the world and its peo- ple. On the North American continent, the Eskimos and the Indians of the far north, the savages of the central part of the continent, as well as the aborigines of the Gulf Coast, used furs as a covering to keep their flesh protected from the piercing winds and bitter colds of the winter months. The securing of furs has caused wildernesses to be ex- plored; has led to wars and pillage; and has even changed the maps of the world. There is no more romantic part of our early American history than the winning of the west and the treasure the early trappers, voyageurs, and coureurs des bois, sought to win were the furry coats of many animals that roamed the fastnesses of the forest. No other industry of North America, whether agricul- tural, mineral, or forest has been the origin of such wealth as has the fur industry. Before the forest trees were leveled, before an acre of ground was cultivated, before a mine was opened, the fur animals were a source of revenue to the hardy pioneers, whether they landed on Plymouth Rock, settled Maryland, fought the snow and ice of Hudson Bay, or served under Iberville in the Gulf of Mexico that Louisiana might be founded. The demand for furs in the Old World was primarily responsible for the rapid colonization of North America, and the catch of the Indians, eagerly bartered by the first traders, formed the first wealth of the New World that was freighted over the inland waters of the new land and over the ocean to Europe. & P¥ :* Vs. -M.S- >>•'-. ._' '5= "iSan^L^t. . "%*. fc* «M> A giant loblolly in a virgin stand of pine in LaSalle parish. Such woods harbor opossums and raccoons. The Fur Animals of Louisiana 13 Abroad, furs had been the prized possession of royalty, Kings and Emperors gave furs as gifts. They even were used as forfeits in the exchange of royal prisoners taken in war. In the ancient days furs competed with gems and jewelry as articles of adornment for the rich and the fash- ionable. So great was the demand and so circumscribed the source of supply, it is small wonder that their use was restricted to the nobility and to the rich. With the discovery of America came the discovery of this wonderful reservoir of fur animals and a seemingly unlimited supply of fur. Trappers and traders flocked to the New World, all animated by the same ambition — to make a fortune in furs — and few failed. Since the earliest time, the fluctuations of the fur mar- ket have been as many and varied as the animals that supplied the commodity. Hundreds of years ago, it was the greatest speculative game in the world, and today, when the raw fur market is at its highest pitch, the traditional Black Friday of Wall Street is quiet and docile beside it. No other natural resource of the American continent has been as productive over so long a period as a source of wealth as has the fur of the animals native to our land and — stranger still — the industry is not in danger of ex- tinction in the very face of the fact that hundreds of mil- lions of fur animals have been taken in traps and their covering converted into suitable garments for lovely woman. Trade monopolies seem to have been invented with the genesis of the fur business and, today, as in distant 1670 when the Hudson's Bay Company was founded to monop- olize the fur industry of North America, many modern business organizations endeavor to exercise the same kind of big business control over the pelt of the lowly fur animal. In view of what has already been set down, we have it demonstrated that the feminine yearning for furs is a natural one — a throwback to the days of prehistoric woman. Eve's daughters today wear furs to enhance apparel, emphasize natural style and charm, or to satisfy that in- herited desire for a touch of barbaric splendor that has. come down from the Stone Age. 14 Department of Conservation of Louisiana But modern woman has something over her cave sister in the vast range and variety of skins that are hers to choose from. Furs of every kind for every type and for every purpose. Fragile furs and durable ones. Furs that combine beauty of pelage with lasting qualities. Imitation furs that look well in shops but terrible after a few days' wear. Furs of soft grays, rich and lustrous browns, glis- tening blacks. Coarse furs and fine furs, long haired and short. Furs for indoor adornment and outdoor wear. The real problem that the woman of today faces is whether she is buying a genuine or a synthetic fur, whether the fur is exactly what a furrier represents it to be, or merely a sheepskin, rabbit or even the lowly housecat baptized with a trade name and sold for what it is not. For the real demand is for genuine furs. Today speculative and wondering eyes have been turned on the State of Louisiana, due to the present feminine demand for genuine furs the world over. Although it has been long known that Louisiana is rich in oil, natural gas, timber, salt, sulphur, game and other bird life and game animals, it has only been in the last few years that word has gone forth that in the annual production of pelts of the fur animals, this sub-tropic state of ours not only leads her sister states of the Union in this regard but actually produces more pelts of fur animals than all of the provinces and territories of Canada combined, with Alaska thrown in for good measure. And, to increase the wonderment, it might be added that Louisiana's annual fur crop exceeds in value the yearly combined gold and silver output of Alaska. CHAPTER TWO THE EARLY FUR TRADE OF AMERICA From the days of its discovery by the Spanish De Soto and its settlement by the hardy pioneers under Iber- ville and Bienville, Louisiana has held an enviable position in the fur trade of the North American continent and its native mammals, at least those whose pelts found ready purchasers, have been conspicuous in the state's fauna. The pelts produced in Louisiana found their way into the general trade marts with no special designation as being "Louisiana furs," and for this reason, presumably, few of the usually well-informed of the country in general knew that this southern state was a fur producer; fewer Louisianians, for that matter, knew it. In the early days there were only four important fur- trading centers on the North American continent — Quebec, Montreal, Fort James on Hudson Bay, and New Orleans, the first two named being started by the original fur traders, the French, and the third by the renowned English of the famous Hudson's Bay Company. Quebec and Mon- treal were noted then as fur centers and have continued to be famous for the great number and varieties of fur animal pelts handled in their trade. With the establishment of Crozat's monopoly, under a grant of Louis XIV in 1712, came the first commercial handling of furs in southern North America, with New Orleans as the fourth fur center of North America, for under the French King's grant Crozat was given exclusive right to handle all peltries, beaver furs excepted, of the then vast Louisiana. In spite of popular belief to the contrary, the English "adventurers" of the Hudson's Bay Company were not the original fur traders of North America. The French who settled this north land hold this distinction and it was under the French regime that it flourished, fell and rose again. From the earliest times the Basque and Breton fisher- men upon the "banks" had traded for furs. As the French 16 Department of Conservation of Louisiana court demanded more and more furs, adventurers came for the fur trade exclusively. Pont-Grave and Chauvin built Tadoussac in 1599 as a center for this trade with the Indians of the Saguenay, and when trade routes were dis- covered further inland, the founding of Quebec and Mon- treal followed.1 The French Government from the first granted monop- olies of the fur trade, always on the condition that the Company should take to New France (Canada) a stated number of settlers. But settlement and the fur trade could never go together — settlement, by driving fur animals farther afield, made trading increasingly expensive, and the great profits of the fur trade, together with its freedom and romance, excluded the more adventurously inclined from the rational pursuits of a settler. Trade spread west and south by the river routes, convoys bringing the furs yearly to Montreal and Quebec. The de Caen Company, in the seventeenth century, sent yearly to France from 15,000 to 20,000 pelts. "Beaver" was made the Canadian currency. In the meantime, English navigators had been seeking a northwest passage to the Orient. By 1632 their efforts came to an end with little practical result. Hudson Bay, however, had been accurately charted, so that when the first English fur-trading ships came some thirty years later, they sailed by charted routes to a safe harbor. The first expedition came at the instigation of Radisson and Groseilliers, two French coureurs de bois who had traveled in the rich fur country north of Lake Superior. They had sought aid in France, but being repulsed, turned to England. The charter of the "Adventurers of England trading into Hudson's Bay" was obtained in 1670 by Prince Rupert, who became first Governor of the Company, whence the name Rupert's Land. In 1676, merchandise costing £650 was sent to the Bay and the furs obtained by barter were sent to England and sold for £19,500. The dividend on the stock of £10,500 was sometimes as high as 100 per cent. During the struggle with the French, beginning about 1685, 'Coates, Fur Production of Canada, 1923 Dominion Bureau of Statistics, Fur Branch. The Fur Animals of Louisiana 17 no return was made, but with the English victory, the Company resumed payments, usually amounting to 20 per cent per annum. Forts were built on Hudson Bay and James Bay at the mouths of rivers; the Company, as mo- nopolist, waited for the furs to be brought to its posts. With the Seven Years' War the fur trade from the South passed out of the hands of the French, and until 1771 the English were busy rediscovering the old French routes to the West. such submersed swamps, where tupelo grow to great heights, raccoons, otters, minks and some opossums live. CHAPTER THREE THE EARLY FUR TRADE OF LOUISIANA IT is A difficult matter to give a concise and yet complete history of the early fur trade of that great section of North America which for many years was known as Louisiana, for what was done in those pioneer days has remained buried in dusty tomes and archives, and forgotten official records, with no one sufficiently interested to un- earth the pertinent facts from their burial grounds and give them a place in printed words available to those seek- ing such historical knowledge. One such collection of records has been made, however, and that is the volume issued by the Columbia University of New York, as a part of the printed studies in history, economics, and public law series. This book, "The Com- merce of Louisiana During the French Regime, 1699-1763," by N. M. Miller Surrey, Ph. D., is probably one of the most valuable works of its kind for the student who elects to make studies of any phase of the early settlement of this part of the North American continent. The matter that follows, devoted to the early fur trade of Louisiana, has been drawn very freely from Mrs. Surrey's excellent compilation and from the bibliography, followed many other sources of information. The establishment of the Lower Louisiana colony proved a costly venture to France, Chambers tells us,- and at a time when she was finding her financial resources taxed to the utmost. So the king and his advisors gladly seized upon the opportunity to put the burden of the colony's mainte- nance on other shoulders and a bargain was struck with Antoine Crozat, a French merchant of great wealth and capacity for business. In consideration of his sending at least two shiploads of settlers yearly to the colony, and his bearing a large proportion of the expenses for the subse- quent six years, Crozat was granted seigneurial jurisdiction over Louisiana by Louis XIV, after whom this great inland 2Chamhers, Mississippi Valley Beginnings, p. 57. 20 Department of Conservation of Louisiana province was named, which included personal ownership of landed estates, exclusive rights of trade, freedom from taxes and duties, and authority to nominate executive officers of the colony subject to confirmation by the King. Under the charter, Crozat's province extended from New Mexico to "the lands of the English of Carolina" and "from the edge of the sea as far as the Illinois." The "exclusive rights of trade" included peltries, with the exception of beaver skins, and an immense fortune appeared to be ripe for the grasp of the French merchant, but Crozat's venture ended in failure. "Having a monopoly of trade, he could not resist the temptation to profiteer — to overprice his merchandise and undervalue the furs and other produce tendered him in exchange," says Chambers. "This one-sided advantage led to indifference as to effort, stagnation as to trade, actual loss to Crozat himself." In five years, the merchant was sick of his bargain and asked to be released, and so ended the first attempt to "corner the fur market" of Louisiana. Next came John Law and his famous "Company of the West," a speculative enterprise of stupendous proportions which also ended in panic and failure of a magnitude that corresponded to that of Crozat. Law's "Mississippi Bub- ble," as his scheme has been characterized in history, and named by him Compagnie de la Louisiane ou d'Occident, united the already profitable fur trade of French Canada with the proprietary exploitation of Louisiana. Within a short time this prince of promoters united several trading companies, dubbing the association La Compagnie des hides, which soon acquired a monopoly of the foreign trade of France, including that of furs. One of the first and most important acts of the company was the restoration of Bienville to the governorship, and one of Bienville's first acts was to found a city on the banks of the Mississippi. So New Orleans sprang into being and from its very incipiency became the "fur centre" for the great fur-producing area of the center of the North Amer- ican continent. From the far reaches of the continent, drained by the twining fingers of the tributaries of the The Fur Animals of Louisiana 21 mighty Mississippi, came peltries during the life of the "Company of the West5' and even after Law's bubble burst. With the flow of fur through the new port no special dis- tinction came to New Orleans as a fur center, although many of the older firms of the "Crescent City" owed their prominence and accumulated profits to the trade thus car- ried on in these early days. Long before the establishment of Louisiana, the French in America were energetic in the fur trade, as has always been pointed out. The first establishment of a fur-trading company came with the operations of "The Company of the Hundred Associates," in 1626, the traders plunging into the new and unknown lands of westerly sections of New France, as the French possessions in upper North America were then known, for their furs. The work delegated to the company and its successors after 1663, and that assigned to the Church, was carried on by the traders in conjunction with the churchmen. As indicated by a letter to Colbert from Governor Frontenac in 1672, the task of establishing commerce with the Indians and converting of them to the Christian faith did not always harmonize, for the governor said that the Jesuits "think as much about the conversion of beaver as of souls; for the majority of their missions are pure mockery."1 In 1676, Frontenac received instructions that he must not "suffer any person, invested with Ecclesiastical or Secular dignity or any Religious Community" to follow the fur trade in any wise or even to trade in peltries, a prohibition which was likewise placed on any of the governor's domes- tics or any other person acting directly under his authority. The struggle of the Frenchmen for control of the fur trade with the Hudson's Bay Company fell with full weight on the traders of New France, as difficulties with the In- dians began and competition increased. Many of the skins sent to Montreal were not properly cured, while others were of poor quality. Then came the settlement of Iberville and his Frenchmen at Biloxi and the beginning of a new fur iSurrey, Commerce of Louisiana, from Documents Relating to the Col- onial History of N. Y., p. 305. 22 Department of Conservation of Louisiana trade movement from the gulf up into the heart of the continent and, before Louisiana was a year old, New France had asked the home government for protection against the encroachments from the colony on the Gulf of Mexico. Louisiana Enters the Fur Trade In order to prevent the traders of New France from carrying their peltry down the Mississippi to the Louisiana market, the "Company of Canada," which succeeded the "Company of the Hundred Associates," proposed to the Crown that all beaver skins shipped to France from Louisi- ana should be seized at Rochefort and sold at the same price the "Company of Canada" was paying for them at Quebec. The affairs of the Canadian Company rapidly passed from bad to worse and records show that twelve of the principal traders had in the fall of 1701 made off with a large cargo of brandy which they exchanged for pelts and sold them in the newly formed Louisiana colony. By the next year the French government was informed that so many of the traders had left their homes in New France for the purpose of entering the Louisiana fur trade that many of the merchants of Montreal and Quebec were being financially ruined. The prayer that the home government stop this practice was answered by the Louisiana officials to the effect that the trouble rested with the merchants of the two northern cities, because they provided the traders with merchandise and sent them into the woods to buy furs "which would have gone over to the English had the Frenchmen of Louisiana not received the pelts."3 So, in 1706, the "Company of Canada" went bankrupt. Each year the profits of the firms succeeding this company fell off, while the traders of the Louisiana territory built up their business and prospered. Among Iberville's schemes for the development of the province he was to establish was one for the promotion of a trade in skins with the natives. As early as 1700 he had received some buffalo hides from the Illinois country and 8Margry, vol. iv, pp. 628-629. The Fur Animals of Louisiana 23 engaged voyaguers returning to the gulf from the interior to secure more of them so that he could ascertain their possible value in the market of France. For each skin the hunters were to receive seven livres (a livre was ap- proximately 25 cents) and, to secure the skins as rapidly as possible, they were asked to induce the Indians to abandon the beaver for the buffalo. Iberville proposed to construct a fleet of bateaux plats (flat boats) on which considerable quantities of buffalo robes could be floated down the Mis- sissippi, there to be placed on ocean-going ships and sent to France.4 It was Iberville's previous knowledge of the fur trade in and around Quebec and Montreal, as well as his fear of the result of the English activities about Hudson Bay, which led him to the belief that the Indians of the central northern regions could be persuaded to sell their peltry to traders from Louisiana, whom he proposed to station on the upper waters of the Mississippi River. He reasoned that with prices the same and with French merchandise as good as that offered by the English, the Indians would prefer to dispose of their pelts in this fashion rather than to carry them miles over a difficult and dangerous country in order to exchange them for English goods. Had it worked, the scheme would have completely de- stroyed the fur traffic of the English of that region, and Iberville believed that if he could establish this traffic, in five years it would draw from Fort Nelson annually between 60,000 and 80,000 buffalo hides, worth four or five livres each ; 150,000 deer skins, worth 2,500,000 livres ; and other peltry such as that of bear, wolf, otter, lynx, wild cat, fox, and marten, worth at least 200,000 livres.5 But this proposal to the French home government seems to have fallen on deaf ears, and the English, undoubtedly hearing of Iberville's intended operation, strengthened their influence over the Indians by having their agents supply them with guns in trade, and by this means of barter, 'Margry, vol. iv, p. 376. cMargry, vol. [v., pp. 600-601. 24 Department of Conservation of Louisiana The Fur Animals of Louisiana 25 coupled with their energy, the agents of the Hudson's Bay Company kept the French from making any great headway in this field. In 1700, a former trader with the "Company of the Hundred Associates," named LeSeur, left Biloxi with two boats manned by nineteen men for the country of the Sioux, where, he claimed, these savages "dressed themselves en- tirely in beaver skins which were soon discarded and re- placed by fresh ones, simply because of a lack of market." Whether or not this was an exaggeration uttered for purposes of promotion of his scheme we do no know, but the trader did buy 3,600 beaver pelts and many other skins of fur animals, although trading in beaver skins was con- trary to the grant he had been given. LeSeur justified this purchase on the ground that the Indians had pillaged his canoes and he had taken the beaver pelts in compensation for his losses. The officials of New France (as upper Canada was called) in protesting LeSeur's entry into what they considered their domain, claimed that this robbery had been preconceived in order to have an excuse to seize the skins.6 During the first year of the existence of the little French settlement on the Gulf of Mexico, quite a traffic in pelts of fur animals was established with traders coming from the upper part of the Mississippi Valley, and most of this trade was of an illicit sort because all crown grants stipulated beaver skins belonged to the French companies of Canada. Stimulated by the attitude of New France toward the new Louisiana colony, buffalo hides and beaver skins were caught and then found their way down the Mississippi to the new market in prodigious quantity. Iberville had vi- sions of the trade growing to about 45,000 pounds of skins annually. "The fur of the otter, polecat, the pitois, wood-rat, ermine, and marten are what is called la menue pelleterie, or lesser peltry," we are told by Charlevoix.7 •Margry, vol. iv, p. 357. 'Charlevoix, Voyage to North America, vol. 1, p. 208. 26 Department of Conservation of Louisiana The Crozat Grant Then came Antoine Crozat with his royal patent on the scene, which gave him an exclusive right of trade in all peltry, except beaver, which was still reserved to New France, but the trade carried on by the new regime was not destined to prosper because the officials offered such low prices — fifty sols for bear skins and fifteen for deer skins — and most of the peltry either passed into the hands of the English or were sent up to New France. Traders who formerly brought many skins to Biloxi or Mobile did so no longer, and declared that while Crozat remained in control of affairs they would continue to stay away. And they did. The settlers in lower Louisiana, however, continued to receive a few pelts with which they carried on an illicit trade with vessels that chance brought to their shores. For beaver pelts they received three livres each and for deer skins fifty sols, but due to the long waits between the coming of ships with which they could trade the habitans of the lower valley frequently lost a great many furs on account of the damage done them by insect larvae while they were stored awaiting transportation. John Law's "Mississippi Bubble" Although the Crozat regime had given a setback to the fur trade of upper Louisiana, it had increased the French influence among the Indian tribes of the lower Mississippi valley and traffic in furs improved when Law's "Company of the West" took over Louisiana. During the first year of control more than 1,000 deer skins were shipped to France, and the company began laying plans to better the fur trade, and to this end entered into treaties of com- merce and friendship with the Indians of the upper Mis- souri and a number of forts were erected. The acquisition of the Illinois country did not increase the Gulf trade in beaver skins, we are told, because "the animals found there were almost of the straw color, where- as the value of these pelts depended upon the darkness of their hue.'" Other skins of peltry, however, were sent down the river to New Orleans in great quantities. "Charlevoix, A Voyage to North America, vol. I, p. 54. The Fur Animals of Louisiana 27 It was in 1720 that officials informed the home govern- ment that many of the skins received, before they could be shipped to France, were often badly damaged in the warm climate because of the crude system of tanning in vogue, and that while they were able to supply large con- signments of buffalo skins, it would be necessary to prop- erly tan them. A tannery on the Wabash River (Ohio) was proposed, with soldiers who understood the process to do the work. This did not materialize, however. In 1721, "The Company of the West" endeavored to systematize the commerce in peltry by fixing prices at the various storehouses and, according to LaHarpe, the follow- ing are prices fixed for Biloxi, Mobile, and Fort Louis; delivered elsewhere, they were diminished by the cost neces- sary to ship them to the coast : Kinds Best Grade Good Grade Beaver 3 livres a pound 34 sols a pound Buffalo 4 livres each Cow 2 livres 10 sols each Deerskins With head and tail: Without head and tail: Large Medium Small Large Medium Small 25 20 15 20 15 10 sols each So the fur trade prospered, "but just at the time when the outlook was darkest for the English, the French officials played into the hands of their rivals by trying to persuade the traders to take up agriculture, which they believed was more essential to the welfare of Louisiana than furs.'" The Louisiana traders it must be admitted, were furthering the English advantage by demanding high prices in pelts for the French goods they distributed in exchange, and this caused trouble with the Natchez, and led to an order from New Orleans suspending all commerce with these Indians. This command only served to widen the breach between the officials and the traders, who continued operations in defiance of the instructions from New Orleans. Indians on the Missouri also went on the warpath, robbing the French- men found in this territory. Other Indian troubles arose, and the "Company of the West" was thoroughly convinced that it could not carry on •Surrey, Commerce of Louisiana, p. 347. 28 Department of Conservation of Louisiana the Indian trade by sending out agents of its own, so the decision was reached to put the valuable fur traffic in the hands of men already skilled in the service. It was esti- mated that at that time the number of skins obtained in the province annually amounted to about 50,000 pelts, exclusive of the peltry drawn from the Sioux, Missouri, and Illinois Indians. Of this amount, the savages on the Red River, Tonica and the tribes on the Arkansas furnished 1,000 deer skins each ; the Yazoo and Ossagoulas, 2,000 of a very good quality; the Alibamon, 3,000; the Chicasaw and Choctaw, 4,000 each; the Talapouche, 5,000; the Abikas, 8,000, and the other tribes in lower Louisiana smaller amounts. Wars With the Indians In 1717, the fur trade in the upper part of the province was greatly disturbed by wars with the Fox Indians, and while the Louisiana traders and troops were confronted with this outbreak an unjust action on the part of the com- mander of Fort Rosalie, in taking lands of the Natchez for the purpose of making himself a handsome estate, caused these Indians to rise and attempt to destroy this important French settlement in the lower valley. Five years later the French share in the western fur trade had sunk to a most critiacl condition, as the English were quick to take advantage of the Indian outbreaks against the French and they increased their trade and profits correspongingly. Indeed, within a year or two En- glish traders were among the Choctaws outbidding the Frenchmen for pelts. In 1744, the year the French and English war started, records show us that Louisiana obtained about 100,000 deer skins, as well as many buffalo, kid, otter, and beaver skins, for which the French traders gave in exchange guns, powder, blankets, knives, needles, razors, vermilion, woolen goods, ribbons, blankets, shirts, and "brandy well mixed with waterl" At the same time the English were exporting about 100,000 hogsheads (800 to 900 pounds each) of skins a year ,for which they received sixteen shillings, nine pence a pound. The Fur Animals of Louisiana 29 After the beginning of hostilities, the French were un- able to provide their traders with European goods in suffi- cient quantities to carry on a successful barter with the Indians for fur pelts, and in addition the French prices for peltry decreased by three-fifths of their former value, while the English prices advanced. For instance, a deer skin would sell in England for five livres, while in France one of the same quality would bring but two. This con- dition, coupled with the fact that the English goods offered the Indians were of much better grade in most cases than those imported from France, placed the Frenchmen of the valley at a disadvantage. The French had one hold on the faithfulness of the savages of the lower Mississippi Valley and that was that French powder was more easily obtainable and of pro- nounced superior quality to that offered by the English. The rivals attempted to offset this advantage of French powder and lead by giving the Indians English rum, which threw them into a series of drunken orgies, and while they were in this crazed state, endeavored to turn them against the French. Some success crowned the efforts of the En- glish in this direction for the French were forced to fight the savages, and the English collected the pelts during the upheavals. At times, it is claimed, the English actually bought up the next year's assortment of pelts on a basis of credit for a present supply of rum. During the four years of the war, 1744 to 1748, not- withstanding a shortage of French goods for trading, the trouble with the Indians, and the keen competition of the English, the fur trade of the Louisiana colony continued; it was far from being destroyed, for it was estimated that there were some 1,600 Frenchmen engaged in the trade, and in 1745 it was said that there was a collection of furs at New Orleans valued at 9,621 livres. Furs Float Down the Mississippi With the restoration of peace between England and France the fur trading went forward with the same com- petition that had marked affairs before hostilities, and by 30 Department of Conservation of Louisiana 1752 the supplies of peltry floated down the Mississippi to New Orleans increased to a marked degree. The fur traffic in that portion of Louisiana drained by the Missouri and its branches was placed under the monopolistic control of one Deruisseau, but the new official was not able to con- trol his traders, who corrupted the savages by their evil ways; these traders engaged in every excess, even stealing and carrying away Indian girls, which provoked the Indians to a murderous onslaught on one post, which they destroyed. In addition to misdeeds, "the Frenchmen defrauded the savages most shamefully. For example, for 1,000 crowns' worth of fine beaver skins they paid a small amount of powder which they told the Indians was a new variety that, if planted, would produce all the powder they would want. As soon as the natives discovered that they had been de- frauded they were infuriated against the French in gen- eral."10 When hostilities began again with England in 1754, the French were once again without goods for barter, and this situation continued throughout the war period, with the French losing the little hold that they had kept on the Indian fur trade. But they clung to the great Illinois country, and at the end of the struggle between the two countries, the fur trade in this part of the province was not only intact but actually growing. In 1762, "Ma'xent, Laclede & Co." of New Orleans re- ceived a permit from Governor Kelerec to establish trading operations on the Missouri river and preparations were at once made to make the most of this grant, which included the right to trade in all fur and peltries, excepting beaver skins, and in September of 1763, the junior member of the firm was ready for a trip into the north country. Two sons of New Orleans, Pierre Laclede Liguest and Auguste Chouteau, by name, left the Crescent City for the upper reaches of the Missouri under a grant that gave their firm the right of exclusive trade with the Indians of that stream, as well as the other savage natives west of the Mississippi river. Surrey, c<,m merce of Louisiana, p. 363. The Fur Animals of Louisiana 31 In order to take better care of the beaver skins they secured from the Indians, Leclede (for he did not use his last name) and Chouteau constructed a cache on a bluff where the "Big Muddy," as the Missouri was then called, and the Mississippi met and formed a giant stream. This small fort grew to a settlement, then to a town, and later to a city of great proportions and importance. The Or- leanians named the town they founded after the King of France St. Louis. Therefore, New Orleans became the mother, if we may use the simile, of that wondrous city of the mid-western interior which in course of time came to be the great fur- trading center of the North American continent and remained the "fur capital" for a number of years until ever-grasping New York City took over the fur industry for its own during the World War period. In the early days the Mississippi river was the main artery of transportation of the North American continent and down the mighty Father of the Waters floated huge cargoes of bundled pelts consigned to New Orleans, where they in turn were loaded on deep water ships for the journey to the far cities of the Old World, and so New Orleans became the chief port of fur export. When the Iron Horse superseded the paddle-wheel pal- aces of the Mississippi river as the chief means of trans- portation of this country, the change vitally affected New Orleans and its early-day export business. Its position dwindled to comparative nothingness and, as a consequence, New Orleans' former position in the fur and peltries trade was forgotten. Yet today Louisiana is the foremost state of the Union in quantity production of the pelts of fur animals. It is greater in this regard than any other area of the same size on the North American continent. It produces every year more pelts of fur animals than is produced by all of the provinces of Canada— all this in spite of the state's sub-tropical geographical position, and may be destined, in time, to occupy the niche in the fur trade of America she held two hundred and more years ago. 32 Department of Conservation of Louisiana AttaLs vSt n "• i lustratmg the rescue of Simars de Belleisle from the whose slave ^r-'H."1! lndlanfs due Belleisle and the Attakapas princess, whose slave or dog, he was for three years, are represented by the artist as wearing the skins of Louisiana wild animals. artist CHAPTER FOUR OUR FIRST NATURAL HISTORY WRITERS The first to describe our fauna and write what may be considered a natural history of Louisiana was M. Le Page du Pratz, a Frenchman who came to this country in 1718 and remained in Louisiana many years. His pub- lished accounts of the country, the natives, and its fauna and flora are not only interesting but amusing, especially the crude engravings that embellish his works. He de- scribed the bison or buffalo, which was designated by the early French settlers as Le Boeuf sauvage; and lays great stress on the very fine wool secured from the skins or robes. "These skins are an object of no small consideration," wrote du Pratz. "The natives dress them with the wool on, to such great perfection as to render them more pliable than our buff. They dye them with different colors and clothe themselves therewith. To the French they supply the place of the best blankets, being at the same time very warm and very light." He said that the cougar, which he called a Pichou, "is a kind of Chxttpitois (wild cat), as high as the tiger but not so thick, and his skin is extremely beautiful"; and "that the foxes were numerous" and, while they were like the European species, "their skin is much more beautiful." The raccoon, which was a new animal to the wondering Frenchman so interested in nature, was named a Chat sauvage (literally "wild cat,") but Du Pratz admitted it had "been improperly called so by the first French settlers in Louisiana, for it has nothing of the cat but its nimble activity, and rather resembles a monkey. It is not above eight or ten inches high, and about fifteen long. Its head is that of a fox ; it has long toes, but very short claws, not made for seizing game ; accordingly, it lives on fruit, bread, and such things. This animal may be tamed, and then becomes very frolicsome and full of tricks. The hair of those that are tame is gray, but of the wild is reddish." The artist who engraved the Du Pratz illustrations was evidently given a free hand, for the reproduction of the 34 Department of Conservation of Louisiana Chat sauvage shown herewith evidently was calculated to give the reading public of Paris the impression that the raccoon was built somewhat on the lines of a horse. Two other fur-bearers, the opossum and the skunk, were likewise described and their likenesses shown. The opossum was termed a rat de Bois, and the skunk was aptly named a Bete puante, and its well-known method of defense aptly described. The beavers and the others were noted, but, strange to say, not a word was mentioned as to the mink nor the now justly celebrated muskrat. The works of M. Bossu, Capitaine dans les Troupes de la Marine, whose entertaining series of letters were written about 1760 and subsequently printed, describes a number of the animals previously noted by du Pratz, but, like the other writer, he failed to make any mention of either the muskrat or the mink. While du Pratz is recognized as the first historian visiting early Louisiana and setting to paper his early, valuable but quaint impressions of its flora and fauna, there was published in Paris in 1753 a history written by an officer of the Compagnie des Indes who served for 25 years in Louisiana, that takes second place in interest, to say the least. The writer was Butel Dumont de Montigny and his work written in French, of course, has the impressive title : "Memories Historiques sur La Louisiane; contenant ce qui y est arrive de plus memorable depuis I'anne 1687 jusqu'a present; avec V 'establissement de la Colonie Francoise dans cetts Province de V Amerique Septentrionale sous la direc- tion de la Compagnie des Indes; le climat, la nature & les productions de ce pays; Vorigine & la Religion des qui VHabitent; leurs Moeurs & les Coutumes, etc." It was pub- lished in two volumes illustrated with maps and plates of trees, and plans of the new city of New Orleans. It is in Chapter XIII, "Concerning Terrestrial Animals in Louisiana," that we are interested and so that those who have never had the opportunity of knowing how the early historians of our fauna treated and described the strange mammals found here two hundred years and more ago a The Fur Animals of Louisiana 35 number of translated passages from Dumont's work, where they treat of the fur animals of Louisiana, are included in this bulletin. "Of all the terrestrial animals which live in this Pro- vince the most important & the most useful to the country- are the Bears and the wild Oxen. [Boeuf sauvage or the bison or "Buffalo" as we now know this great animal which was found in many places in Louisiana in winter. The Bayou Terre Boeuf section of St. Bernard and Plaquemines parishes was named the French equivalent of "Land of the Beeves" because of the great number of buffaloes, mem- bers of what is known as the Southern Herd, that spent the winter months in the lush-green pastures of these re- known marshes.] The latter, instead of being covered with hair, as are our oxen in France, are covered with fleece as fine as silk and quite curly," wrote M. Du- mont, "& it is heavier in winter than in summer, the In- habitants make great use of it. They [the buffaloes] have near the shoulders a rather high hump & have very fine horns which serve as receptacles for the hunters to carry their powder. Between their horns & near the top of their heads, they have a tuft of wool so thick that a pistol shot fired point blank cannot penetrate it, as I have myself experienced. The flesh of these Boeuf sauvage is excellent, as is that of the cow & of the calf; its flavors & juices are exquisite." M. Dumont mentioned our Louisiana white-tailed deer, which he termed a chevreuil, and paid high compliment to its flesh, either boiled or roasted, and devoted consider- able space to the Louisiana black bear, describing its hunt- ing and spoke of the trade the colony enjoyed in "bear oil." He mentioned the many squirrels seen and described the antics of the flying squirrels. "There are also chats sauvage in this region, especially in the lower river region, & on the islands along the coast," sets down M. Dumont. His cJmt sauvage, literally trans- lated meaning "wild cat," was none other than our amus- ing little raccoon. The early French settlers, never having seen such an animal before, decided that it was more like a cat than any other creature, and thus named it. 36 Department of Conservation of Louisiana "Their silvery skin is very beautiful, & generally es- teemed. These animals live only on small birds when they catch any; but if that hunt is not successful, they have recourse to oysters and other shell fish which they eat. For that they wait until the tide is quite low & that the oyster opens its shell either to take the air or to receive a fresh supply of sea water; then they put their paw in the shell, then the muzzle, & they eat the oyster. It is true that sometimes they are not successful, & the oyster, happening to close suddenly, imprisons between its shells the paw of the chat [raccoon], in which case the animal is patient & docile, & is obliged to wait three hours for the change in the tide. The flesh of these chats is neither bad nor unhealthful." It is quite probable that Dumont is the originator of this pleasant little fiction that has persisted even to this day in certain circles. Like Le Page du Pratz, the opossum and its habits at- tracted Dumont and he gave considerable space to this lowly fur animal of the Louisiana swamps. Like du Pratz, whose description of the Rat du Bois will be found in its entirety in the chapter devoted to the opossum, Dumont was very much interested in the marsupial's method of reproduction and it will be noted that he was, practically biologically correct in stating how the young were born. "That (the flesh) of the rat sauvage (opossum) is much better; they are eaten and they taste like cochons de lait (suckling pigs). These rats are much larger than those in France; they are very hideous to the sight, & their skin seems always covered with mud. Their long snout is adorned with two great mustaches on either side ; there is practically no hair on their ears, & their tail, which has none at all, is marked like those files which are called queue de rat (rat tails.) Moreover, this animal is so slow that it is easily caught. It is very fond of birds & poul- try ; hence it boldly enters the barn-yards and hen-houses ; it even goes into the fields to the corn which has been sown there. "The instinct with which it hunts is very curious. After having caught a small bird and killed it, it is very The Fur Animals of Louisiana 37 careful not to eat it; it neatly places it in a fine uncovered place near some large trees; then climbs into that tree &, hanging by its tail to the branch which is nearest the bird, it patiently waits thus until some flesh-eating bird should come to carry it off. Then it pounces upon it and makes a prey of both the one and of the other." (Needless to add, this trait or method of securing prey is 1753 imag- ination but it probably sounded thrilling to the gay Paris- iannes of that period.) "The female of this animal is none the less admirable for the manner in which she feeds & raises her young," M. Dumont goes on to tell us, and what he says in his account should be compared to the matter set down in the chapter on the opossum on page 77. "I might even say that she has a double belly, since under her belly she has a kind of pocket, which seems to serve as such, and which is formed by two membranes so strongly attached one to the other that it is impossible to separate them without tearing them; the mother alone can open them when she pleases. "It is there that, after she has brought forth, she places her young, who, clinging to her dugs, are nourished with her milk, and grow in a sure shelter, where it is al- ways warm ; upon seeing the animal in that state, one would be tempted to think that she was still with young. As soon as the young are strong enough to come out and run on the grass, the mother lets them out, so that they may fetch upon the ground some worms to feast on. Should she hear some noise or some suspicious movement, she utters a certain cry, and upon hearing that signal which is known to them, the little ones are seen running to their mother and entering her body from which they have is- sued. When one of these mothers is killed in that state, the pocket opens of itself, and the little ones come out. They are then rather pretty, and not much larger than the rats in France. The skin of these animals is not much thought of, no use is made of it." (M. Dumont would probably be interested in knowing that the pelts of opossums are worth 38 Department of Conservation of Louisiana today about a quarter of a million dollars annually to Lou- isiana trappers or he'd be suprised!) Rabbits, according to Dumont, were to be found in Louisiana and he called attention to the fact that they did not burrow into the ground but "withdrew into the hol- lows of trees," which aptly describes the hares to be found in our state, and he, in contradistinction to Le Page du Pratz and Captain Bossu, mentioned some of the smaller fur animals as Dumont said : "Finally, there are renards (foxes), belettes (mink), fouine (weasels), that are not warred upon." Dumont, like the other two writers already mentioned, did not mention the now celebrated muskrat. The skunk did not escape Dumont's attention, although he gave it but, slight mention in the following words: "There is also a sort of animal, rather pretty, but for which for more than a league around befouls the air with the stench of its urine, that is the reason why it has been called Bete puant (the stinking animal)." CHAPTER FIVE LOUISIANA INDIAN ANIMAL STORIES THE first Indians met by Iberville in 1699, when he came to our shores to establish a permanent Louisiana settlement, were the members of a tribe who called themselves Ta'neks aya, which meant, in their tongue, "First people." Iberville said the Bayogula Indians called these Taneks "Bilocchy," so has come down the word "Biloxi." The village of this tribe, however, was not on what we now call Biloxi Bay, as has been erroneously stated, but was on the banks of the Pascagoula river several miles to the eastward, near two other tribes, called the Pascagoula and the Moctobi. It is believed by Dr. John R. Swanton11 that the Biloxi Indians were related linguistically to such Siouan tribes as the Tutelo of Virginia; the Ofo, of the lower Yazoo delta; the Dakota, Mandan, Crows, Winnebago, Hidatsa, and other Sioux Indians of the west. Our present interest in the Biloxi is the legends and folk tales they have left us and, more particularly, in those dealing with the very species we are considering in this bulletin on fur animals. It must be remembered that the religion of the Southern Indians was zootheism, their gods being deified men and animals; the heavenly bodies were also personified as men or animals, and were worshipped as such. In their folk tales we find such examples as Xyinixkana, "Ancient of Otters;" Tumotohkana, "Ancient of Wild Cats;" Tumotch- kanadi, "Ancient of Opossums;" Atckahona, "Ancient of Crows;" Adiiskana, "Ancient of Wood Rats;" Peskana, "Ancient of Tiny Frogs," etc. The deified animal, bird or reptile became an "Ancient" and many amusing things are told of them, why the buzzard has a bald head, why the opossum has a hairless tail, why the wild turkey has a tuft of hair hanging from his breast ".4 Dictionary of the Biloxi and Ofo Languages, p. 10. I 40 Department of Conservation of Louisiana feathers, why the Katydid sings all summer and dies when the cold weather comes, and such delightful fancies. Why the 'Possum Tells a Lie The story of "The Opossum and the Raccoon" tells why the opossum plays 'possum ("always telling a lie," as the Biloxi put it) and shows that the fondness of both these animals for crayfish was recognized by the first inhabitants of this section. The translation of this legend by Dr. Swan- ton follows: "The Ancient of Opossums thought that he would reach a certain pond very early in the morning and catch the crayfish that might be found on the shore, but some one else had reached there first and had gone round the pond and then had started home long before the Ancient of Opossums had arrived there. This unknown person acted thus regularly every day. "So at length the Ancient of Opossums lay in wait for him. At length he found the person, who proved to be the Ancient of Raccoons. They conversed together, and they agreed to see which one could rise the sooner in the morn- ing and go round the pond. The Raccoon said, 'I rise very early. I never sleep till daylight comes.' The Opossum made a similar assertion, and then they parted, each going to his home. "The Opossum lay down in a hollow tree and slept there a long time. He arose when the sun was very high and was going to the pond, but the Raccoon had already been there ahead of him and had gone round the pond, devouring all the crayfish. The Raccoon sang as he was returning home. The Opossum stood listening, and then he sang thus : 'Hi na ki-yu wus-se-di.' He met the Raccoon, who had eaten all the crayfish. "The Raccoon said, 'I have been eating very long, and I was going home, as I am sleepy.' To this the Opossum said, 'I, too, have been eating so long that I am sleepy, so I was going home.' The Opossum was always telling a lie. The people say this of the Opossum because when one hits that animal and throws it down for dead, pretty soon the Opossum gets up and departs." The Fur Animals of, Louisiana 41 How the Opossum Lost the Hair on His Tail In the Biloxi tale of "The Wolf and the Opossum" we learn how the sly 'possum lost all the hairs on his tail. The opossum, known to these savages as Kcixka yoka, which meant "Swamp hog," in its deified form as "Ancient of Opossums" is set down as a very sly and resourceful animal. The legend runs : "The Ancient of Opossums killed a Wolf, and, after stringing the Wolf's teeth as a necklace for himself, he walked along singing a song : 'Hama yuxku — Hama yuxku. Insu-na hi wa-ye! Anixanixye.' "While he was singing, the Ancient of Wolves came in sight close to him. 'What are you singing?' said he to the Ancient of Opossums. 'Nothing,' replied the latter. 'I was saying, "What very pretty flowers are here".' After this conversation the Ancient of Wolves disappeared, and he and his people went some distance ahead and hid from the Ancient of Opossums. "Meanwhile the latter walked along singing: 'Xaye pixti-l Xaye pixti- Hinawa-ye! Hinwa-ye! Anixanixye!' "He sang this for some time until he thought that he had gone very far from the Ancient of Wolves. Then he sang about the wolf teeth as he was walking. Just then the Wolf people were coming out of the undergrowth, and appearing before him. When they appeared near him they said, 'This one must be he who has killed some of us.' So they tied the Ancient of Opossums and laid him down; whereupon they searched him and found the necklace of wolf teeth. Then they wished to kill him, but the Ancient of Opossums said, 'If you hit me with any sort of stick I shall not die, but if some persons go to a dead tree which has the bark peeled off and dig it up by the roots and bring a stick from that and hit me but once with it I shall die at once and shall not revive.' 42 Department of Conservation of Louisiana "Then the Wolf people went to dig up the tree. They left as a guard over the Ancient of Opossums a one-eyed wolf, who sat there watching him. Then the Ancient of Opossums in order to play a trick on his guard said, 'Untie me and bring a stick from the dead tree and kill me by hitting me, and be very brave over me as I recline; do so to me and I shall lie dead.' When he had said this, sure enough the one-eyed wolf untied him and was thinking of breaking off the fatal stick when the Ancient of Opossums entered a hole in the ground and thus escaped. "On the return of the Wolf people just at this time they dug into the ground. While they were digging their foe came in sight at another place. He had painted himself red before he approached them. 'Why are you all acting thus?' said he. At length they replied, 'We are doing so because the Ancient of Opossums killed some of us and entered a hole here.' 'I will enter,' said the Ancient of Opossums, 'and after catching him I will bring him out and you all must kill him.' Then he entered the hole. "In a little while he emerged bearing a hoe on his shoulder and with his body painted yellow all over. 'What are you all doing?' said he, as if he were a stranger. 'We are doing so because the Ancient of Opossums killed some of us and entered this hole,' replied the Wolf people. 'I will go in and catch him, and when I bring him out you all must kill him,' said the Ancient of Opossums. Again did he enter the hole. When he thought, 'I have gone a very long distance,' he began to call out, 'I am he ! I am the one who did it !' But while he thought that he had gone far into the hole, he was in error; for his bushy tail stuck out of the hole in full sight of the Wolf people, who seized it immedi- ately and it slipped off the skin. Therefore the tails of opossums since that day have been nothing but bone." A Tale Similar to Aesop's Although obtained directly from the Biloxi, Dr. Swan- ton, in his translation of the legend of "The Brant and the Otter," calls attention to the similarity of it to Aesop's The Fur Animals of Louisiana 43 celebrated fable of the Fox and the Crane, the "brant" being-, in all probability, the blue goose as we know the species today. "Once upon a time the Ancient of Brants and the An- cient of Otters were living as friends. One day the Ancient of Otters said to the Ancient of Brants, 'Come to see me to- morrow,' and departed. When the Ancient of Brants reached the abode of the Ancient of Otters, the latter being exclaimed, 'Halloo! I have nothing at all to give you to eat! Sit down!' Then the Ancient of Otters went fishing, using a 'leather vine,' which he jerked now and then in order to straighten it. Many fish were caught, and when he reached home he cooked them. When the fish were done, the An- cient of Otters put some into a very flat dish, from which the Ancient of Brants could not eat. So the Ancient of Brants hit his bill against the dish 'Ta !' and raised his head often as if swallowing something. But the Ancient of Ot- ters was the only one that swallowed the cooked fish. Then said he to the Ancient of Brants, 'Have you eaten enough ?' To which his guest replied, 'Yes I am satisfied.' 'No, you are not satisfied,' rejoined the Ancient of Otters, taking up more of the fish, which he set down in the flat dish before his guest, and then he, the host, devoured it rap- idly. "When the Ancient of Brants was departing, he said to his host, 'Come to see me tomorrow.' When the Ancient of Otters reached the abode of the Ancient of Brants, the latter being exclaimed, 'Halloo! I have nothing at all to give you to eat! Sit down!' Then the Ancient of Brants went fishing, using a 'leather vine,' which he jerked now and then in order to straighten it. Many fish were killed, and when he reached home with them he cooked them. When the fish were done the Ancient of Brants put some into a small round dish into which the Ancient of Otters could not get his mouth. So the Ancient of Otters had to satisfy his hunger with what dripped from the mouth of the Ancient of Brants. This the former licked up. Again did the Ancient of Brants swallow the cooked fish. Finally he said to his guest, 'Have you eaten enough?' To which the Ancient 44 Department of Conservation of Louisiana of Otters replied, 'Yes, I am satisfied.' 'Nonsense!' re- joined his host, 'you are not satisfied. I have served you as you served me.' This event ended their friendship." The Rabbit and the Tar Baby Admirers of Joel Chandler Harris and his Uncle Remus stories should be greatly interested in the Biloxi myth of Tcetkana, the rabbit, and Sunitoniko, the Tar Baby, which the Biloxi called "The Rabibt and the Frenchman," and Dr. Swanton's translation is as follows: "The Rabbit aided his friend the Frenchman with his work. They planted potatoes. The Rabbit took the potato vines as his share of the crop and devoured them all. The next time that they farmed they planted corn, and this time the Rabbit said 'I will eat the roots.' So he pulled up all the corn by the roots, but he found nothing to satisfy his hunger. Then the Frenchman said, 'Let us dig a well.' But the Rabbit did not desire it. He told the Frenchman that he must dig it alone. To this the Frenchman replied. 'You shall not drink the water from the well.' 'That does not matter. I am used to licking off the dew from the ground,' answered the Rabbit. "The Frenchman made a tar-baby and stood it up close to the well. The Rabbit approached the well, carrying a long piece of cane and a tin bucket. On reaching the well he spoke to the tar-baby, but the latter said nothing. 'Friend, what is the matter; are you angry?' said the Rabbit. Still the tar-baby said nothing. So the Rabbit hit him with one forepaw, which stuck there. 'Let me go, or I will hit you on the other side,' said the Rabbit. And when he found that the tar-baby paid no attention to him, he hit him with his other forepaw, which stuck to the tar-baby. 'I will kick you,' said the Rabbit. But when he kicked him. the hind foot stuck. 'I will kick you with the other foot,' said the Rabbit. And when he did so, that foot stuck to the tar- baby. Then the Rabbit resembled a ball, because his feet were sticking to the tar-baby and he could neither stand nor recline. The Fur Animals of Louisiana 45 "Just about this time the Frenchman drew near. He tied the legs of the Rabbit, laid him down and scolded him. Then the Rabbit pretended to be in great fear of a brier patch. 'As you are in such fear of a brier patch, I will throw you into one,' said the Frenchman. 'Oh, no,' replied the Rabbit. 'I will throw you into the brier patch,' re- peated the Frenchman. 'I am much afraid of it,' answered the Rabbit. 'As you are in such dread of it, I will throw you into the brier patch.' So he seized the Rabbit and threw him into the brier patch. The Rabbit fell into it at some distance from the Frenchman. But instead of being injured, he sprang up and ran off laughing at the trick he had played on the Frenchman." Why the Opossum Has a Large Mouth The Choctaw Indians who lived on the north shores of Lake Pontchartrain and had their villages in the territory now designated as St. Tammany parish had their own myths, legends and folk tales of the various birds and animals found there. One of these legends deals with the opossum, which they called Sokata, and tells why it has such a large and grinning mouth. David I. Bushnell, Jr.,12 gives the follow- ing translation : "It had been a dry season and there was very little food for Deer, consequently he had become thin and rather weak. One day Deer met 'Possum and exclaimed : "Why ! 'Possum, how very fat you are. How do you keep so fat when I cannot find enough to eat?' And 'Possum answered, 'I live on persimmons, and as they are unusually large this year, I have all I want to eat.' 'But how do you get persimmons, which grow so high above the ground ?' 'That is very easily done,' replied 'Possum. 'I go to the top of a high hill and, running swiftly down, strike a persimmon tree so hard with my head that all the ripe persimmons fall to the ground. Then I sit there and eat until I cannot hold more.' Indeed,, that is easily done,' answered Deer; 'now watch me.' vtThe Choctaw of Bayou Lacomb, St. Tammany Parish, La., p. 32. 46 Department of Conservation of Louisiana "So 'Possum waited near the tree while Deer went to the top of a near-by hill. And when Deer reached the top of the hill, he turned and then ran quickly down, striking the tree with so great force that he was killed and all his bones were broken. "When 'Possum saw what Deer had done, he laughed so hard that he stretched his mouth, which remains large even to this day." CHAPTER SIX THE FUR INDUSTRY OF TODAY Today Louisiana annually produces more pelts of fur animals than any other State in the Union, it exceeds in this regard any one province or territory in Canada, it leads all States in the production of muskrats and mink, it is approached only by Arkansas in the yearly take of rac- coons and opossums, a record of importance and one Lou- isianians have a right to be proud of. But the sub-tropical State of Louisiana has even a greater record — during the past several trapping seasons it has produced more pelts of fur animals than have all of the provinces and territories of the Dominion of Canada com- bined— with Alaska's catch thrown in for good measure. Noting only the important fur bearers, the Louisiana list comprises the following species and number taken in a representative season, and one that can be compared with other territories for the same year, as well as the value of the catch to the trappers: Species Muskrat Opossum Raccoon Mink Skunk Otter Miscellaneous pelts The miscellaneous pelts that go to make up Louisiana's total output include wolf, fox, weasel, etc. For the sole purposes of comparison, the following fig- ures may be quoted. Alaska in the 1924-25 season produced 285,545 pelts of all kinds. (Figures from U. S. Biological Sur- vey.) New York, latest available figures 344,283 pelts. (Conservation Commission of New York figures.) 1924-25 Value to Take Trapper 6,236,165 $ 5,177,696.00 287,180 258,462.00 145,810 583,240.00 84,301 421,505.00 14,752 18,440.00 2,110 31,650.00 947 947.00 6,771,265 $ 6,491,940.00 48 Department of Conservation of Louisiana Pennsylvania, 1,637,307 pelts, valued at $2,899,340. (Estimated by Board of Game Commissioners of Penn- sylvania.) Dominion of Canada, all provinces, 1924-25 season, 3,820,326. (Figures from Dominion Bureau of Statis- tics, Fur Branch.) This brings to point, in face of the figures indicating such an exceedingly large annual harvest of the animals comprising the backbone of the fur trade, the question so frequently asked by almost everyone — those interested in the production of furs, conservationists in and out of the trade, trappers and land-owners, as well as those who de- rive comfort and pleasure from the wearing of the furs. "Is the supply being rapidly, wastefully and insanely de- pleted" and "When will, at this rate of take, the natural supply of Louisiana be depleted?" The conservation problem, as it relates to fur-bearers, is in conserving the remnants and in the State seeing that only a decent annual harvesting of the mammals be per- mitted so that seed stock remains and the species and the industry so perpetuated. At the present time there seems to be no obstacles to stop or hinder such a conservation program being carried out unless the aim of, this depart- ment and true conservationists interested in the perpet- uation be deflected or defeated through a continuation of the practice of taking unprime skins of a too long open season, the disturbance of the breeding season, a contin- uation of the present practice of purchasing unprime pelts and the skins of immature animals and the buying of pelts taken out of the legal open season for trapping by buyers and the trading of them by dealers. In facing the fur conservation problem, Louisiana has a number of facts to recognize in finding an answer. The demand for furs is increasing as the population of the world is growing. A number of the rarer fur mammals are decreasing as the world's wilderness is being encroached on by man and turned into account for other activities. That this presages the ultimate doom of the Carnivoria, or meat-eaters, cannot be denied. On the other hand, Dame The Fur Animals of Louisiana 49 Fashion has learned, although only quite recently, it is true, that there are many useful, although heretofore considered commonplace, fur-bearers, such as the muskrat, mink, rac- coon, skunk, opossum, mole, weasel and rabbit, that not •only thrive by depredations on cultivated land, but most of them inhabit lands and marshes that will probably never serve man any useful purpose other than remaining as they are — breeding places for the lowly fur-bearers. And what other State can approach Louisiana in the area of such lands and marshes? The way seems clear, at least for a sound economic use for our great sea marsh areas, over 2,500,000 acres, for combination 'rat ranches and refuges and resting places for the horde of migratory wild waterfowl that come here each winter. Attempts will undoubtedly be made to meet the demand by making synthetic furs. All sorts of "beaverettes," "marminks," "coneys," "electric seals," "sealettes" and the like will be fashioned out of sheepskins, rabbits, horses, even the lowly Tomcat will be utilized, but the demand by woman will always be first for real furs, and the muskrat will never be dethroned. It, however, would be an economic mistake to have the prices for muskrat pelts go too high — so high that the garment manufacturer would be forced to experiment with near-furs in an endeavor to catch the attention of the modish woman. To meet this, the muskrat industry in Louisiana should be so stabilized that a steady, profitable supply of pelts annually be delivered to the manu- facturer so that he can fashion a garment that will be placed within the range of the average American woman's pocketbook. Practicable methods of 'rat ranching should be worked out by those most concerned, the owners of large acreages in the coastal belt marshlands. A fair method of paying the actual trappers for their labors in securing the animals during the winter months so that both the 'rat ranch owner and the laborer can make money. Some sort of an effort should be made by owner, trapper and fur dealer to create a main market for pelts, particularly the muskrat pelts, in Louisiana so that prices can be stabilized. The people 50 Department of Conservation of Louisiana of Louisiana must be made to realize that there is within the State's borders a great and valuable industry conducted on what is now believed to be waste lands. The fact that Louisiana possesses a six to seven million dollar raw fur pelt industry is not known to all and un- suspected by many otherwise well informed. The editor of a prominent New Orleans daily when told at a luncheon club gathering that Louisiana produced more pelts of fur animals than all Canada, wrote an editorial on the subject which he headed "Rats !" The editor said that he "was pleasantly shocked" at the news. "If true, it shatters a legend inherited from child- hood and sweeps away the fragments. Nearly every read- ing man of 40 years was steeped in his youth, one time or another, in the history and romance of; the Hudson's Bay Company and the rest of the Canadian fur epic, and the facts and fictions about the fur trappers in the frozen North. "St. Louis, by force of the circumstances that it was the meeting-place and trading-post for north and west and east, became early the center of our own fur trade. And by force of commercial habit it has held the place. If the supply is at our doors, New Orleans ought to be a great fur market, even if it cannot be The Market. "Perhaps it is a mistake to agitate for the reclamation of the swampy belt fringing the Gulf, because it now yields great wealth at a minimum of expense, and can be made to produce still more, in skins. These moreover pay the State a severance tax on $6,000,000 of value. "Right or wrong, it is worth thinking about. We should be glad to print informed communications on the subject for either point of view." No communications were received and the editor hasn't said "Rats!" since. The taking of unprime pelts can instantly be stopped if those most concerned will support a real conservation pro- gram for the fur industry of the State. If those most con- cerned, the trappers, the fur buyers and the fur dealers, do The Fur Animals of Louisiana 51 not stop these practices themselves, the various States, through legislative enactment, can. By penalizing those who take unprime pelts and the pelts of infant fur animals, making it illegal not alone to take such skins but to have them in possession, the industry can be economically regu- lated, but such a stringent action should not be made neces- sary. It is recognized that Louisiana possesses some very ad- vanced laws for the protection of fur animals and proof of this seems to be indicated in the consideration and adoption of like laws by sister states. For years the State permitted the trapping of such non-game mammals as constitute our list of fur animals — muskrats, opossums, raccoons, mink, skunks, otter, foxes, wolves, weasels — without regulation, but gradually laws were passed by the Legislature that brought a check to those who would trap at any period of the year. The entire fur situation, especially conditions pertaining to the muskrat, has received the closest and most earnest attention of the Department of Conservation. From surveys made over a period of years it appeared that when the season opened too early in the fall the furs taken were not prime, and when the season extended too far into the new year the furs reaching the market were "springy," and too many breeding and nursing females were taken. The duty of the Department was plain. It was imperative to shorten the season, with like advantage to the reproduction of the animals and those connected with the fur trapping and sell- ing industry. We had conclusive evidence that the furs taken during the middle of the winter, the latter part of December and during the month of January, were superior as to primeness and brought the best prices. The first law giving the fur animals of Louisiana a close season, permitted trapping from November 1 to February 1 (Section 6, Act 204 of 1912) and the animals so protected were the mink, otter, muskrat and raccoon ; under this law, wildcats, skunks and opossums could be taken at any time. When the first law protecting the fur animals of the State was passed the legislation said fur animals could 52 Department of Conservation of Louisiana only be taken by licensed trappers (Act 127 of 1912, Sec- tions 9, 13 and 14) but the legislators failed to specifically fix a trapping license or its cost although it did provide for necessary hunting licenses. This law gave the residents of a parish the right to hunt in their own parish for 50 cents, made hunting free in the ward in which they lived, a state-wide hunting license cost $3.00, and the price of "market hunting," those persons who hunt for profit, was fixed at $10.00. On the subject of trapping licenses the sections were mum. Soon after this law went into effect a trapper named Morgan was arrested for having trapped ten minks, six otters and three raccoons without having secured a "mar- ket hunter's license." Although the Legislature had failed to provide a trapping license fee, the officers of the con- servation commission charged the trapper of "unlawfully taking with traps for profit (market hunting) during the open season ten minks, six otters and three raccoons, with- out then and there first procuring a license." When brought to trial counsel for the trappers asked to have the information quashed on the grounds that the Legislature had made no provision for the payment of a trapper's license and that the trapper was not guilty of violating any law. This motion was overruled and the defendant invoked the supervisory jurisdiction of the su- preme court of the State and asked for a reversal of the judgment of the district court. The high court held13 that even though the Legislature had failed to provide for the payment of license taxes for the taking of certain game by traps during an open season that it followed by necessary inference that this method of hunting or trapping could not be indulged in at any time and that, as the defendant had trapped the animals named in the bill of indictment, he had violated the law. At the 1914 session of the Legislature, this defect in the law was remedied (Act 293 of 1914) by fixing the cost of trapping licenses at $2.00, and the season for trapping "State of La. vs. Mortimer Morgan, No. 19,950. The Fur Animals of Louisiana 53 was lengthened 15 days, viz, November 1 to February 15, inclusive. Those in the department studying the situation be- lieved that further cutting of the open season was neces- sary and made this recommendation to the legislature in 1926. The proposal was for a 60-day season starting December 1, and ending January 31. Opposition from trappers and other interests developed and a 75-day sea- son was enacted, starting the season November 20 and ending it February 5. In 1928 another effort was made to make the open season December 1, to February 15, but the suggestion was not adopted. It is the mature decision of those having the best in- terests of the fur industry of the state at heart that no fur animals should be trapped before the first day of De- cember and, if it is necessary to have a 75-day season for the taking of fur animals, that the season should end February 15. The Fur Shortage According to information gathered throughout the country by the bureau of biological survey in the United States Department of Agriculture there is at present a na- tion-wide shortage of furs but that this is not due entirely to trapping nor trapping methods. Much of it is caused by our characteristically American wasteful methods of hand- ling important natural resources. Conspicuous among these are the indiscriminate felling of virgin forests, drainage of marsh lands and such activities whereby fur producing areas have been tremendously reduced. "Trapping out of proper seasons is another cause for the shortage, and the trading of pelts so taken by dealers, too, has contributed to the present day shortage," warns the biological survey. "The defect in most conservation laws is the length of the legal open seasons, and the most serious drawback is that most laws permit trapping before the pelts are prime in the fall. It has been estimated that ap- proximately 45 to 55 per cent of the pelts reaching the raw 54 Department of Conservation of Louisiana fur markets fall into the unprofitable class. Fur of the more superior quality and more of it would be handled by ihe trade if seasons were shortened and made more uni- form in states having similar climatic conditions. "Those responsible for the enactment of laws do not always realize that two and one-half months are sufficient open season on muskrats nor that the most valuable skins are those taken late in winter and early spring. As far as the muskrat is concerned, it is acknowledged by all who have made a serious study of this animal that it is an eco- nomic mistake to trap it anywhere in the United States before December 1 of any year." This pronouncement by the Federal bureau seems to be suffcient proof of the soundness of the recommendations we have made as to the open season for trapping of fur animals in Louisiana in the future. The Fur Take In Past Years The trapping industry in Louisiana has grown to pro- portions that make it not alone a resource of large revenue and a means of livelihood to a considerable percentage of the state's population but a subject for the most careful and extensive conservation consideration so that the indus- try will become a permanent one. It is a difficult matter to present accurate comparative takes of past years. It is certain that the survey made by the author of this bulletin in 1914 was the first made tend- ing to compile the actual numbers of fur animals taken by the trappers and handled by the various raw pelt dealers. The catches of various winters, up to the 1919-1920 season were made a part of the department's files, but this collec- tion of statistics was interrupted when the raw fur dealers of New Orleans, who objected to the state's fur severance tax, fought its collection in the courts, carrying the fight to the United States Supreme Court, where they lost, as they did in all of the lower courts. While this legal affray was on the deparement was en- joined from delving into the business of the raw pelt deal- ers and at the conclusion of the legal battle the tax for The Fur Animals of Louisiana 55 the pelts taken was settled by a compromise of $61,842.47, and the specified figures as to the number of fur animals taken was not obtained. Again, in 1927, the raw pelt deal- ers fought the fur tax as unconstitutional when the depart- ment saw fit to exercise its prerogative under the law to audit their books. Again the dealers lost, the contest going once more as high as the United States Supreme Court. The following figures are believed to be approximately correct as to the fur animals taken, with the exception of the muskrat, for the seasons of 1918-1919 and 1919-1920, as undoubtedly the raw pelt dealers did not report the entire number of pelts taken from the chief fur animals of Louis- iana, and there was no law at that time giving the depart- ment of conservation the power to examine or audit their books. It has also been necessary to estimate the catch in a number of the other seasons, but it is believed that the figures are, in the main, an accurate compilation of fourteen years of trapping in Louisiana. THE FUR TAKE IN LOUISIANA 1913 to 1929 Season Muskrat Opossum Raccoon Mink 1913-14 4,284,000 5,000,000 3,500,420 2,125,000 1,387,220 2,963,110 4,073,200 4,990,000 6,000,000 10,000,000 7,000,000 6,236,165 3,613,765 3,036,749 2,858,834 5,105,374 6,269,556 1 178,000 180,000 193,640 228,921 140,125 152,800 224,100 144,708 113,385 154,972 160,000 287,180 198,490 356,184 339,210 518,295 309,363 401,000 420,000 532,480 678,821 220,110 258,200 252,800 176,751 131,041 109,030 120,000 145,810 128,516 127,882 103,544 153,914 105,381 105,000 1914-15 112,000 1915-16 114,620 1916-17 122,480 1917-18 85,440 1918-19 79,975 1919-20 98,700 1920-21 72,946 1921-22 40,573 1922-23 34,607 1923-24 50,000 1924-25 84,201 1925-26 51,447 1926-27 43,896 1927-28 67,284 1928-29 99,844 1929-30 69,680 66 Department of Conervation of Louisiana THE FUR TAKE IN LOUISIANA— Continued 1913 to 1929 Season Otter Skunks Mis'c. Pelts Total I 1913-H 2,860 2,750 3,540 2,940 1,985 2,428 1,680 1,321 1,044 1,530 1,500 2,110 2,024 2,554 1,190 3,048 1,447 27,280 25,500 23,670 25,624 25,210 22,340 13,300 13,554 16,934 12,430 15,000 14,752 30,866 27,671 22,348 38,940 27,034 4,500 3,000 6,740 3,164 3,100 3,700 2,365 1,000 2,491 3,037 2,000 947 1,058 1,095 1,072 2,655 1,877 5,002,640 1914-15 5,743,250 1915-16 4,375,110 1916-17 3,186,950 1917-18 1,863,190 1918-19 3,482,553 1919-20 4,666,145 1920-21 5,400,280 1921-22 6,305,471 1922-23 10,315,606 1923-24 7,348,500 1924-25 6,771,165 1925-26 4,026,166 1926-27 3,596,031 1927-28 3,393,482 1928-29 5,922,070 1929-30 6,784,338 Licensed Trappers of Louisiana Previous to 1917-1918 season, the possessor of a legal hunting license was permitted to trap fur animals in Louis- iana ; therefore it is impossible to secure an accurate enum- eration of trappers. For the 1917-1918 season the new law requiring all trappers to hold a $2.00 state-wide trapping license went into effect and continued up to the end of the 1919-1920 season, when the legislature again removed the special trapping license feature, making it permissible to trap fur animals on a hunter's license. For the 1922-1923 season a $1.25 combination trapping and hunting license law was enacted, providing for all those who trapped to secure the trapping license allowing the legal right of hunting for 25 cents extra. The first year this law went into effect witnessed the high mark in trap- ping licenses purchased in Louisiana, 28,600 trappers pay- ing the fee. This season also marked the year of the greatest fur take in Louisiana, estimates of those in the fur trade ranging from 10,000,000 to 15,000,000 muskrats being shipped out of the state. The Fur Animals of Louisiana 57 This combination hunting and trapping license remained in effect up to the 1923-1924 season, when a new law was enacted which, while keeping the trapping license at $1.25, did not include the right to hunt on it. In 1926 the legis- lature enacted a new and revised fur law, raised the trap- ping license to $2.00, giving the proceeds of the sale of the license to the various parishes "to be used and expended in said parish in aid of fur bearing animal conservation." Under this regulation a trapper, who must be a resident of Louisiana, is obliged to purchase a license in every parish in which he traps. The table below will show the number of licensed trap- pers that have taken the field the past ten years to take the fur animals in Louisiana, as well as the number of buyers, resident dealers and non-resident dealers taking out li- censes : Season to u V a a a U c -~ IS j in § .2 m n Non-Resident Buyers *-> a ■a w to K - . a a * o Q 1917-1S 6,145 6,243 9,834 * * 28,600 26,550 20,149 17,344 12,973 12,628 12,603 12,878 314 537 941 885 704 695 710 634 88 100 73 83 56 62 61 67 12 4 7 4 1918-19 1919-20 1920-21 3 1921-22 16 1922-23 19°3-24 1924-25 29 1925-26 1926-27 26 6 1927-28 4 19f'8-29 2 6 ♦Combined with hunting license. To understand the distribution of the trappers through- out the state the table on page 58, showing the number of licensed trappers by parishes, is included in this bulletin. A study of the licenses sold will show that the bulk of the trappers carry on their quest for the fur animals in the 58 Department of Conservation of Louisiana coastal section parishes, where the muskrat is found. Ter- rebonne, largest parish in the state by area, is the leader in furnishing trappers, followed by the adjoining La- fourche, with St. Mary which bounds Terrebonne on the west, a close third. Plaquemines, Vermilion, Jefferson, Cal- casieu, Cameron, St. Bernard, and even Orleans, contribute their quota to this winter-time army. Just how many farmer boys, as well as those who have an inherited distaste to license buying, are not represented in the following list is problematical, but it is enough to say that each year Louisiana sends about 20,000 trappers into the marshes, swamps and other parts of the great outdoors to take their share of pelts. LICENSED TRAPPERS IN LOUISIANA 1924-25 1925-26 1926-27 1927-28 1928-29 1929-30 163 1 136 67 76 47 41 359 283 194 217 159 138 95 104 96 56 60 52 230 275 204 131 139 109 194 340 108 42 52 52 267 196 100 160 231 185 162 117 95 130 102 7 173 131 100 127 117 123 203 134 96 91 102 114 611 479 267 374 284 306 225 74 60 64 46 37 679 306 274 385 502 763 176 97 97 71 41 41 79 41 54 63 43 41 186 169 124 72 62 165 201 162 145 161 155 169 110 88 72 55 47 33 196 122 154 217 173 173 67 36 39 45 34 32 143 123 52 50 61 61 190 127 80 70 44 44 170 145 no 128 77 67 129 141 159 109 119 165 239 290 222 237 90 109 155 109 68 86 62 58 507 651 360 394 392 475 246 196 121 148 100 100 57 75 18 6 7 8 1,495 1,362 878 918 1,044 995 105 51 42 46 26 36 61 46 36 70 44 49 192 177 | 94 46 31 30 243 236 1 165 239 177 166 189 219 1 181 226 267 252 492 393 1 292 297 312 308 494 442 ! 525 165 174 222 276 137 1 175 168 148 128 852 881 1 1,055 584 868 942 170 215 I 159 129 74 71 383 415 | 272 I 296 294 313 165 74 | 68 1 89 66 47 248 169 1 99 1 87 100 100 394 334 1 216 1 425 307 315 299 301 I 460 1 330 388 285 234 241 ! 234 170 255 274 84 47 1 37 1 35 29 23 Acadia Allen Ascension Assumption Avoyelles Beauregard Bienville Bossier Caddo Calcasieu Caldwell Cameron Catahoula Claiborne Concordia De Soto East Baton Rouge East Carroll . East Feliciana . . Evangeline Franklin Grant Iberia [berville Jackson Jefferson Jefferson Davis . . Lafayette Lafourche La Salle Lincoln Livingston Madison Mi i] .house x.i I ohitoches . . . . Orlea ns Ouachita Plaquemines . Fointe Coupee . . , Rapides , Red Ri Ttiohlnnrl Sabine St. Bernar I . . . . St. Charl< st i relena The Fur Animals of Louisiana 59 LICENSED TRAPPERS IN LOU ISIANA— (Continued) 1924-25 1925-26 1926-27 1927-28 1928-29 1929-30 St. James St. John the Baptist . St. Landry St. Martin St. Mary St. Tammany Tangipahoa Tensas Terrebonne Union Vermilion Vernon Washington Webster West Baton Rouge . . West Carroll West Feliciana Winn Total Trappers Paid in Licenses . . . . 82 1 77 1 49 69 297 265 216 125 1,340 1,311 301 288 226 194 71 166 2,492 2,250 151 1,043 623 206 184 159 172 220 158 45 44 253 244 107 81 303 207 102 66 209 164 565 207 141 201 1,851 70 324 157 129 122 54 61 55 135 | 20,149 |17,344 |12,973 |$25,186.25| $21,6S0| $25,946 74 44 84 45 673 194 150 171 1,618 125 321 293 171 150 53 77 73 227 1 149 80 145 | JT 763 153 96 266 1,611 116 402 277 192 126 30 55 32 131 185 100 132 21 702 142 46 265 1,965 84 345 222 146 109 28 44 21 97 12,628 |12,603 $25,2561 $25,206 12,878 $25,756 Must Furs Come From the Snow Countries? Popular and colorful romance has been chiefly respon- sible for the very general impression that only in the cold climate, where snow and ice and Arctic winds forced the furred creatures of the wild to grow a heavy pelage, are the fur animals to be found. Popular belief, too, has been that only in these northern primal wildernesses do trappers lay their traps so that milady in search of creature comforts or the bizarre may suitably adorn her figure — in winter as well as in summer. As a mater of fact it is recognized that furs can come from too far North. This is true of the average Canadian muskrat, as fur experts have declared it to be the poorest of all 'rats in wearing quality, this being due, they point out, to the fact "that in cold weather they absorb their own fat for food, which thins the pelt and impoverishes the fur," Despite the widespread belief that furs come only from the rigorous sections, the tropics and sub-tropics have long held their important places in the fur world. While it is true that the silver fox, the pet of the fur trade and the highest priced individual pelt in the commerce, is found in the Arctic, on the other hand, the nutria, for by such name does the coypu rat masquerade in the fur trade, comes from the tropics and sub-tropics of South America; and the 60 Department of Conservation of Louisiana greatest pelt known to the fur world — that is, in the years gone by — was the beaver, and the beaver had a distribu- tion from the hot lands of Mexico to the Actic fastnesses of Hudson Bay. The beaver, now practically gone, has been replaced by the heretofore inconspicuous muskrat as the pillar of the fur trade and nowhere is the muskrat to be found in more prolific numbers than in the State of Louisiana, and in this same state approximately 20,000 trappers go into the vast expanses of the coastal marsh- lands, the swamps and other woodlands for fur pelts every winter. What Is Fur? Fur is the name applied especially to the covering on the skins of certain animals. The fur lies alongside another and usually longer covering variously called the "guard- hair," "overhair" and "kinghair." The fur of an animal differs from its hair in that it is soft, silky, dense, downy, and under the microscope will be noted to be barbed length- wise. The guardhair.is straight, smooth and comparatively stiff. The fur and the guardhairs on an animal have separate uses. The guardhair on the living animal keeps the fur filaments apart and has its function in preventing the fur from a tendency to mat or felt, and, in addition, the guard- hairs protect the fur from injury, thereby giving the ani- mals needed immunity from cold. In many cases the guardhairs are not utilized by the furrier when making up certain garments, while in other pelts the guardhairs constitute the beauty and value of the pelt. The fur market and fur wearers are dependent on cer- tain members of the mammalian order for its source of nat- ural supply. Four orders are conspicuous sources of this natural supply, being the Carnivora, Rodentia, Ungulata, and Marsupilia. The two most important orders are the Carnivora, or flesh-eating mammals, which in Louisiana are represented by the wolf, gray fox, lynx or wild cat, black bear, raccoon, mink, skunk, weasel and otter ; and the Rodentia, or gnaw- The Fur Animals of Louisiana 61 ing mammals, represented by squirrels, chipmunk, beaver, muskrat, native rats, hares, and field mice. The Ungulata, or hoofed mammals, have but one repre- sentative in Louisiana, the Louisiana white-tailed deer, while the MarsupUia, or pouched mammals, have a single representative, the opossum, by no means an unimportant pelt in the fur marts today. The Insectivora, or insect eaters, are represented by the common mole and several species of shrews, but they form an inconsequential group as far as fur trade is concerned. What Makes Fur Beautiful? It has been frequently pointed out that there are two prime requisites for furs which make them, in our phrase- ology, beautiful — health and youth. Health of the animal determines the lustre, and youth gives the fur its texture, or that "smooth, silky quality," as it is frequently termed. A third element (that of cold) is not necessary for the creation of fine furs with such quadrupeds as raccoons, opossums, otters, minks and muskrats. This is very evi- dent from amphibious mammals. Other species of mammals do need cold to give them a firm and prime pelt; in this category can be placed such prized furs as those from the silver fox, marten, fisher, and weasel (ermine) as they, to combat the rigors of a long and freezing winter, put on a thicker coat of fur, but sometimes this is done at a sacrifice of quality. Therefore, good furs from the sub-tropics are not to be looked upon as strange, unnatural or impossible. The strange thing is that furs can come from too far north, for they are without the quality possessed by pelts taken in more temperate localities. And, too, it must not be forgotten that in winter, in Louisiana, when the temperature falls to 32 degrees above zero, that the water of the marsh lands is just as cold as the waters of the northern tier of states. If the water would be any colder it would freeze solid and muskrats 62 Department of Conservation of Louisiana have not, as yet, solved the difficulties in the way of swim- ming through a solid block of ice. Is Trapping Cruel? A hue and cry has been started in some quarters against the taking of our native mammals for fur, as a decided economic waste ; as a trade that depends on extreme cruelty for its existence; as a pastime, and a profession which is against all the ethics of true conservation. In this regard it might be well to quote one of the foremost champions of our vanishing wild life, Dr. William T. Hornaday, former director of the New York Zoological Park, who, in dis- cussing the status of the fur-bearers, recently said:14 "The real fur-bearing animals of the world stand on a basis apart from most other wild animals of the world. Many of them are fiercely predatory and absolutely require the hand of the human killer to keep them from overrun- ning and devouring men, beasts and birds. For example: "Wolves, wherever they occur in large numbers, con- stitute a nuisance and scourge of the first magnitude. With unparalleled ferocity they devour the wounded and the dead of their own kind, their own pups, and the game of every description, from mice to men. It is true that their slaugh- ter of men is not great, but that is because man is himself a dangerous animal of no mean proportions. The depreda- tions of gray wolves and coyotes on little sheep and colts of the western stock ranges are at all times very exasperating, and millions of dollars have been expended in wages and bounties for wolf destruction. "In approaching the wolves and weasels, some of our principles against the extermination of species break down, and we note exceptions. There are those who believe that it would be a good thing for the world at large if all wolves and weasels were to be totally blotted out of existence. We believe that their destruction of more valuable wild crea- tures outweighs their own fur value. uThe Fur Trade and the Wild Animals, Bull, N. Y., Zoological Soc. vol. iv, Xo. 2, pp- 36-38. Mar., 1921. The Fur Animals of Louisiana 63 "All the members of the marten family, in which are the fishers, martens, skunks, weasels and mink, are savage and merciless. Some of them ; such as the weasel, mink and skunk, are wholesale slaughterers who murder helpless birds by the dozen for the vicious lust of murder. For ex- ample, on two occasions a mink wiped out an entire flock of over twenty gulls, in the New York Zoological Park, in a single killing and without devouring even one. On one estate, in Pennsylvania, one murderous little weasel mur- dered twenty-four ring-necked pheasants in one night. "The skunk is the pariah of the class Mammalia, a dangerous and disgusting outcast, and it is a good thing for the world that his pelt is wanted for its fur. May the price of skunk skins never go down until the last skunk has been gathered in! This view, however, will not receive the in- dorsement of those fur dealers who hold that the skunk is so nearly harmless to man that he should be tolerated and encouraged for the sake of his fur. "The 'sufferings' of wolverines, weasels, mink and skunk in traps are not so great as they may seem. A marten or a mink will eat a good meal with one foot in a trap. It is a way with the members of the marten family to tear and devour their prey alive, and it is the way of man to catch them in about the only way in which it can be done — in steel traps. We do not believe in any unnecessary cruelty, either in the killing of wild animals or domestic animals, but there is plenty of both. The proper course of human people is to reduce it to an irreducible minimum." In comment on the balance of nature in relation to the fur-bearers, Dr. Hornaday, too, pointed out, "that ever since the day of primitive man, and according to their needs, the carnivorous fur-bearers have killed and devoured other vertebrates whenever they could be caught ; and man has killed the fur-bearers to supply his own needs, and our people should not quarrel with these two fundamental laws of nature for they are as fixed and unshakeable as the Rocky Mountains." On the other hand, he points out, it is a right good thing that man's needs have caused him to keep down the increase 64 Department of Conservation of Louisiana: of predatory animals by killing them and utilizing the sur- plus. Had this not been done, he declares, many species of land mammals and birds would have been exterminated,, and only the largest, the strongest and the fleetest would have survived. Even at the risk — or, rather, the absolute certainty — of arousing resentment and criticism, Dr. Hornaday said that he felt compelled to say that the fur trapper has his legiti- mate place in the economy of nature, and that he believed- in the taking of fur — in moderation. The noted wild life expert and champion, however, sounded a warning, claim- ing it is easy for the trapper to overplay his hand and leave behind him lifeless wastes, and that in many instances the- world of today is trapping not wisely but too well. "It is the duty of the fur trade to get together and take steps to regulate the trapping business, to stop waste and abuses, to stop using species that should not be used, and provide for a continuance of the legitimate fur trade," is his summing up of the situation as it presents itself today.. Periodic Fluctuations of Fur Animals In the study of creatures of the wild, whether they be- birds, mammals, or insects, the reason for a great abund- ance one year and a corresponding scarcity another has always been a puzzling study, whether its solution is sought by scientist or untutored student of the ways of the wild. These alternating cycles of abundance are sometimes so- uniform that they have been termed "period fluctuations" and in many cases have never been satsfactorily explained or, to be more exact, they have brought forth a number of conflicting theories from those who have declared a solu- tion for the phenomena. Periodic fluctuations in the fur catch have been known since the early days of the operations of the Hudson's Bay Company among the fur animals of northern North Amer- ica and, in Louisiana, as well as in the far north, these' cycles or waves of plenty and scarcity have elicited many explanations. The peculiar "year of no rabbits" of the Arctic and sub-Arctic is perhaps the best known and the: The Fur Animals of Louisiana 65 most studied fluctuation, and Professor V. W. Jackson, in his "Fur and Game Resources of Manitoba," claims that periodic fluctuatoins in the fur catch of that Canadian prov- ince can seldom be ascribed to the effects of trapping, but, rather, to natural causes, such as food supply, weather con- ditions, and widespread epidemics. These go in cycles of plenty and scarcity, of severity and salubrity, and depend- ent animal life seems to vary accordingly. Herbivorous animals seem to vary slightly with the vegetation and largely with epidemics of widespread dis- ease, Professor Jackson said, while carnivorous animals seem to die from exposure and starvation in winter. The flesh-eaters do not usually seem to have specific epidemics on the same large scale as the vegetable feeders, he states, and in his study of statistical reports extending over a century of fur-trading in the north shows that the peak years of rabbit abundance were 1845, 1855, 1877, 1887, 1897, 1905, 1917, and of lesser abundance in 1924. This approximates an eleven-year cycle, according to Professor Jackson, and he cites Elton's suggestion of association of sunspot maxima and the eleven-year cycle with its concomi- tant effect upon vegetation, tree growth, and water levels and other natural conditions. And, as might be expected, the abundance and scarcity of lynx, fox, and wolf is coinci- dent with that of the rabbit of the north. This study of the almost perfect correlation of the rise and fall of the rabbit population with the animals that prey on them indicates a provision of some kind to maintain a balance of nature. "This periodic abundance of rabbits and sudden decline is a perfectly normal happening," claims Professor Jackson. "In good or favorable years the fertility of rabbits is much increased, there being eight to ten young in a brood, instead of five or six, and two or three broods instead of one. The district becomes surcharged with rabbits, food fails, epi- demics break out, and the population is destroyed in a season." While those interested in the perpetuation of the fur industry in Louisiana cannot point out any direct connec- tion between the "year of no rabbits" of the north with the 66 Department of Conservation of Louisiana fur animal supply with our part of the continent, still it is important to point out that there have been what appear to be periodic fluctuations in the muskrat population not wholly attributable to trapping. A matter so important warrants a great deal of local research as to causes, and if depletion by epidemics rather than by trapping is the factor in the periodic and extreme fluctuations in our musk- rat crop in the past few years, the causes should be sought out and remedial efforts expended to prevent reoccurrence if it is possible. California's Plague of Mice In January, 1927, scientists and many others interested in rodent reproduction, followed newspaper and other re- ports of an unprecedented outbreak of mice in the Buena Vista Lake section of southern California. According to some of the stories, "millions upon millions" of the animals swarmed on the highways, and one oil company was cred- ited with killing "four tons of mice." The outbreak, naturally, was immediately investigated by the California Fish and Game Commission and by the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology of the University of Cali- fornia, Director Joseph Grinnell delegating E. Raymond Hall, curator of mammology, to make the study. Mr. Hall estimated that the affected area was about eighteen miles in diameter, that the rodent outbreak was by the common house mouse (Mus Musculus) , and he found as many as seventeen mice per square yard over an area of many acres planted in kafir corn. Computed from the counts made on the measured areas, Mr. Hall arrived at the startling num- ber of 82,280 mice per acre, or 2,468 pounds of mice per acre, doing damage and migrating to other parts. A very interesting and valuable account of this plague was written by Mr. Hall and published by the University of California,15 and the liberty is taken of quoting from the bulletin wherein it bears on the problem of periodic fluctuations of rodents. ' Hall, E. Raymond, An Outbreak of House Mice, pp. 189-203, University of California, 1927. The Fur Animals of Louisiana 67 The California investigator found no mice less than three-fourths grown. "Since it is commonly known, from laboratory experiments, that shortage of food curtails or stops reproduction in mice," said Mr. Hall, "the exhaustion of food in the Buena Vista Lake basin is suggested as the probable cause for the apparent absence of young mice among the thousands seen. No evidence of disease of any kind that might be expected to destroy the mice was noted. Judging from what has happened during marked increases in the population of other rodents, some epidemic eventually should, of course, be expected to occur here. "Among animals that are subject to such enormous and sudden increases in population, and equally sudden de- creases, it may be inferred that natural selection would operate at an accelerated rate. For instance, with the pres- ent scarcity of food in the Buena Vista Lake region, it can be understood how certain individual mice that are able to survive longest without sufficient food would live to produce offspring, whereas the millions less fit in this re- spect would die and leave no progeny. Assuming that this physiological fitness were heritable, a marked change might occur in this respect within a short series of generations. Perhaps the example chosen is not the most happy one ; but it suggests one, at least partial, explanation of the appar- ently unequal rates of evolution of different descent-lines of animals that come to the attention of the palaeontologist. Certain characters would seem more rapidly to be selected for in a kind of animal that is subject to rapid increases and decreases in population than in a kind whose population remains relatively constant through long series of genera- tions." In this California plague of mice, Mr. Hall found that a radial migration resulted, at first, in apparently equal numbers of the mice moving outward from the basin in all directions, and, seemingly, no choice of destination was made by the migrants, there being, according to this author- ity, no stimulus or positive attraction causing all of, or even the majority of, the mice to move in one given direction rather than in another. 68 Department of Conservation of Louisiana "To assume that the movement of one mouse in a given direction acts as a stimulus for another one near-by to do the same, or that this movement at least discourages the latter from going in a different or exactly opposite direc- tion, explains the movement once it has begun," Mr. Hall tells us. "But, of course, it could not explain the equal move- ment in all directions from one central point; in fact, if such were the determining factor at the beginning of the migration, a radial migration of the type just described would be prevented. "Perhaps, then, a mechanical cause starts the migra- tion ; after the animals have once gone, for a given length of time, in a certain direction, some sort of impulse is de- veloped to continue. But what the stimulus for guidance may be is not clear." It must be remembered in the case of the outbreak of house mice in this dry bed of a one-time lake, given over to agricultural pursuits, that the animal causing the plague was an exotic species, an immigrant from the Old World that had not been in that section of California more than fifty years, and that the same relative outbreak in numbers was not observed in the native rats and mice of that section. Mr. Hall found that the conditions of this restricted region were most suitable for the increase of the house mouse, particularly in the abundance of grains, for which they had a great predilection, while the native species of rodents de- sired more green foods. Mr. Hall's outstanding observance, was the fact that the farmer-folk of the affected area had kept up an un- ceasing warfare on the birds and beasts of prey — the hawks and owls of the air and the coyotes, foxes, bobcats, skunks and other carnivorous mammals of the land. Although it is known that several factors besides the natural enemies of rodents, native and exotic, determine their numbers, such as favorable climate and abundant plant growth, the fact that mice are small and easy of prey render them the staple food of every one of the carnivorous mammals, while hawks and owls of many species need the tiny rodents for their subsistence. The Fur Animals of Louisiana 69 In this California region one of nature's checks on an abundance of earth-bound animals had been wiped out by man when these tiny mammals began to roll up in num- bers. And the mice played havoc with agriculture. Indeed, ic was estimated that the losses that coyotes, bobcats, skunks and other mammals might have caused the sheep- growers of that region, and for which they were poisoned, trapped and shot out, were less in value than the damage the plague of mice did to the agricultural interests. According to Mr. Hall, it should be pointed out "that in the normal, or usual, state of population of animals, one given carnivore feeds on several species of prey, but when for any reason one species of prey becomes more numer- ous than the others, the carnivore naturally, because of the ease and readiness with which the prey can be secured, con- centrates upon that one. There is, then, a certain optimum point of population-size for a species that calls forth the maximum effectiveness of the other animals that prey on it. "When the usual relative numbers of all the different species, both carnivores and herbivores, are present, this optimum point seldom is passed or even reached, and the condition of an over-population is thus prevented by the animals that play the carnivorous role. "It is known that house mice attain sexual maturity by the time they are three months old at most and that, on the average, under favorable circumstances they produce a lit- ter at least each month. The litters average from five to six. In two years' time, then, breeding at this rate and as- suming that all the mice lived to reproduce their kind, two adult mice producing a litter at the end of the first month, have a potentiality of 3,701,257. "Let us suppose, for the sake of illustration, and not for the sake of assuming that the number selected is correct as to the actual number produced by one pair here, that at Buena Vista Lake one pair of house mice was responsible for one one-thousandth of this number — that is, 3,701. Four pairs of mice then would, at the end of two years, be re- 70 Department of Conservation of Louisiana sponsible for 14,804 mice. If, however, predatory mam- mals, or anything else, should destroy at the beginning, half these eight mice, involving two females, the number at the end of two years would be only half of 14,804, or 7,402. It therefore is readily seen that the absence at the present time of natural checks is not the important factor but that their absence when the increase in population began was the important factor that might have prevented or at least greatly decreased the eventual outbreak. ' 'Although suitable shelter was abundant for the mice, it was not of the kind that would have been impregnable to the enemies of the mice. Although food was abundant, no evidence is forthcoming that it was more abundant than in similar fields elsewhere at times when the weather condi- tions were essentially as they were in the past two years at Buena Vista Lake. As Hinton has said, The weather may be lenient to rodents, the carnivora never.' At Buena Vista Lake the carnivores had been eliminated. "The causes of this over-abundance of population of house mice may therefore be stated as : favorable meteoro- logical conditions, abundant food and shelter, and removal of the principal natural enemies of small rodents that nor- mally hold their numbers in check. The factor determining the time of the spectacular emigration of the mice was, probably, the destruction of their food and shelter. "Unfavorable meteorological conditions alone, a lesser amount of food and shelter alone, would have, and the pres- ence of the normal number of carnivorous mammals alone might have, prevented the excessive increase in numbers." The foregoing comments on periodic fluctuation among mammals, especially applying to the rodent family, to which division our muskrat belongs, have been included for the sole purpose of attracting the attention of readers of this bulletin to this phase of our wild animal life to act as an incentive to those with an investigative turn of mind to make first-hand studies of the phenomenon. Field studies of the muskrat in Louisiana appear to bear out the fact that our principal fur animal has five-year cycles of abundance. This observation, however, it must be The Fur Animals of Louisiana 71 pointed out, has not been proved and will need further in- tensive study, but in view of the present discussion the fol- lowing is set down : In 1913, the New Orleans raw pelt trade handled a very- large amount of muskrat pelts and veteran trappers, when it was recalled to them, remember that this animal was very abundant during the fall and winter of that year. The World War was on in full blast in 1918. Many of our Louisiana trappers were in France, many others who "emained here were busy with other war-time activities, the European fur market was closed, particularly Leipzig, the chief German raw pelt center, and as a consequence few trappers were in the field. While the estimate of the fur catch, especially the muskrat, was not high, it is a fact, however, that this animal was particularly abundant in 1918 and in spite of the fact that a disastrous Gulf hurri- cane swept the coastal marshes in August of 1915. The year 1923 will ever be remembered as the year in which the greatest catch of muskrats ever recorded in Louisiana took place. A veteran fur buyer for a prominent New York house, who has kept a check of the muskrats handled by the local dealers for a score of years, says that fifteen million pelts of this fur animal is not too high a figure. At any rate the catch of that year can be conserva- tively placed at about ten million. In 1924 and again in 1925, Louisiana was visited by a severe drought. Salt water inundated fresh water lakes and lagoons, muskrats died, the vegetation dried, and fires swept the coastal areas from the Pearl to the Sabine Rivers. Muskrats suffered and it will never be known how many died from the effect of a lack of water, from disease and from fire. A phenomenal and unexpected rise in prices sent an army of trappers into the marshes who "cleaned up" on the 'rats the droughts, fires and diseases did not get. and the muskrat has been slow in coming back. Because of the grasping strength of its toes it is no trick tor an opossum to climb about, upside down, like a sloth. The "possum, in search of its prey, moves stealthily about in dense vegetation. CHAPTER SEVEN FURS AS A SOURCE OF STATE REVENUE That the fur industry can be made an important souice of revenue for a state is proved by the amount of moneys collected during the trapping season in Louisiana as a tax. This state first enacted a severance tax law whereby 2 per cent of the value of the product severed should go to the state. The Louisiana legislature several years ago, to facilitate the collection of this tax, placed valu- ations en the pelts of the various fur-bearers so as to im- pose an arbitrary tax. Muskrats and opossum pelts were valued at I2V2 cento, calling for a specific tax of 14 cent; skunk, civet cat, wild cat, fox, wolf, were valued at 50 cents, with a specific tax of 1 cent; mink and raccoons were valued at $2.EQ, with a specific tax of 5 cents; otters were given a valuation of $12.50, with a specific tax ox 25 cents. In the 1924-1925 season the wild life division of the De- partment cf Conservation collected $24,206.10, which went into the general fund of the state, as not one cent of this amount was allowed the Conservation Department for its collection. The severance tax was collected on 5,445,014 pelts of all kinds, which was regarded as only 80 per cent of the total take, as, due to a change of administration, work on the collection was not started until some time after the trapping season was under way. The auditor reported the following figures : SEASON 1924-1925 Spe_ies X umber Tax Collected Muskrat 4.996,933 116,648 22:1.7 1 1 67,441 10,741 11,688 1,061 758 14 0 5c >,.• 5c lc 25c lc lc $ 12,492.33 5,732.40 .-,7 4..:'. 3,372.05 Opossum Mink Skunk 107.41 Otter 422.00 Civet cat . 10.61 Miscellaneous pelts ■ 7-58 5,425,014 $ 22,718-74 Collected for species not specified. 1,487.36 Total collected for general fund ... I I $ 24,206.10 I I 74 Department of Conservation of Louisiana The sum of $1,487.36, for which no pelts are specified, was for payments made to the state on the fur tax where certain dealers, buyers and trappers rendered their returns in lump sums without separating the different species of fur bearers. This additional sum, it might properly be pointed out, would be equal to 595,944 muskrats, or the same number of opossums, or 29,747 raccoons, or even a like number of mink, which would swell the 5,425,014 figure considerably. Escapes from this fur tax law were from a milllion muskrat pelts or more that were smuggled over the Sabine River into Texas from the rich Cameron Parish marshes; and from the pelts of raccoons and opossums and mink, from the central and northern sections of the state, where a large number of small shipments are made each winter by farmer folk and others not actually in the trapping busi- ness, who do not record their catch, nor is the fur tax paid as required by law. SEASON 1925-1926 Species Muskrat . . . Opossum . . , Raccoon . Mink Otter Skunk Civet cat . . Ring tail cat Wild cat . . Fox Wolf Trappers' licenses Fur buyers' licenses Resident dealers' licenses Non-resident dealers' licenses Total 3 3,299,650 1S0.797 117,239 46,864 1,846 21,814 6,319 8 437 543 19 3,675,536 16,422 885 83 26 y4c %c 5c 5c 25c lc lc lc lc lc lc $1.25 5.00 25.00 50.00 +-> o o U 8,249.12 451.99 5,861.95 2,343.20 461.50 218.14 63.19 .08 4.37 5.43 .19 $ 17,659.16 20,527.50 4,425.00 2,075.00 1,300.00 $ 28,327.50 |$ 45,986.66 The Fur Animals of Louisiana 75 There is now a new tax per pelt law, not called a sever- ance tax; through it the state collects 1 cent on muskrats and opossums, 5 cents on mink and raccoons, 25 cents on otters and 1 cent on all other pelts. This tax we expected would bring the department approximately $60,000.00 to $70,000.00 yearly in normal trapping seasons. SEASON 1926-1927 Species u X! r- C 3 X ■a o o o O 2,223,957 323,814 116,257 43,896 1,077 22,578 5,093 44 569 396 24 62 lc lc 5c 5c 25c lc lc lc lc lc lc lc $ 22,239.57 3,238.14 5,812.85 2,194.80 Otter 269.25 Skunk 225.78 50.93 .44 Wild cat 5.69 Fox 3-96 Wolf .24 .62 2,737,767 704 12 56 6 $10.00 50.00 50.00 250.00 $ 34,042.27 7,040.00 600.00 2,800.00 1,500.00 $ 45,982.27 In the season 1927-1928 licenses were sent to the sheriffs of the different parishes who sold them and the money col- lected from the sale of these licenses was used by the differ- ent parishes and not sent in to the department. According to records, there were 12,973 licenses sold, which amounted to $25,946.00. The opossum, next to the muskrat, is the most abundant fur-bearer in Louisiana, over a quarter of a million pelts being taken annually. An opossum playing 'possum. The take of this fur-bearing animal is increasing every year in spite of hard trapping. CHAPTER EIGHT IN THE c possum, we will consider a fur animal that is not only a native of this continent but one that has for its common name a designation wholly American, for the 'possum, as we frequently term it, was first named opossum by the North American Indians along the Atlantic seacoast where the early settlers elected to carve a new home out of the wilderness. It was the doughty Captain John Smith who gave the beast the spelling we now use. In his History of Virginia, the warrior whose life was saved by Pochahontas set down with his quill pen these words: "An opossum hath a head like a swine, a taile like a rat, and is the bigness of a cat. Under the belly shee hath a bagge." A laconic but wholly encompassing deccription that does indeed describe this queerest of all mammals. We have two, possibly three, forms of opossums: The Louisiana or Gulf opossum (Didelphis virginiana pigra) , a small dark opossum with a long tail ; found from Georgia, Florida, along the Gulf coast through Louisiana and, un- doubtedly, into Texas. In the northern, eastern and central parts of Louisiana is found a much larger animal, the typi- cal Virginia opossum (Didelphis virginiana virginiana) ; where it occurs it is very numerous, much larger than the Gulf form, tail smaller, usually uniformly whitish, with the white guard hairs longer than the black. The Gulf sub- species has two color phases, some are whitish, others de- cidedly blackish. Long-tailed opossums, with black guard. 78 Department of Conservation of Louisiana hairs longer than the white, have been taken in south-west- ern Louisiana and may prove to be the Texas opossum (D.m. texensis) or an undescribed form. The French-speaking trappers call this fur animal, aside from opossum and 'possum in common usage, rat de bois, meaning "rat of the woods," perpetuating the name given this animal by the puzzled first settlers to Louisiana. The Spanish-speaking trappers of the Delacroix Island region of St. Bernard and Plaquemines parishes term the opossum a topo or raibua. Naturally, this queer animal was well known to all Gulf tribes, but we have been unsuccessful in locating all of its names. The Ofo Indians named it feska tci-nki, "little pig;" while the Biloxi called it kcicka, "hog," and the Choctaws called the animal shukata. It is recorded that the eastern Indians called this animal ivhoapink, meaning "white face," and that it was even a more common name among the ab- originals than opossum. Placed by naturalists in the lowest position in the order of mammals the opossum, for this reason, is usually named and described first in any systematic work on natural history. Being physically such an oddity of nature, it might be well to describe the animal before considering some of its habits or how it appeared to the early Louisianians. As was pointed out by Captain John Smith, opossums are small mammals varying from the size of a very large cat to larger proportions. Opossums have long noses, ears and tail, the latter being naked and prehensile — which means that the animal can grasp things with its tail. The first toe on the hind foot is so fully opposable to the other digits or toes, so as to constitute a functionally per- fect "hand." Therefore, one does not exaggerate when this queer creature of our woods is described as "four-handed." This opposable first toe is without nail or claw, but the tip of the toe is expanded into a broad, flat pad, of great use to each hind foot when the animal is climbing about among the trees — these two "hind-hands" making it sure-footed. The Fur Animals of Louisiana 79 The five toes of the two front legs are provided with long, sharp claws and the first toe, or thumb, is not at all opposable and, as far as its anterior pair of legs go, the opossum is very much like many other mammals. The opossum has a mouthful of teeth all crowned with minute and sharply-pointed cusps, with which to crush the insects on which these animals delight to feed, although it has many other articles of diet on its nightly menu for it is almost wholly a nocturnal prowler. But it is the pouch that the female possesses that has given this animal a popular place in natural history. Be- longing to the Order Marsupialia, a natural history division which includes all of the pouched mammals, or as they are more commonly termed, Marsupials, the opossum is related to some other remarkable and destructive animals mostly confined to the Australian region, the kangaroo being a noteworthy example. This order takes its name from an external abdominal pouch found only on the female, in which the young, after birth, are carried and nursed until the progeny attain some size. As has been pointed out by Stone and Cram,16 mar- supials, are in fact, the survivors of an ancient population of animals which was spread over the earth before the su- perior beasts of the present era made their appearance. Today marsupials are restricted to the United States (with one example, the opossum), South and Middle America, and Australia. The variety of pouched mammals found in Australia is quite large, the largest and best known being the kangaroo, but this fauna also contains the thyla- cine or Tasmanian wolf, the dasyure or Tasmanian devil, the small bandicoots, the wombats, flying phlangers, count- erparts of our flying squirrels, and marsupial moles have also been found. The teeth of marsupials are more primi- tive than those of most of the other mammals and are generally more numerous. Some marsupials are carnivo- rous, others hibivorous and others are, like our opossum, omnivorous. 16Stone and Cram, American Animals, pp. 3-4. '80 Department of Conservation of Louisiana When first born an opossum, a kangaroo and a mouse are about the same size— about half an inch in length, and weigh about one to eighteen and twenty grains. The opossum's peculiar method of carrying the young has given rise to a host of peculiar folk tales as to how the birth of the young occurs, tales so outlandish and so far from the actual facts, it is deemed necessary to set down here the correct story of reproduction. A deeply rooted tradition has it that the female opossum copulates through the nose and that she blows the fruit of conception into the pouch. The young, ranging from six to twelve in a litter (some- times as many as fourteen), are born in a manner usual to most mammals except for the fact that the little ones are dropped from the usual organ in a very immature state. They are blind, helpless, hairless and very, very small, weighing scarcely more than two grains each. One scientist placed 16 of the extremely minature young in the bowl of a,n ordinary teaspoon which they just filled.1 Although it has been claimed they are picked up by the mother and placed in the pouch, this is incorrect. The true facts about the reproduction of the opossum have been known since 1823, when Barton of Philadelphia, in a paper sent to a Eu- ropean philosophical journal on "Facts, observations and (Conjectures relative to the generation of the opossum of North America," set down the following findings, which have been recently proved as correct by two later day in- vestigators.17 As to the manner in which the young reach the pouch, Barton combats two ideas as prevalent today as in 1823. He first touched on the "opinion very generally adopted in many parts of the United States" that the young are pro- duced in the pouch. He recorded : "The young opossums unformed, and per- fectly sightless as they are at this period find their way to the teats (of the mother) by the power of an invariable, "■Hartman, Breeding Season of the Oi)ossum. Jour. Morp. & Physiol., \ 1 1 1 . I . I 0. 1 . 1 1 . 17 7. "Heauser, Chester H. and Hartman, Carl G., Dept. of Embryology, •Carnegie Institution of Washington, Baltimore, Md., Journal of Mammalogy, vol. 9, p. 62. The Fur Animals of Louisiana 81 This opossum is demonstrating its ability to hang on with its forefeet. The photograph shows the opposable big toe of the hind feet which is characteristic of this animal. 82 Department of Conservation of Louisiana a determinate instinct, which may, surely, be considered as one of the most wonderful that is furnished to us by the science of natural history." Those who are aware of the manner of reproduction of the opossum frequently err in claiming that the parent picks up her tiny, immature babies and places them in the pouch, some claiming this is done by the mouth, while oth- ers maintain this act is performed by the paws. More than one hundred years ago, Mr. Barton set down: "It is not true, as has been often asserted, that the mother, with her paws, puts the young ones in the pouch." When the young are expelled from the female's body, after a gestation period of 11 days, the babies are not much more than embryos. They weigh about two grains each, but are very much alive and active, for they instinctively crawl about the mother's body until the abdominal pouch is found and entered. Each member of the litter seizes a teat and by a provision of nature the mouth of the baby opossum adheres to the lactate appendage of the parent, and, being in a very imperfect form of development and unable to suckle for the first few weeks of this period, the mother injects her milk into her offsprings' mouths by a special muscle, which compresses the lacteal glands. In other words, she "pumps" sustenance into her young. When about six weeks old the eyes open, the mouths of the young become detached from teats, after which they venture out and survey the world into which they have been so strangely born. The first excursions are made usually from the pouch to the mother's back, the young climbing to her hair and scrambling around her body. The family pre- sents a droll sight when the parent animal arches her tail over her back and the little ones twine their prehensile tails about the mother's, hanging head down with fore feet grasping the hair of the parent animal's back. A week or two passes before the young leave the mother's back for their first excursion on land. As the opossum litters more than once a year, it has been demonstrated that she will receive attention from the male before she has fully raised her first litter. The Fur Animals of Louisiana 83 The opossum is polysestrus, having more than one oestrus or heat period during a given breeding season. The breeding season begins in January in our section of the South and the females usually have young in the pouch by the middle of February. The period of gestation averages 11 days, the young remaining attached to the teats for approximately 65 to 70 days, and then for 30 days move freely about the mother, entering the pouch for food, or, when alarmed, for pro- tection. Hartman fixes the longevity of the opossum at seven years.1 JZafi ch- Bout The Rat de Bois of the early French settlers to Louisiana was none other than our opossum and this is the way that the illustrator for Le Page du Pratz claimed it looked in 1735. Le Page du Pratz, the earliest Louisiana historian, wrote a very entertaining account of the opossum, which he called the Rat de bois, the name applied to this animal by the early French settlers, du Pratz's account of this "rat of the woods" is here reproduced merely to show the manner of natural history writings of 1730, and, therefore, some of the habits attributed to this animal must not be taken seriously by the present reader. His engraving of the rat de bois, which is herewith re- produced, is quite as amusing as his account which, trans- lated, follows: "The 'rat de bois' ' head and tail is like a rat's He is as big and long as an ordinary cat. His legs are ^■Hartman, Breeding Habits, Development and Birth of the Opposum, Smithsonian Institute Annual Report, 1921, pp. 347-363. 84 Department of Conservation of Louisiana shorter, his paws long and his toes armed with claws ; his tail almost without hair and made to hook, because when taken by this place he winds himself at once around the finger. His hair is grey and although fine is never smooth. The Indian women spin this and make garters of it which they dye red. "They hunt fowl aL night and suck their blood but never eat them. Ordinarily no animal is seen to walk so slowly, and I took one often walking at my usual pace. When he sees he is about to be caught, his in- stinct leads him to play off dead, and it is so well car- ried on that if you were to kill him and cook him he would not move or show sign of life. It is only when at a great distance, or well hidden, that he starts off to quickly hide in some corner or among some brush- wood. "I have always been surprised at the great numbers of this animal seen everywhere, when everything seems to conspire to their destruction, for this animal is of an extraordinary slowness, defenseless, and even though able to climb well, his little ones are born on the ground. It is believed that no other animal fights him. "When the female is about to give birth to the young, she, in company with the male, go in search of fine dry grass. After accumulating what is neces- sary, the female lies on her back, the male puts the grass between her paws and drags her by the tail to her nest. She never leaves her young after they are born and takes them with her wherever she goes. Na- ture provides her with a pocket or double skin, under her stomach, and stretches from the stomach to the thighs. This skin covers her udders and is split its full length, but the two ends are joined so well that it would be impossible to discover this split if not ac- quainted with this fact, and it can only be opened by tearing it, so fine and tight is this skin. It is in this pocket that she conceals her young when she leaves her nest, and she transports these without harm in this The Fur Animals of Louisiana 8£> soft, warm carriage where they can sleep and suck at their ease. If taken while carrying her young, she suffers without giving sign of life ; if hung by the tail or put over a fire, the tail wraps itself and the mother dies with her young without anything being able to open the skin of this pocket. "The meat of this animal has a very good taste, and very much like that of the suckling pig, when it is broiled. It is said that the fat is used to appease the pains of rheumatism, sciatica, and other ailments." The opossum is prized, first of all, for its fur, but many in Louisiana esteem the animal for its flesh, and among the colored folk, 'possum and sweet 'taters is considered as choice a dish today as in du Pratz's time. The pelage of the opossum, which finds a ready sale in the fur marts, is distinctive for having two coats, an under- fur that is short and white with its upper parts covered with a frizzle of black and white hairs, the white one being the longer, thus giving the animal a greyish appearance. Its use in the fur trade for other things besides trimming is rapidly gaining favor among women of fashion, and, with the decline of other furs, it seems reasonable to expect the value of the opossum raw pelts to rise. Approximately a quarter of a million opossum pelts leave the state annually, making Louisiana the largest opos- sum fur-producing state of the Union. The opossum is distributed generally throughout the state, being found in numbers in every one of the sixty-four parishes, including Orleans. It seems to center in greatest numbers in Terrebonne, Lafourche, Calcasieu, Jefferson, Natchitoches, Plaquemines, Beauregard, Assumption, Ra- pides and Allen, and the parish quantity production seems to be in the order named. 86 Department of Conservation of Louisiana c -a G o a o c 3 (8 X. 3 0 >> a XI to c a 3 o J "5 o CHAPTER NINE OF all typical American mammals no animal, big or little, is better known than the raccoon, or " 'coon," as it is so frequently called. A scientist would tell you probably that the raccoon is a typical representative of a group of American arboreal placental mammals belonging to the order Camivora, but ask someone who really knows this animal in its native habitat and he will, in all likelihood, say that it is a little cousin to the bear, because in truth it is bear-like in form and has the same characteristic habit of the ursine family in that it shuffles about the ground in a lumbering manner, has the same bear-like agility in climbing trees, eats any- thing that comes its way — fruits, bugs, reptiles, shellfish, bees, honey, nuts, berries, fish — in fact, it is just as partial to an animal diet as it is to vegetable matter; being planti- grade or flat-footed, the raccoon leaves a foot-print similar to the track of a bear. It has the same build that makes its hind quarters higher than its fore parts, but, when walking, the entire sole of the foot is not applied to the ground, as it is when the animal is standing at rest, while the toes, especially those of the forefeet, can be spread out very widely. S8 Department of Conservation of Louisiana The raccoon is a thickly built animal with a coat of long, rather coarse, greyish-brown hairs, black at the tips, under- lain by a fine fur characterized by its length, softness and thickness ; it has short ears, and a bushy black-and-white ringed tail. In length it averages 32 inches. The raccoon possesses a long, pointed snout, and a white face with a characteristic black area on each cheek surrounding the eye. While found in its most plentiful numbers in the South- ern States, the raccoon has an extensive range, being found as far north as Ontario and as far south as Louisiana and Florida. A considerable number are trapped every year in the Pacific Coast states of California, Washington and Oregon, but it does not inhabit the Rocky Mountain region. The raccoon provides man with one of the most practical and serviceable furs, which is used today extensively in the manufacture of ccats for both women and men. It is a splendid wearing fur and very warm and comfortable. With the advent of the automobile and the call for a fur garment that would stand hard outdoor usage, the raccoon pelt has proved itself ideal. For many years Missouri was one of the principal 'coon producing centers of the United States, but with the re- claiming of the swamp lands in the New Madrid section, the animal disappeared or sought new habitats. Arkansas has long been an important producer of this fur animal, but Louisiana is the largest 'coon producing state of the Union. In the early days of the fur trade of the Mississippi Valley, raccoon skins were a recognized circulating medium in the Valley states, just as beaver pelts were used as cur- rency in the northern states and Canada, So strange was this animal to the first French settlers of Louisiana that they called it a Chat sauvage, and Cat Island, off the Mississippi coast, gained its name because of the strange "cats" Iberville's pioneers found inhabiting the place. The Fur Animals of Louisiana 89 A racccon at bay with the animal exhibiting its humped back, plantigrade feet, ringed tail, and grizzled gray pelage. The 'coon is not afraid of water. It swims streams without effort and is very fond of animal and fish food found in wet places. 90 Department of Conservation of Louisiana Chat Saav The illustrator of the historic volumes of Le Page du Pratz made the raccoon appear more like a horse than any other animal. The name Chat Sauvage, which was French for wild cat, was applied to Brer 'Coon by the settlers of Louisiana in 1730, and because there were so many of these fur animals found on an island off Bay St. Louis in the Mississippi Sound, Iberville named it Isle de Chat or, as it now appears on our maps — "Cat Island." This is what M. Le Page du Pratz, whom we have already quoted, wrote about the raccoon he found in Louis- iana in 1718 : "The Chat Sauvage was improperly named by the first Frenchmen to come to Louisiana, for the only likeness they have to the cat is their suppleness. They mostly resemble the Marmotte. He is not more than eight or ten inches high and about fifteen inches long, his head is somewhat like the fox's. His paws have long toes with small claws not so well suited for seizing game, and too he lives only on fruit, bread and other like things. His hair is of a lighter color than that of the fox ; however, a distinction must be made of the one that is tame and the wild one (because this animal familiarizes himself, becomes very playful and per- forms a number cf tricks). The hair of the tame one is grey, and of the wild one russet, but the skin of either is not as beautiful as the fox's. He becomes very big. His meat is good to eat. I'll not speak of the ordinary cat, although wild, for it is entirely simi- lar to ours." The name raccoon, now in such common usage, is a corruption of a North American Indian name "arrathkune" or "arathcone," but the Choctaw Indians of the Gulf Coast The raccoon is one of our fur animals whose numbers have decreased during the past few trapping seasons. The raccoon has a characteristic habit of washing its food before eating it. 92 Department of Conservation of Louisiana called it a Shoui, a name heard today among the French- speaking trappers of the Louisiana lowlands. It is, for that matter, so much in use that many people believe that Shoui is a French word. The Biloxi Indians termed it atuki and in their folk lore there is a very interesting story of "The Opossum and the Raccoon," in which these two native American animals staged a crayfish-eating contest. The Ofo Indians called the 'coon iya. Scientifically, the raccoon has been christened Procyon lotor, a designation given it by Linnaeus in recognition of its curious habit of dipping or washing its food before eat- ing it. This habit has earned for it the French name of roton laveur and the German name of waschbar. This valuable fur animal is a night wanderer and it delights to prowl about wet places. For that reason, the swamps and marshes of our state are favorite habitats of this queer animal. A fallen tree seems to have a great temptation for Brer 'Coon, and on his nocturnal wander- ings in search of food he mounts the log and clumsily ambles along it from one end to the other. This habit has long been recognized by our native trappers, and an ex- perienced 'coon-trapper simply sets his trap on the top of a prostrate log without bait or other lure and can be sure of skinning his animal the next morning — provided, of course, a 'coon elects to promenade the log during the night. Curiosity is one of the raccoon's pronounced habits, so much so that a piece of bright tin or other shining metal is frequently hung over a trap so that it will be seen by this prowler in the moonlight, and the raccoon examines it to the cost of its life and pelt. Other trappers will wrap the pan of the trap with tinfoil and place the trap under an inch or two of clear water near the bank of a stream so that Mr. 'Coon will reach for it with one of his fore- paws — and remain there until the trapper appears the next morning and adds another skin to his collection of raw pelts. The track of a raccoon is easily recognizable in soft earth and as it has a habit of wandering up and down the banks of waterways it always leaves visible evidences of The Fur Animals of Louisiana 93 One way of stretching a raccoon pelt, useful when there are no nails or boards around. Young raccoons raised on pet cream in a coca co'.a bottle. 94 Department of Conservation of Louisiana its nightly meanderings. These footprints are long with a narrow and quite distinct heel pattern, if it has not been traveled too rapidly, and resembles to a certain degree the mark of a human foot. Such footprints are usually in pairs, one foot a trifle in advance, while the pairs are separated about 30 inches, although this varies with the variation of its speed. While the skunk leaves a similar heel pattern, the larger size of the 'coon's track, coupled with the fact that its toemarks are separated while the skunk's are not, will distinguish between the two impres- sions. Raccoons are polygamous. The female gives birth to one litter a year, the mother usually inhabiting her den with her little ones during the latter part of February and the month of March; some young are dropped as late as the first part of April. The period of gestation in one of our cooperative experiments proved to be 62 days. A trapper who took a female raccoon near Boutte, St. Charles parish, February 9, found it to be carrying four well- formed young. This would indicate breeding activities about the middle of December in Louisiana. The size of the litter varies. Sometimes there are only three young, but more frequently there are four, five and six produced. The babies are as blind and helpless as kit- tens, and are tenderly cared for by the mother practically throughout the summer. Even after the nursery period has ended the family will remain together, and when the weather turns chilly the young and old will curl up together and enjoy a long and undistubred sleep. Raccoons, too, will frequently climb a tree and have its sleep perched in the crotch of a branch. The raccoon takes very kindly to captivity and it makes a very satisfactory pet. For this reason it has proved very adaptable to fur farming, and many in this state are now experimenting with this animal to test out the practicability of fur farming. The cost of feeding this animal, however, militates against any large profits in this direction unless the price of its pelt should rise even higher than it has been during the past few years. An economical vegetable diet, As a climber few animals surpass Brer 'Coon. A crotch of a tree is a favorite sleeping place. The coon is playful and delights in playing tricks on another, and splashing about in shallow water furnishes a great deal of amusement to the splasher. 96 Department of Conservation of Louisiana consisting of cornmeal mixed with lard and baked in flat pans, has been used with success' by several fur farms in the east and north, and this diet is said to have produced animals with very fine pelts. Experiments along this line should be worth trying by those interested in raising fur animals in captivity. Treeing a 'coon at night with dog and flambeaux has long been a sport in the South, and in Louisiana, especially, "'cooning" has been a favorite out-of-door recreation of our farmer-folk. However, with this animal's rising value in the fur marts, trapping is practiced more and more. In a 'coon hunt, the quarry is usually brought down from its refuge in a tree top with a shotgun, and this lessens the value of the skin considerably, and when a treed 'coon is shaken from its perch for the dogs to finish, its coat of fur is so ripped and torn by dogs' teeth as to make it practically worthless. Although agile and expert at tree climbing, the raccoon must not be considered a wholly arboreal animal, for it. does not hunt its prey in the treetops, but, rather, utilizes the trees as sleeping places and refuge when pursued by man or other foes. With the coming of night, Brer 'Coon descends from his lofty perch to search for food on the' ground or capture a luckless crayfish from the edge of a watery depression. Water is no hindrance to this animal, for it is capable of swimming long distances and is fre- quently trapped on low-lying islands in the Gulf of Mexico off the Louisiana coast, miles from the mainland. In Louisiana the raccoon is of uniform distribution throughout the state. It is as plentiful in the marshes as. it is in the vast hardwood lands and the cypress and tupelo swamps. The marsh animal is known to the trade as. "Louisiana tide water" or "salt water" coon, and is reddish or yellowish as compared to the darker inhabitants of the wooded swamps. The darker raccoon brings a much better- price than does the marsh animal. The cause of the reddish or yellowish color of the marsh 'coon has been attributed to a lack of shade enjoyed by the swamp 'coon and most trappers securing a blackish raccoon ^;; A trail set for raccoons. Under the grass lies the trap and the stakes set along the trail make it imperative that the animal pass over the concealed steel jaws to the bait beyond. Women as well as men seek the fur animals of Louisiana and the young lady shown can take the pelt off a raccoon as neatly as her daddy — which is saying a lot. 98 Department of Conservation of Louisiana in the marshes, miles from tree growth, will claim it to be a "woods 'coon," the theory being that the sun's rays have a tendency to bleach the guard hairs. As a matter of fact, this appears, according to investigations, to have very little to do with this color condition. Tidal marshes, and especially salt-encrusted grasses, cause the yellowing of the raccoon's coat. Mother 'coons, with "salt water" pelage have been found with young that were as dark as the young of woods 'coons. Marshes that have an excess of fresh water have a very high percentage of black 'coons that never saw a woods or enjoyed the shade of a cypress swamp. Note what du Pratz said. Although indigenous to every parish of the state, the raccoon is found in greatest numbers in the coastal belt. Terrebonne parish leads in production, with St, Mary sec- ond, Lafourche third, Cameron fourth, and Plaquemines, St. Bernard, Assumption, Natchitoches, Rapides, Vermilion, Beauregard, Calcasieu, Iberville, Livingston, West Felici- ana, Allen, East Baton Rouge, Iberia, Richland, East Car- roll and Sabine, in the order named, are the principal pro- ducers of this fur animal. The Ring-Tailed Cat The "Ring-tailed Cat," or Bassarisk, or "Civet Cat," or "Cat Squirrel," the Cacomiztli or Cacomistle, a "Raccoon Fox," a Ring-tailed Bassaris, "Ccon-Cat," to say nothing of a dozen other local names, as well as Bassariscus astutus, according to scientific nomenclature, is a fur animal of Louisiana according to law, but whether or not there has ever been one taken alive and wild in this state is to bring up an argument. Up to this time no one has received indisputable evidence of a single specimen of this fur animal being taken in Lou- isiana, although this mammal of many names is supposed to wander over our border line occasionally from Texas and, according to some, Arkansas. The Ring-tailed Cat is a strange little creature, nearly allied to the raccoon, but it has a far more slender Setting a trap for a raccoon on high land next to a bayou. The trapper has placed his canes so that brer 'coon will be forced to walk through the opening where the trap is being set. When set properly, the trapper will sprinkle dried grass stems lightly over the trap so that it will be hidden from the prowling raccoon when it passes through the opening. This is a "blind" set — no baiting being necessary to catch the animal. 100 Department of Conservation of Louisiana Drawing of a "Ring-tailed cat" or Bassarisk, a fur animal said to occur in Louisiana. build, a sharper muzzle, a much longer tail, which is alter- nated with black and white rings; its feet are not so "bear- like" as are those of the 'coon, and the short claws are par- tially retractile, while the ears are broad and scantily haired. In size this animal can best be compared to an average sized slim housecat, the body and head measuring approximately 16 inches, and the length of the tail, to the end hairs, is about one inch less. The general color of the pelage is brownish-yellow mixed with gray, blending to whitish on the underparts ; the ringed tail is bushy, but it is much more slender than the raccoon's appendage. The Ring-tailed cat has a narrow black ring about each eye, which in turn is almost sur- rounded by a ring of white hairs. It climbs trees, nesting in hollow branches like a squir- rel, and can scratch and bite and catches rats, mice, and small birds just like an ordinary cat. It is supposed that from such activities this animal received its most common name "Ring-tailed Cat," although it is not a "cat" of any kind, as it does not resemble the feline in structure or habits. "Civet Cat," as Dr. Joseph Grinnell has pointed out,* is a doubly unfortunate choice of name, first because it is in no •Griim.'ll, .Joseph and Stor.-i , Tracy Irwin, Animal Life in the Yos&mite, p. SI. University of California. The Fur Animals of Louisiana 101 -.1 c '>> u -a ■v e -a V X. o 0) CO "bo c c a o. a CO 3 0 -1 102 Department of Conservation of Louisiana wise related to the true Old World civets ; second, because this particular mis-naming (civet) has been so universally applied by trappers and dealers to the Little Spotted Skunk, "Raccoon fox" is not a good name for this pretty little animal, either, as there is nothing of the fox about it, although the general resemblance to the 'coon is most ap- parent. Dr. Elliot Coues once proposed for this fur animal the name Bassarisk, a baptism heartily endorsed by Dr. William T. Hornady, who claims that the original Mexican term, Cacomiztli, is so ill adapted to our wants that such a name will never be generally used. However, in the matter of names, people in general pay no attention to the dictation of wise scientists and contentedly go on mis-naming the wild creatures without a blush or twinge of conscience, such as calling the migratory thrush a "robin," persisting in naming a bison a "buffalo," or referring to the little spotted skunk as a "civet," and it is doubtful if this animal will ever be known as a Bassarisk. Therefore, in all probability, the Ring-tailed Cat will re- main a "cat" until the last one is gone and, if it is eventually found that it really does inhabit certain sections of this state, it undoubtedly will be dubbed the animal a ''Louisiana Ring-tailed Cat." While a few Louisiana dealers receive a scattering of these pelts in consignment shipments every year, it appears that they are mixed with other pelts from trappers carry- ing on their operations near the border of Texas. The question of this animal's appearance in Louisiana can be best worked out by trappers sending specimens or infor- mation direct to the Department of Conservation. It is only because of the allegations of a few that it does occur here, and the fact that the state laws on fur animals name the Ring-tailed Cat as coming within the provision of fur tax, that this animal has been given a niche in this bulletin. CHAPTER TEN • Up The Mink is one of the more important animals of the American fur trade. It occupies a position among the Carnivorea, or flesh-eaters, somewhat similar to that held by the muskrat among- the vegetable feeders. In num- bers it is found in larger quantities in Louisiana than in any other state of the Union. This small but prized fur animal is an inhabitant of North America, but it has relatives in other parts of the world, the nearest being the Norz or Sump jotter (march otter) of eastern Europe, particularly Finland, Poland and a considerable portion of Russia. Asia has another form, the so-called "Siberian mink," which is believed by some scientists to connect the true mink with the polecats of the Old World. The name mink originated from the Swedish maenk or mank, applied to the European form, and this name was carried to America by the first settlers. The native Amer- ican name for the animal seems to have passed with the dis- appearance of the aborigines. However, Captain John Smith, in his History of Virginia, written in 1626, sets down that among the animals inhabiting the country were "Martins, Powlcats, Weesels and Minkes," clearly indicat- ing that this particular animal was distinguished from the other mammals it resembled by a vernacular appellation. Two later historians in 1709 and 1784 referred to the mink as a "minx." In spite of its abundance in our part of the South, we find no particular mention of this fur animal in 104 Department of Conservation of Louisiana the works of du Pratz, Bossu, or the other descriptive writers of early Louisiana, Dumont excepted. The Gulf Indians knew it and named the animal in their own tongue. The Choctaws called it a toni; the Biloxi named it iskixpa. The early French settlers termed it belette, a designation very frequently heard among the French-speaking trappers of the state today, while the Spanish-speaking trappers of the Delacroix Island region give this animal, at times, the Spanish designation of (jarduna. Scientifically, the Louisiana mink has been named Mus- tela vison vulgivayus, our animal being given a sub-specific rating because of certain physical differences between it and its relatives in various parts of this continent. The Amer- ican minks include several different geographic forms, dis- tributed over the northern part of North America from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and from the mouths of the Yukon and the Mackenzie rivers to Florida, Texas and Louisiana, but they are not found in the arid southwestern states. 1 he mink is an inquisitive animal. The mink is small, when compared to the majority of fur animals, the length of its head and body being from 15 to 18 inches, with a tail measuring 8 to 9 inches, The sexes are alike except that the smaller size of the female will readily identify it. The mink's tail is bushy, tapering at the end, and its ears are quite small, scarcely projecting beyond the adjacent fur of the head. The pelage is of a rich dark brown in color, the under- pays being slightly paler than the general upperparts. It The Fur Animals of Louisiana 105 consists of a dense, soft, matted under fur, mixed with long, stiff, lustrous hairs on all parts of the body and tail. The coloration of the tail shades off to black at the tip. The gloss of the coat is greatest on the upperparts, while bristly hairs predominate on the tail. Coues claims that northern mink have the finest and most glistening pelage and that the long hairs are the stoutest, and adds that "in southern specimens there is less difference between the under and over fur and the whole pelage is coarser and harsher." While brown is the predominating color of the mink, the underjaw of the Louisiana mink is light yellowish- brown and spots on the chest and underparts are pure white, although frequently stained yellowish. In all species of mink the whitish chin is a characteristic mark of the species. These underparts spots are very irregular. On the chin it is sometimes prolonged as an irregular streak down the throat, and in many individuals it is indicated by a few specks, while in a few cases these white markings are en- tirely absent. This white marking seldom invades the up- per lips. The white spots on the underparts. particularly those on the chest, between the fore legs, are indeterminate in extent and contour and in no wise detract from the value of the mink pelt, be it from Louisiana or elsewhere. As a mink spends a great deal of its time in the water its pelt has become adapted to this mode of living in that it has the longer bristly hairs and felting of the close under fur which best resists the water. Mink pelts are due to maintain a conspicuous place in the fur trade, as few furs of other animals can surpass them in richness of color, gloss and fineness. Belonging to the Mustelidae, the mink possesses peri- naeal glands and emits the peculiar odor which the animals of this genus have in common. As Dr. Coues has pointed out, "no animal of this country, except the skunk, pos- sesses so powerful, penetrating and lasting an effluvium. Its strength is fully pre-perceived in taking an animal frcm a trap or when the mink is irritated. Ordinarily the scent is not emitted to any noticeable degree ; it is under voluntary control and the fact that the mink spends so much of its time in the water is another reason why its 106 Department of Conservation of Louisiana proximity, even in numbers, is not commonly perceived by smell." Both sexes possess the scent bags. They lie in the peri- naeum, one on each side of the rectum, and open upon a papilla on either side of the anus just within the edge of the external orifice. Coues also points out that, as usual, the apparatus pertains primarily to the sexual relations and can have no other duty of consequence, since the scent is not powerful enough to deter pursuit on the part of an enemy, as in the case of the skunk, and its service, there- fore, can be set down to that of attracting sexes. Owing to its short legs and unusual length of body when compared to its slim build, the mink walks slowly and rather clumsily with its back arched, but when it desires to travel rapidly, it moves swiftly in a series of bounds, a gait it is able to keep seemingly without tiring. It is perfectly adapted to a double mode of life, being equally at home searching out its prey in thick undergrowth on land or seeking it in the water, its swimming ability being scarcely exceeded by the otter. The mink is a restless animal, being active by day as well as by night, but it is mainly nocturnal, and it is usually at night that it is taken by the trapper. The mink is solitary. It is a renowned wanderer and its hunts take it over considerable territory when on a food foray. The only time it seems to seek companionship is during the early spring mating season, as the oestrum, or heat period, occurs but once a year. This duty over, the pairs separate, the rearing of the family devolving wholly on the female. The nursery is usually a nest in a hollow log, a stump, or a cavity among the roots of a tree. The den is lined with dried grasses, leaves, feathers, hair or other soft material procurable. There is only one litter a year and it numbers from three to eight. The young in Louisiana usually being born during March and April. A pair of mink, in captivity, mated January 29 and the litter of five was dropped April 14, according to Svihla, giving a period of gestation of 75 days, but it is believed that this period is not longer than six or seven weeks. A log cutter for a lumbering concern in St. James parish on April 10, 1926, found a litter of seven baby mink in a hollow log not far from Lutcher. His attention was at- The mink does not mind wet feet tor it inhabits such swampy places as pictured above. A Louisiana mink feasting off a summer mallard. — From a water color painting by G. L. Viavant. 108 Department of Conservation of Louisiana tracted to the family by hearing a whimpering or mewing, something like the cries of kittens. The seven young had been born since the cutting of the log, some two weeks pre- viously, the woodsman said. The litter of young mink, none of which had their eyes open, were taken to the finder's home and fed milk, but two of them died within a day of their discovery. The remaining five were taken to the Avoca Island ex- perimental fur farm and given to a common housecat to suckle. The foster mother was very partial to her new family, refusing to go back to her own kittens, and cared for the little creatures of the wild very tenderly. Two of the youngsters engaged in a ferocious fight when being transported to Morgan City and afterwards died. The re- maining three were successfully raised, but afterwards died from causes that were not determined. The finding of this family would indicate that the young were born approximately April 5. If the period of gesta- tion is 50 days, this would indicate a mating season about the middle of February. The mink is known not only for its bold and courageous demeanor toward other animals, but for its frequent blood- thirsty proclivities. While it hunts and kills mostly for food, still at times it seems to be animated by a desire merely to kill and gratify this lust. It frequently destroys a bird and a smaller animal by severing its throat and, after a sip or two of its victim's blood, leaves it to continue a sanguinary quest for other victims. Trailing its prey by scent, the mink destroys mice, rats, chipmunks, squirrels, and even muskrats heavier than it- self. If likes birds' eggs and does considerable damage in this regard to all ground-nesting species. In the water this fur animal pursues and captures fish, snakes and frogs, and varies its diet by eating insects and various kinds of crustaceans and shell fish. According to Audubon, who devoted considerable at- tention to mammals during his residence in Louisiana, the mink subsists principally on clapper rails, seaside sparrows, and sharp-tailed sparrows which feed on minute shell fish. The famous naturalist-writer-artist describes the mink "wading stealthily through the grass, pausing to take ob- Bk y HsilSr *;/"" . *■ 1 ' Young mink on department's experimental fur farm. An ordinary tabby cat and her adopted family of baby minks. 110 Department of Conservation of Louisiana servation, sometimes lying for the space of a minute flat on its belly, hugging the mud. At length it draws its hmd feet far forward under its body, like a cat, its back arched, tail curled then makes its sudden spring." The mink is perfectly at home in the water, where it swims like an otter— so much so that scientists have pro- posed that it should be given a Latin name, Luireola, sgni- fying "little otter." The mink swims with most of the body submerged, sometimes with only the nose above the surface of the water, and it can progress under water with marked ease and rapidity, and it is said that it can remain com- pletely submerged a very long time without coming to the surface to breathe. This ability to swim under water, un- doubtedly, stands the mink in good stead when it races to surprise such prey as ducks or other water fowl or other animal life frequenting water. Audubon declared that a mink shot while in the water sinks when killed, "as the bones are heavy and have lithe buoyancy." He also asserted that minks release their char- acteristic odor when fighting. When on a killing expedition, the mink frequently slacks its blood-thirst on young muskrats. Selecting an inhabited muskrat house by means of its keen scenting powers, the mink digs and bites its way through the grasses of the structure until it reaches the muskrat family, then through the small tunnel it makes it gains entry to the nursery, puts the mother to flight, and with rapid darts of its triangular- shaped head destroys the mice with its sharp teeth. Therefore, the mink is the enemy of the 'rat rancher, and all muskrat producing areas should be persistently trapped for mink during the regular open season. This should be borne in mind by those who have taken up marsh- lands for the production of muskrats. Although it may be desirable to refrain from muskrat trapping for a season or two to allow the 'rat population to build up, trapping for mink should be carried on persistently. Aside from otter skins, the pelt of the mink is the most individually valuable fur taken in Louisiana. It occurs throughout the state, being found in greater numbers, how- ever, in heavily wooded waterbottoms and in cypress and tupelo swamps. The minks found in these sections are The Fur Animals of Louisiana 111 more valuable than those inhabiting the coastal marshes, as the "woods mink" has a darker coat and the fur is finer. The best No. 1 large pelts brought $9.00 and more during the 1927-1928 season. A mink known in the fur trade as the "French Settle- ment Mink," found in that section of the state covered by the parishes of Ascension, St. James, Livingston, Tangi- pahoa and St. John the Baptist, and in the general vicinity of Lake Maurepas, brings the highest price in the raw pelt market. The reason for this is not alone because of its rich dark-brown pelage, but because these animals grade evenly, and, when using French Settlement mink, furriers do not have to spend time in matching tanned skins when making up a garment composed wholly of mink fur. The French Settlement mink gained its trade name because so many of these skins were shipped by boat from the small com- munity of this name on the Amite River in Livingston parish. Louisiana exceeds all the other states of the Union in the production of mink pelts, and in Canada is only ex- ceeded by the province of Ontario. In the 1924-1925 season, when that northern fur section produced 68,138 skins, the Louisiana output was 67,441 pelts. One of the principal markets for Louisiana mink is the city of Winnipeg. While the province of Manitoba produced approximately 13,000 pelts in the season of 1924-1925, still the manufacturing furriers of that Canadian city are active purchasers of mink from our sub-tropical section of the continent, particularly the French Settlement mink, which appears very much like carrying coal to Newcastle ! The leading mink-producing parishes are, their impor- tance in numbers taken being in the order named: Terre- bonne, St. Mary, Lafourche, Cameron, Vermilion, Assump- tion, Plaquemines, Calcasieu, Jefferson, Livingston, Tangi- pahoa, Natchitoches, De Soto, Iberville, Rapides, Bossier, Caddo, Richland, and there is not a parish in the state where this fur animal is not taken. The success mink trappers have had in past years, due to the large number of minks they have taken, has caused some to declare that the supply is inexhaustible, but with increasing demand for fur and the spectacular rise in prices; 112 Department of Conservation of Louisiana of Louisiana skins (mink sold for $1.33 average in 1915) , the numbers of mink must surely decrease. In those sec- tions of the state where the muskrat does not occur, the open and close seasons on mink should be scrupulously ob- served. However, while the mink is, in itself, valuable as a fur animal, it is an enemy of the muskrat, and on those areas now being taken over for muskrat ranches the few mink to be found should be systematically eradicated, mak- ing way for the increase of the more valuable muskrat crop. To insure a prime skin, one that will command the high- est market value, the mink should not be trapped in Louisi- ana before December 1 nor after February 15. Mink in captivity at the department's experimental fur farm at Morgan City began shedding before the end of March, the hair of the head around the nose first became darker, then the back, and finally the rest of the pelage. By the first of June summer pelage was attained. Minks are peculiarly adapted to "fur farming" in con- finement and the prevailing price for good fur is sufficiently high to make an investment for proper mink-raising en- closures worth while. This, coupled with a growing de- mand for mink fur and a corresponding decrease of tho animals in the world, leads authorities on the subject to recommend this phase of fur animal breeding. That returns are to be earned in rearing breeding stock for sale seems certain, but what can be earned from a "minkery" on a purely pelting basis is something that la3 not yet been de- termined. It is suggested that the field be experimented with by those anxious to invest in fur farming on small acreages. Those interested in this phase of fur animal breeding may obtain a great deal of practical knowledge by reading "Mink Raising," leaflet No. 8, by Frank G. Ashbrook, biol- ogist in charge of the division of fur resources of the bureau of biological survey in the Uuited States Depart- ment of Agriculture, which can be secured from the super- intendent of documents, Washington, D. C. at 5 cents a copy. It is probably the best information now obtainable on the subject and contains a world of information and knowledge on mink raising in a very few pages. CHAPTER ELEVEN The Weasel, or ermine, as it is usually called in the North and East, is a member of Louisiana's fur animal family. That it does occur here comes as a surprise to those who have made extensive and systematic studies of the mammals of North America, as well as to those who have but a cursory knowledge of our mammallian fauna. While it is not at all plentiful, nor does its pelt or numbers of them taken make it important as a fur producer here, suitable attention should be paid it in this bulletin. The few specimens secured and sent to biologists for identification were the first to be scientifically recognized from Louisiana. E. Raymond Hall, curator of mammals of the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology of the University of California, who has made a revisionary study of the wea- sels of North America, found that our weasel so differed from the other geographic forms of the so-called "New York weasel" (Mustela noveboracensis) , that he gave it a sub-specific rank and named it according to scientific nomenclature.1 But whether it is to be known by the Latin name, or as the Louisiana weasel, this animal has been named, and 1Hall, E. Raymond, A New Weasel from Louisiana, Proc. Biol. Soc, Washington, D. C. 114 Department of Conservation of Louisiana many years ago, by the French-speaking population of that section of the state where it appears to be most numerous — St. James parish and those lands adjacent to it east of the Mississippi river. Here the weasel is a fouine (pronounced foo'in) mean- ing "sneak," a name applied to this animal by the early settlers in recognition of its skulking, stealthy habits, as fouiner means "to sneak away," steal or slink off. Such Old World mammals as the true pole-cat, fitchet and beech- marten have also been given this name, and, in some parts of France, fouine means a pitchfork. The usual Old World French translation of the word weasel is belette, but our early French-speaking Louisiani- ans gave the name belette to the mink, and the mink, in Louisiana, is so known to many of our lowland trappers who still speak the tongue of their ancestors. Skull drawing of a weasel showing the canine, or flesh-tearing front teeth characteristic of all meat-eating mammals. The signification of the word weasel is obscure. Some believe it was derived from the German wiese, meaning a meadow. The early English name was weesel; the Swedes calling it iversla and the Dutch ivezel The Biloxi seem to be the only Gulf Indians to have given this animal a name, calling it iskixpa, a diminutive form of the name given the mink. The Fur Animals of Louisiana 115 In the cut-over swamp land, where th» tupelo and cypress have been removed, are found suitable habitats for the murderous little weasel. A Louisiana weasel, photographed from a specimen mounted by E. S. Hopkins. 116 Department of Conservation of Louisiana The Louisiana fouine does not differ in any of its blood- thirsty or predacious habits from the well-known actions of the weasel in other parts of North America. It is bold and inquisitive, fearless and ferocious, alert almost to the point of nervousness and a hunter without a peer. Belonging to a group of animals that bears its common name, the Weasel family, or Mustelidae, it is a close relation of such impor- tant fur animals as the mink, otter, skunk, badger, marten and wolverine, and, like the others of its race, is small as to size, fierce and bloodthirsty in habit, endowed with remark- able endurance and, possessing a long and slender body, is quick and graceful in all its movements. While the weasel is the diminutive member of its family, the animal found in Louisiana is larger than some of the species found in other parts of North America, such as the least weasel that occurs in the northern sections of the con- tinent from Alaska to Hudson Bay and south to Minnesota and Montana. The least weasel is about 7 inches in length, while the Louisiana species is double that size. In the north the weasel is called the ermine because while in summer its coat is of a dull brown color, in winter this color gives way to a wholly and pure white pelage excepting the very back tip of the tail, and it is this white fur, set off with the black tail tips, that has long been the "ermine of royalty." The Louisiana weasel does not turn white in winter as do its cousins of the snows and from the live specimens observed, the coloration does not seem to change with the seasons. It is of a reddish-brown above and white, tinged with yellow, on the underparts, with a white chin spot. Our weasel possesses the black-tipped tail and there seems to be a darkish, if not black, dorsal stripe extending along the back and down the upper part of the tail. While there is no sexual difference in color, the female is always smaller than the male, and measurements of two- weasels taken in St. James parish are: The Fur Animals of Louisiana 117 Male Female Total length 15 inches 14 V2 inches Tail 4V-Z inches 4V2 inches Hind foot 1% inches 1% inches The first weasels noted were a mother and three young that had been trapped alive at Kentwood, Tangipahoa par- ish, in 1918. The family remained on exhibition in the Audubon Park Zoo for several years. Specimens of weasels have been identified from Greensburg, St. Helena parish; Braithwaite, Plaquemines parish; Geismar, Assumption parish; Laurel Hill, West Feliciana parish; from French Settlement and several other points in Livingston parish, but the greatest number secured have come from St. James parish in the vicinity of Remy and Convent. These all pre- sented the same uniform size and coloration and informa- tion from Remy was to the effect that school children were in the habit of trapping a number of them along the sides of ditches and other waterways. During the month of December a very large pelt of a weasel was found in a collection of skins being sold in Morgan City and inquiry developed the information that it had been trapped in the neighborhood of the southern end of Lake Verret, Assumption parish. According to skin measurements, this was a very large animal and quite light in its reddish-brown color, but retaining the dark dorsal stripe and black tail-tip. It is quite possible that the Louisiana weasel has a larger distibution than my meager findings have shown and may be more plentiful than researches to date disclose, and assistance from trappers and others interested will be appreciated in the way of specimens, pelts and skulls and skeletons. Those who would cooperate in this biological in- vestigation are asked to communicate with the department. A weasel answers the following description : A small and very slender and long-bodied mink-like animal, 13 to 15 inches in length, with very short legs ; the tail is covered with brown hairs and always has a black tip. The general coloration is dull reddish-brown on the upper parts of the body, while the under parts are white with a sulphur-like 118 Department of Conservation of Louisiana tinge. A patch under the chin is pure white. The shape of the head is triangular and the whiskers are long, biac.i and prominent. It is nocturnal in its hunting habits and preys on native and introduced mice and rats, young rabbits, birds, grass- hoppers, snails, beetles and other insects, and has been found preying on chicken houses in two parts of its rang? in Louisiana. On its hunts the weasel darts here and there, with the nimbleness of a squirrel and its elongated body, which is almost snake-like in its twisting and turning, reminds one of a powerful but graceful assemblage of muscle. Cou- rageous to a high degree, it will not hesitate to attack ani- mals twice its size and it will take its prey in a shrub, a tree, on the ground or in the water. Keen of scent, it tracks down its prey in open chase and its lithe and slender body stands it in good stead when it makes its fatal leap and severs the backbone at the neck with one crunch of its sharp teeth or gnashes a jugular vein and satisfies its lust with the blood of its victim. Devoted to her young, the female weasel of the north is said to bear from four to six in a litter. Although we do not yet know the breeding habits of the Louisiana weasel, it is safe to presume that this may be the average here. The young are born in either a den, in a log, or in a pile of leaves and the mother can be counted on to defend her little ones courageously, and when angered, the characteristic penetrating and disagreeable odor, common to the members of the family to which it belongs, can be quickly detected. CHAPTER TWELVE The OTTER was known to man, and its pelt used for a covering, long before America was discovered. The common name of this fur animal, therefore, is of Old World origin, being called in Old English ote and otor; its Dutch and German equivalent being olter; Danish, odder; Swedish, utter. French designation being loutre, Iberville's and Bienville's hardy pioneers named many of the bayous and other waterways they found here after this animal. Bayou la Loutre and Pass a kt Loutre were notable for the number of otters seen in them, and for this reason were so named. The Biloxi Indian name was xyinixkw which means "animal that rolls," while the Choctaws called the otter oshan. In America, as well as in the Old World, the otter is a carnivorous aquatic mammal belonging to the lutrine sec- tion of the Mustelidae family, a group that includes the minks, weasels, skunks, badger, marten. It has a long, slender body, very short legs, stout, tapering tail, and a flattened head. The otter is not only the largest trulv fur animal in our fauna, but has a pelt that commands the highest individual price. Of pronounced aquatic habits, being as fond of fresh water as the seal is of its favorite element, the otter is a marvslous swimmer, but it is quite at home on land, where it makes long journeys from one body of water to another. Like the mink, the otter is of a rich, dark-brown color with a fur of fine quality, consisting of a short, whittish- grey underfur, the prevailing brown coloration being at the tips. This pelage is interspersed with longer, stiffer and thicker glossy hairs, greyish at the base, but bright rich brown at the tips, especially those hairs on the upperparts and outer surface of the legs. The otter's throat, cheeks, 120 Department of Conservation of Louisiana underparts and inner surfaces of the legs are brownish- grey. Individual otters vary considerably in size, but the average total length of the Louisiana otter — that is, the measurement from tip of the nose to the tip of the tail — is from 3*4 to 4 feet, with a tail measurement of approxi- mately 1 foot 3 inches. The male otter is considerably larger than the female both in length and in weight. The otter is a mammal having a low elongated body; short legs, broad feet with five toes on each foot, connected with webs, each toe having short, strong, curved, pointed claws. The head, which is practically the only part of the animal visible when it is swimming, is broad and flat and rather small in relation to the size of the body. The broad muzzle is adorned with thick prominent whiskers. The black eyes are small, and the ears diminutive and rounded. It is a shy animal of pronounced solitary habits and quite gen- erally distributed over North America in localities adapted to its mode of life. As might be expected of a mammal spending so much of its time in the water, the otter lives almost exclusive on fish, and is rarely met with far from streams, lakes or ponds. Being an expert swimmer and diver, it has no difficulty in pursuing and overtaking fish far beneath the surface. When it has captured its prey, the otter returns to land to devour its finny meal. Lying on the bank on its belly, the otter holds the fish between its forepaws and begins its meal by first devouring the head and then eating its way down the body of the fish until nothing remains but the tail which, according to some authorities, is never eaten. When fish are plentiful, otters sometime catch more than they care to eat; on these occasions they merely take a mouthful of each fish, usually that section just back of the head, leaving the remains on the bank, or the feeding shelf that has been thus used as a dining room. It is in the water leading to this banqueting place that a wise trap- per usually places his trap — and catches his otter. Never abundant anywhere in their range in North America, which is from the northern limit of trees on our The Fur Animals of Louisiana 121 18 % 0 •■£, . c 3 S .2, c -. - x, a 10 >> -a c m w C .2 S a 8 ■v c o 'a 2S. "DO .£• ra .5 o. u n, a> u "* X. - 122 Department of Conservation of Louisiana continent to southern South America, these shy creatures of the wild are so solitary in their habits that they have man- aged to retain their original range and numbers in spite of increased population, an increased army of trappers and an unbelieveable increase in the value of their pelt. The num- ber taken each season in Louisiana exhibits a remarkable uniformity. AccoHirv: '.o Verron Bailey an otter can stand upright by ba'anc'nc; its heavy body with its thick ta'l, the above sketch being drawn f-om a photograph taken in the Wash- ington, D. C, Zcoo^ical Garden. A sight of an otter in its native habitat is rare, even among trappers. The animal's tracks and "signs" are seen frequently, and once in a while, even in Louisiana where low banks line the streams where the otter lives, are seen otter "slides," slick places on the bank where the otters have amused themselves by sliding down the earth into the water so repeatedly as to form a chute. Frequently a flat slick shelf or bench along side some bayou will be noted. This is a so called "feeding shelf," on which the otter lies when de- vouring its fish or when it desires to nap in the sun. The Fur Animals of Louisiana 123 Otter country in Natchitoches parish. An otter just taken from the trap showing the shape and appearance of the head. 124 Department of Conservation of Louisiana When the mating season is on, the male makes long journeys in search of a mate. While too short legged and ungainly to move about easily or gracefully on land, in marked contradistinction to its admirable grace, agility and swiftness when crossing any body of water, the bull otter covers remarkable distance when this love hunt is on. The pairs do not remain together long; in the early spring, in Louisiana, the mother otter produces from two to five young in a litter, but two or three seem to be the average; the period of gestation being unknown. The young remain with the mother until nearly grown, which is synonomous with the annual fall mating season, and then they shift for themselves; at what age they become sexu- ally mature is not known, but it seems certain they grow in size after attaining puberty. Of all the fur animals, with the possible exception of the raccoon, the otter makes the most satisfactory pet. It is a very intelligent animal, in captivity it has a gentle dis- position, and, being very playful, is interesting to watch. The Lousiana otter is known scientifically as Lutra canadensis lataxina, and, while its pelt has not commanded the price in the fur marts that the northern skins have, still in late years our otters have earned from $15 to $25 for the trapper lucky enough to catch one. The pelts from the waters in the wooded areas of the state are darker and "furrier" than those from the coastal marsh, and, in consequence command a better price from the fur buyer. The unplucked and undyed pelt of the otter is the most durable of all furs and is ranked by the fur trade as 100 per cent in the scale of durability; beaver follows with a rating of 97 per cent, the Louisiana muskrat being third in durability. The principal otter-producing parishes of Louisiana, in the order of importance of annual production, are: Terre- bonne, St. Mary, Cameron, Plaquemines, Iberville, Acsen- sion, Livingston, East Carroll, Iberia, Vermilion, Lafourche, Assumption, Pointe Coupee, St. Martin, Washington, and West Feliciana, but there is scarcely a parish in the state where this valuable fur animal does not occur. The Fur Animals of Louisiana 125 I his Cameron parish trapper has had two good days after otter. He has skinned and is drying the pelt of a big male and is getting ready to do the same to the female otter he has just taken from the trap. 126 Department of Conservation of Louisiana The otter take in Louisiana is slightly more than 2,000 pelts a year, which means about $35,000 annually to the trappers securing them. Two otters, trapped in Ascension parish, near McElroy, were very fine examples of dark pelaged animals frequently secured in Louisiana and earned the trapper $35.00 a pelt. When these skins entered the fur trade via buyer, dealer, etc., and reached New York they became "Labrador otters," because "fine black otters never come from the South" and "they looked like Lsibradors!" The usual run of otters from Louisiana range, however, from $25.00 to $15.00; pelts not grading up to a No. 1 or for those taken when the pelts are not prime, are, of course^ lower in price. CHAPTER THIRTEEN IN all probability there is no better known land animal in this country than the common skunk and, for that mat- ter, no other American mammal is less popular than this black and white "woods pussy." But, in spite of its almost universal unpopularity, this harmless creature is a valuable and noteworthy member of the group of animals that has given Louisiana such an important standing as a fur-pro- ducing state. The fact that the skunk possesses a scent sac secreting what may be insufficiently described as "a malodorous fluid," which it can dispense with acrid accuracy when an- noyed, has long been known. ThiV characteristic method of defense was first made known to the world in 1636, when Sagard-Theodat wrote an account of Canada; this French naturalist described the animal as "Enfance due diable, que le Hurons appele Scangaresse . . . un bete fort puante."^ And from that time until today the "child of the devil" has held a reputation which has become so notorious that the mere mention of the world skunk has become one of opprobrium. The name skunk, now in common usage, was derived from the Cree Indian seecaivk, although another form, that of seganku, is sometimes given as the derivation. The ani- mal was quite well known to the Indians of the Gulf Coast, the Choctaws calling it Koni; the Biloxi, inska, while the Ofo Indians termed it ataxoska. "•'Child of the de^'il, whom the Huion Indians cal strong stinking animal." Scangaresse, is one 128 Department of Conservation of Louisiana The term ''polecat," frequently given to all kinds of animals possessing- a common means of defense such as has been described, is a misuse of a name given certain Old World mammals belonging to the marten family and a small animal from South Africa, known as the "Cape pole- cat," which in coloration, markings, and plume-like tail bears a resemblance to our small Little Spotted Skunk. The skunk, although it differs to a marked degree from its near relatives, belongs to the same important fur family which includes the otter, weasel and mink. It is a really beautiful animal, a triflle larger than a house cat, with lus- trous black fur. marked on the back by a patch or streaks of white. The muzzle is long and pointed, the black eyes alert and gleaming, and the plume-like tail usually divided equally black and white in color by an abundant growth of hair. The skunk is distinguished physically not alone by its bu:hy tail but by the disproportionately large size of the posterior half of its body. Seen from the side, the elevation of the hindquarters is most apparent. In its walks about the countryside, the skunk is slow of gait. It seems to have a measured walk, from which it is loath to deviate, but when pressed, either by an enemy or a desire to capture some disappearing prey, it has a peculiar, shuffling gallop that defies description. A skunk walks on the soles of its feet, instead of on its toes, as do most other mammals. When mildly annoyed it has an amusing way of stamping its forepaws on the ground, like a petulant child. Slow in movement and deliberate in most of its actions,, it is not strange that this animal is hard to intimidate. Nor does it exhibit the same dread of man that most other animals do ; and for this reason it seldom runs away when encountered in the wide open spaces. Most wild creatures shun man. To the contrary, one of the skunk's marked characteristics is its fondness for man's company, especially his habitation, for frequently dens and sleeping quarters are established under outhouses or even under dwelling houses. Thickly settled Pennsylvania and New York State today are the principal skunk-producing areas of the United States. The Fur Animals of Louisiana 129 The overpowering and often sickening odor which has given the skunk its greatest notoriety comes from a liquid secreted in two anal glands— a characteristic of all mem- bers of the Mustilidae family. They are especially devel- oped m the true skunk, but are so thoroughly under con- trol that in ordinary times the animal is cleanly and prac- tically free from odor. A common folk tale is to the effect that the skunk distributes its odorous liquid by scattering it with the long hairs of it tail. This is not so. The liquid, which is not the animal's urine, is ejected in fine jets from two small tubes connected with the glands just described, the propulsion power being a powerful sst of muscles sur- rounding the sacs. The secretion thus propelled by the muscular contraction can be sent a distance of 8 to 12 feet and is a clear, yellowish liquid having a most penetrating ana nauseous smell, which has been known, under favoring conditions of wind, to be detected at a distance of a mile from where it was emitted by the disturbed animal. B& It is well known that a skunk h not around it, like a convict history of L Be :unk has stripes but they run lengthwise on the body and un.torm, as the artist who embellished Le Pace Hn P,at7'. story or Lou.s.ana would have had the readers cf that early Louisiana hiftroy belteve \LZ?Tat\?:Tn% St^ing hST-" W?S< a '733 designation of th's odoriferous fur' umal that can be applied to it with equal force in 193 1. 130 Department of Conservation of Louisiana The skunk was well known to the early French settlers of Louisiana, who gave it the distinctive name of Bete puante, or "Stinking animal." One would scarcely recognize the animal from LePage duPratz's illustration, but he was a little more successful in his written description. This French naturalist-historian wrote of it : "The 'Bete Puante' is as small as an eight-months' cat. The male is a beautiful black and the female black and striped with white. Its eye is quick ; its ears and paws like the mouse's. I believe they live on fruit and grain. It is well named puante, for it has a stink- ing odor that can be smelt twenty-four hours after it has passed a place. They walk slowly when they know they are followed, turn toward the hunter and expel a urine so offensive that neither man nor beast dare approach it. One day I killed one, my dog caught it, and on bringing it to me some of this fell on my hunt- ing suit. I was obliged to go home immediately. Cleansed myself from head to foot and my clothes after having been scoured had to be exposed to the air for several days before this detestable odor disappeared. I had intended examining this animal closely, but this beginning caused me to decide that I did not care to make a further study of it." Of the ordinary skunk, two sub-species have been rec- ognized by scientists to be common to Louisiana. They are the Louisiana skunk (Mephitis mesomelas) and the Florida skunk (Memphitis elongata) . The latter is said to have a distribution extending from the state for which it is named west along the Gulf coast to the Mississippi river. It is of a medium size, with a very long tail marked with white on both sides, and possessing a white "pencil," as the end hairs are termed, the white stripes on the sides of the body being usually very broad. The Louisiana skunk's range is the territory west of the Mississippi river to the coast of Texas, to Matagorda Bay, and up the Red River Valley to Wichita Falls. It is a small skunk, with a short tail, usually wholly black, but when marked with white the stripes are rela- tively narrow. A type of lowland conditions especially suitable for the occurrence of skunks. -'//<•/" ! ^&:^^M^&^J^t^^ A typical Louisiana broad-striped skunk on the Cameron parish marshlands. 132 Department of Conservation of Louisiana The common skunk, with its many geographic forms, ranges over the greater part of the North American conti- nent from Hudson Bay, Canada, to Guatemala. It is mainly nocturnal, spending the daylight hours sleeping in its den. Moonlight nights are favored for long strolls whether in search of food or merely in just perambulating around. In the matter of food, the skunk is omnivorous — that is, its food is a little of everything. It eats a very large quantity of insects, grasshoppers, crickets, beetles, wasps, cicades, June bugs, and grubs and larvae of many kinds. Rodents injurious to mian find an acceptable place on its bill of fare, but it also preys on the eggs of ground-nesting birds, as well as on the birds themselves. Lizards, turtle eggs, frogs, fish, and small fruits are also devoured. Sometimes chicken houses are visited with resultant damage to the fowl. The female skunk produces a single litter during spring, early in April in Louisiana as a rule, and when the young are old enough to leave the den, which is usually a hollow log or subterranean burrow dug by the parents, the young follow the mother in single file on her nightly forays for food, the youngest keeping close to one another like ele- phants in a circus parade. The family keeps united through the winter months, until the mating season arrives, and then they pair off. The period of gestation is almost nine weeks, 60 to 62 days. Of the animals valuable for their fur the skunk is im- portant in Louisiana raw pelt trade, although this state does not produce as many skins as the more northern and east- ern commonwealths. Our crop of 15,000 to 20,000 seems insignificant when compared to Pennsylvania's annual pro- duction of 117,000 pelts. The common skunk is found and trapped in every parish of the state, Terrebonne, St. Mary, Lafourche, Livingston, Cameron, Caddo, Claiborne, Plaquemines, Richland, Pointe Coupee, Natchitoches, Rapides, Tangipahoa and Vermilion bcincr the leaders in the order named. The price paid for skunk averages $1.00 per pelt, the prevailing low price being due to the failure of Germany to absorb as large a number of skins as has been taken by HTGHEQ teV£L in S/fOPTLf/lF P//VE H/US CPEEK BOTTOM /fi LONG LEAF P/NE H/LLS -a-* LO/iGLEAF P/TYE FL/fTS ■£ s t/?e4m //y T/?/i//s/r/ort Bee r Be rtvee// P//Y£ H/LLS /t/VO P//Y£ r/-/?rs CYPfESS-A1##G/A>E/?.3/rro{/ TPPOUGfi M/TP5P PfVEP SVMMP m/lrD/WDEs P>/PA Typical habitats for the striped skunk in Louis 134 Department of Conservation of Louisiana that country in the past. However, skunk is becoming more and more fashionable in this country; it is expected that the prices on skunk will rise, and within a short time. Attempts have been made to raise skunks for their fur in captivity and on a commercial scale since 1885, but it has never proved successful because of the low price of the fur. Most of these activities were confined to developing a strain of wholly black animals by selective breeding. The high prices that have prevailed in recent years and the signs of a renewal of Germany's interest in this fur has led to renewed discussion of skunk raising. That the skunk can be raised successfully in breeding pens in Louisiana there is no doubt, but whether or not the pelting will pay for the care, plant and food is another matter. If the price of pelts ever go high enough there are ex- cellent reasons for believing that skunk farming in this state will pay. There is scarcely any problem to be faced in fencing, the diet of skunks is varied and the animal is less wild than other members of the musteline family. The odor of the skunk may be disregarded as the breeder can remove the scent glands, rendering his animals harmless in this regard. If the breeding animals are not annoyed there is no need even for this operation, as they soon become tame in captivity and the keeper may handle them with impunity. There is some danger to the animal in removing the scent glands in mature animals, although it may be per- formed on the young animals without endangering their lives. The best time for this operation is when the young are four or five weks old. According to information fur- nished by the Bureau of Biological Survey in Farmers' Bulletin 587, the skunk should be held between the knees of the operator by means of a gunny sack wrapped about the animal's body and feet and an assistant is needed for the operation. To remove the glands a short incision on each side of the anus through the skin and enveloping muscle is neces- sary, as shown in the accompanying illustration A. The cuts will expose the round, hard gland and duct. Care The Fur Animals of Louisiana 135 should be exercised at this point not to cut the duct or other organs. A clamping forceps should be placed over the duct close up to the gland, as indicated in the illustration marked B. The gland is then cut out and the duct severed just beyond the clamp. The gland, with the clamp attached, is then lifted out. The wounds should be brushed with a weak solution of carbolic and need no other dressing. No anaesthetic need be used for this operation on a young skunk, but the older the animal the more difficult it will be because of the larger glands, the sacs in mature animals being approximately three-fourths inch in diameter. * a!> The figure on the left shows the scent sacs of the skunk by dotted lines. The anus and sphinster muscles are indicated by a, and the lines for making the incison to expose the sacs and ducts are marked m. The figure on the right shows a section through the scent glands, a, Anus; b, sphinster muscle; c, position for clamps; d, muscle about scent sacs; s. scent sacs; f, rectum; m. depth (shaded area) of incision to be made. Care must be taken not to injure the sphinster nor to cut into the sac or duct. Length of ducts exaggerated. (D.awing from Biological Survey.) Another operation to deodorize a skunk has been pro- posed. It consists of cutting the skin over the glands so as to expose a section of the duct leading from the gland and cutting out a portion of it. In healing, the duct is perma- nently closed and the animal is powerless to use the secre- tion and the gland dries up. The removal process is the surest and safest operation. CHAPTER FOURTEEN HE little spotted skunks, "civets" or "civet cats," as they are called by the fur trade, are diminutive an - mals related to the larger skunks r.nd they have all the ill-smelling attributes of their larger relatives. The little spotted skunk is a strikingly-marked black and white animal which, when full grown, is only about half the size of the ordinary skunk. In form it is thick-set, with a broad, triangular-shaped head, set with small ei s. The tail is long and bushy with very long, drooping hairs. In the ordinary skunk the white dorsal stripes are regular and extend from the back of the head down the body to the tail. The little spotted skunk, while of the same general coloration as its relative — black and white — has four white stripes, frequently interrupted by black hairs, along the back which run from the ears to the middle of the back and then continue to the rump in a series of white spots or squares, the two central stripes being usually nar- rower than the outer. Another spotted stripe is to be found along the side from behind the foreleg to where it curves upward near the hindleg. A white spot is usually found on the hips and another on the head between the ears. In the species found in Louisiana, the tail is black, but with a con- spicuous white patch at the hip, which occupies about one- fourth of the upper length. The pelage of this animal makes a very beautiful and striking fur when fashioned into a garment or used as a collar or trimming for other skins, as the black is rich- looking and glossy and the white a decided one, as pure in color as snow. It is this contrast of color that has made it a popular fur with the woman who wears furs. The guard hairs are hard and glistening, while the underfur is soft and yielding. A l.ttle spotted skunk and her family cf four. From a mounted group in the Louisiana Sta'e Museum 1 he little spotted skunk is known as a "civet cat" in the fur trade, although it is neither a civet nor a cat. 138 Department of Conservation of Louisiana There are about fourteen different species of this fur animal found in the United States, confined to the southern sections of this country, upper Mexico, and the Pacific Coast States. The Louisiana spotted skunk is called by the scientists Spilogale indianola, and is confined to the coastal parishes, where it finds suitable highland for its habitat. The little spotted skunks are very interesting animals, resembling the common skunks in their serene manner of ambling about the countryside after dark, paying very little concern to those they meet on their nocturnal perambula- tions. These animals are far more agile than their larger relatives, and, unlike the better known species, often climb bushes and sometimes small trees. They select for dens hollow logs, stumps, and patches of dense brush and, where the nature of the soil permits, they will dig shallow burrows. In Louisiana dens of spotted skunks have been located in shallow depressions scratched from under the roots of trees. Very little is known regarding the reproduction habits of this animal. Both sexes are alike in pelage and there seems to be no variation in size. Four, five and six young are produced in the spring and the youngsters remain with the mother until nearly grown. The food of the "civet" consists of insects such as grass- hoppers and beetles, harvest and field mice and other small native rodents, lizards, crayfish and water insects and even birds' eggs and birds themselves are found on their menu. The little spotted skunk has the same manner of defense possessed by the common skunk — the ejection of a vile, foul- smelling liquid. This little furred animal is, as has been already ex- plained, the "civet" or "civet cat" of the fur trade. This is not a correct nor an appropriate name, but it seems bound to stick. The true civet is a member of the cat fam- ily and does not resemble our little skunk in the slightest. The principal parishes of Louisiana in the production of the little spotted skunk are Calcasieu, Jefferson, Jefferson Davis, Terrebonne, Lefourche, Livingston, Iberville, As- cension and Cameron. CHAPTER FIFTEEN THE WILDCAT Call it what you will — wildcat, lynx, bob-cat, cata- mount, bay lynx — the animal under consideration has an appearance that is unique among the wrild mammals. Once very common in all of the thickly wooded sections of the state, wildcats have been so persecuted by man that they are to be found today in the thinly settled districts only. The Louisiana lynx, "bob cat, wild cat, or whatever you choose to call it, is a beautiful animal. The bay lynx, as it should be called, is a heavily-furred, short-bodied, longlegged, bobtailed animal of a reddish brown color, the under surface of the body and the inner sides of the legs are white, spotted, or barred with black. The ears carry a "pencil" or tuft of black hairs. Its long side-whiskers grow about the jaws so as to give the animal the appearance of wearing an old-fashioned ruff. 140 Department of Conservation of Louisiana Its scientific name of Lynx ruff us was given in recogni- tion of this "ruff" of elongated hairs surrounding the throat and which is more pronounced in the torn than in the fe- male. The face of the lynx is really very beautiful and as it possesses a lithe and graceful body, it can be considered one of the handsomest mammals in our fauna. The tail is short, slender, and slightly turned-up, this abbreviated ap- pendage being barred with rufus and black, with a broad band of black at the extremity. This stub-tailed wildcat is a lone skulker of our wili lands, as it is only in the mating season that two or more of these animals will be found together. Prowling about on soft, furry paws, it stealthily seeks its prey of rabbits, birds, or native rats and mice in the tangled undergrowth. While the lynx lacks the skill, ability, speed and perse- verance of a mink or fox in following a scent or trail, it makes up for this by the ability it possesses of lying well hidden in some retreat, and the lightning-like manner in which it can spring on whatever small game passes within reach. The lynx is a very skillful still-hunter and lives on a wide variety of birds. Because of its diurnal activities, being a day hunter while most of our other mammals are more nocturnal in habits, its menu is quite varied. Being also an adept climber, it puts this ability to good use in feeding on birds and small mammals nesting in tree cavi- ties. Along the Atchafalaya river bottoms in Pointe Coupee and St. Landry parishes the bay lynx preys on kids and lambs. Quiet in all it does and possessed of a very keen sense of hearing, the bob-cat will instantly crouch with all four feet under its body, remaining tense and motionless, listening and watching, when it detects any movement in the under- growth. If it is an enemy, it will creep off without a sound betraying its retreat from the danger zone. If it proves to be some living thing it can make a meal of, it will creep on its victim with the utmost caution. ■ • BP&--^3HH HP'** ' . v. . ' i^y ' i . ; H p vSK^^ii. INP^ ■* >^3S^^iifBafe"- i&L ' & ^tkt^S^T'^ Showing the ruff that gave the lynx its scientific name. The male bob-cat, or lynx is a handsome fellow. 142 Department of Conservation of Louisiana Audubon19 found that the lynx is fond of concealing itself in canebreaks and frequently sleeps in broom grass. When pursued by dogs, he claimed, the wildcat "takes to clayey bottoms so as to cover the bottom of its feet with this adhesive soil to better destroy the scent that the dogs follow in the chase". When on a hunt the bay lynx is noted for its habit of uttering wild screams at intervals. This sound, frequently referred to as a caterwaul, is most uncanny, and the theory of many naturalists regarding it is that it is uttered with the object of startling any creature that may be hiding nearby into action so that the cat may more easily locate it by the sound of its prey scampering through the grasses to escape. Shy and exceedingly cautious about showing itself, and making off quickly at the approach of man, the bay lynx is a savage and dangerous fighter when cornered or held in a trap, and the female proves a tough customer when defend- ing her kittens. It is this fierceness that has been respon- sible for the saying that a man has marked ability as a scrapper when he is reputed to be able to "whip his weight in wildcats". The name lynx is derived from a Greek word meaning "to see," and is in recognition of the animal's extraordinary powers of vision. This, too, has been recognized, popularly by the saying "lynx-eyed". The Choctaws called this animal Shakbatina and dif- ferent names were given it by the Indian tribes of the Gulf region. The Tunicas called it tcumu; the Atakapas named it cirvon, while the Chitimacha Indians called this animal tcewa histamon, which means "animal that hides under trash". The Ofo Indians named it atxanta. The Biloxi designation was tmotcka. Not as much is known about the reproduction habits of this animal as might be desired. Its mating season is said to occur during the winter in Louisiana, and the kittens, iaAudubon, J. J., and Bachman, John, The Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America, vol. 1. The Fur Animals of Louisiana 143 four and often less to the litter, are nursed during the early spring. As a fur animal the bay lynx is not very valuable, but during the trapping seasons from 300 to 500 of them are skinned and sent to the fur market. The pelt, if well furred and not damaged, will average $1.50 each. As the bay lynx is of uniform distribution throughout the state and not many of them are taken by professional trappers, no particular location can be pointed out as a leader in the production of this fur. The characteristic standing attitude of the lynx with the hindquarters higher than the head. The abbreviated tail with its black spot is noticeable in this pose of a female photographed in the Audubon Park Zoo, New Orleans. 144 Department of Conservation of Louisiana Jn the hill parishes, where the flowering dogwood blooms in groves of huge yellow pines, the Louisiana wolf treads his stealthy way. CHAPTER SIXTEEN THE WOLF IT is probably as surprising to most folk who have not studied the subject of fur animals and their distribution to learn that the wolf is an important and numerous member of Louisiana's mammalian fauna as it is to be told that this southern state is the leading fur-producing state of the Union. This dog-like animal, however, is as much at home in the unfrequented sections of this state as it is in the north- ern fastnesses of Canada. A ranger of the Great Plains region of North America, the wolf is also found in our prairie and coastal marsh sections and has proved a scourge and nuisance to the cattle-raisers of Calcasieu and Cameron parishes, w'ere packs have made inroads on calves. The wolf is a meat cater, preying on almost all of the •other mammals inhabit'ng the region where it hunts. Its principal diet is composed of rabbits, native rats and mice, squirrels, ground-nesting birds, and fawns. Its habit of preying on calves, sheep, and hogs has caused it to be "outlawed" not only in Louisiana but elsewhere, and no- where on the North American continent is this animal given the protection of game laws. The wolf found in this state is the ordinary gray wolf, the timber wolf or "buffalo wolf" of literature. It is scien- tifically called Cards floridmius, according to Dr. Hartley H. T. Jackson, of the U. S. Biological Survey. However, any scientific identification of a wolf in the status of pres- ent knowledge of the group is only provisional. There are so many variations in respect to shape, size, and color exist- ing among the wolves inhabiting the North American con- tinent that it has led to a confusion as to species. This animal was known to the Gulf Indian tribes, for the Choc- taws called it nashoba, the Chitamachca knew it as kamakic, and the Atakapa called the wolf caine. The Natchez knew the wolf as uttenvah. 146 Department of Conservation of Louisiana Investigations are now underway to determine whether or not the wolf found in Louisiana may be a separate spe- cies or subspecies of the ordinary wolf of North Ameirca, and the Federal biologists are planning a revision of this important genus and it may be found by them that the wolf found in Louisiana may prove to be a separate form. The wolf described as Canis floridanus seems to run through Louisiana into Arkansas. The young are born early in the year, the mother seek- ing a den while the male stands guard. The pups vary from three to a dozen in number, but six to a litter is the average. The pups arrive in January, sometimes during the last of February and are "blind", the eyes not opening until they are nine days old. The old wolves prove to be devoted parents, the dog assisting the mother in securing food for the young and in rearing them. In Louisiana there is very frequently found a wholly black wolf, pupped in a litter with ordinary gray brothers and sisters, which prove this phase to be merely a color variation and does not make the animal a separate species. In the Audubon Park Zoo, New Orleans, a male black wolf with a gray bitch from the same litter taken in Evangeline parish, and kept in captivity for a number of years, bred three times, and in each litter there were black pups as well as gray. The first litter was composed of five, three of the young being black, the other two taking the pelage of the mother. The second and third litters consisted of four young each, there being two black and two gray pups in each litter. The coloration did not follow the sex, as in the first litter, the blacks being bitches and the grays were dogs. In April, 1928, this same gyp pupped a litter of seven, but the dog made a meal off the young before he could be removed and the coloration of the pups could not be ascertained. The black Louisiana wolf is not wholly black, as it usually has a light-gray breast patch that appears pure white in contrast with the rest of the pelage. It has been in recent years only that the wolf skin has been taken up by the fur trade; the pelts bringing the The Fur Animals of Louisiana 147 The typical gray wolf of North America which is also found in Louisiana, and in increasing numbers in late years. A typical Louisiana black wolf taken in Evangeline parish and exhibited in the Audubon Park Zoo, New Orleans. 148 Department of Conservation of Louisiana better prices are those possessing a soft, silky pelage, which are dyed and used as trimmings. As the fur is a natural light gray, it takes the various dye shades nicely, and many color creations are thus secured. The pelts pos- sessing a flat, coarse pelage are valuable for automobile robes and like uses. While the wolf has been persistently hunted by man in Louisiana, as it has been in other parts of this country where its destructive habits make it an outlaw, it appears to be on the increase, and, slowly but surely, extending its range in the state. In some localities war is declared on this outlaw because it is destructive to domestic animals and sporadic raids have been made on it by cattle men and others. The tales that have prevailed for years as to ferocious- ness of the wolf, and its alleged habit of hunting in packs after man, tales that have come from Russia, Canada and the wilderness regions of the northern tier of the states, have their counterpart in Louisiana, but, as elsewhere, their attacks on man have been grossly exaggerated. One story of an alligator hunter who was surrounded by a pack of wolves in the Wild Cow Range section of Cam- eron parish in the summer of 1926 was investigated and found to have some foundation. Dave Moore, an aged trap- per and alligator hunter, was interviewed the morning following his experience at Cameron Farms ranch. He had been out in his pirogue shining for alligators and had taken several of the saurians he had killed to a dry knoll and was skinning them by the aid of his carbide light. He had been hearing the wolves howling, at a distance, throughout the early part of the night, but paid no attention to their noise. While he was engaged at his skinning task his car- bide light went out about 2 a. m., and, while refilling the lamp in the darkness, he was surprised and made quite un- easy by hearing the wolves howling close to him. He de- clared he could also hear their feet pattering through the shallow water all about him and was positive the pack was circling the knoll. The Fur Animals of Louisiana 14& He endeavored to relight his lamp, he said, but his hands so shook with fright that he did not succeed. He lighted match after match, according to his story, and from the faint illumination could see the gleaming eyes of the wolves as they trotted about him. Thoroughly unnerved, he fired charges from his shotgun until he had used up his last shell, and then took his paddle and slapped it vigorously on the water and against the side of his pirogue in an effort to imitate shots from his gun. Keeping this up until daylight came and the wolves made off, Moore paddled his pirogue into a waterway and made his way to the Cameron Farms ranch, where he was found by Adam Deville, cattle foreman, in an unnerved con- dition as a result of his experience of the night. His death a few months later has been attributed to this experience. The probabilities are that the wolf pack was attracted by the odor of blood from the alligators Moore had been skinning and that the members of the wolf pack had no intention of attacking the aged and experienced hunter, as the Louisiana wolf is, as are the wolves elsewhere, cowardly to an extreme. A wolf litter found in La Salle parish was dropped soon after the first of the year and of the four young, one was a male. Even in this piney woods section of the state the wolves have become very obnoxious because of their depredations on live stock, and cattle men in West Feliciana parish now fear an increase of their number as the cattle and sheep raising business in this former cotton-raising territory is growing in importance, as in Louisiana, as else- where, the wolves and coyotes seem to expand in numbers with the growth of civilization. It is not unlikely, there- fore, that in a few years stringent and systematic cam- paigns against wolves in this state will have to be planned and carried out. 150 Department of Conservation of Louisiaan Where the underbrush is thick in the pine hill flats of Louisiana the sly gray fox's thin bark is heard. An adult gray fox in the Audubon Park Zoo, New Orleans. CHAPTER SEVENTEEN THE GRAY FOX THE fox of Louisiana is the typical fox of the South, the gray fox, a small, sly, cunning, agile mammal with a coat that is pepper-and-salt gray above, rusty-brown beneath, with a red patch on each side of its neck. Scientifically it has been dubbed with a long and prac- tically unpronouncable name, Urocijon cinereoargenteus. (If you must pronounce it do it in this wise: U-ro-ci/on cin-e're-o-ar-gen'te-us.) There is no characteristic folk name for this animal in Louisiana and a fox, as it is every- where, is a fox. The Indians of the Gulf regions had their own name for this animal, chula was the Choctaw desig- nation, and toxka, the Biloxi name. The word fox is of doubtful origin, but is supposed to have come to us from the Teutonic languages, the Dutch vos or the German fuchs. Some have suggested that there may be a connection between the Sanskrit pucha, which means tail, and the presently and widely used name, but this seems to be far-fetched. "Crazy as a fox," seems to be a part of our present-day speech that will persist and the slang adequately describes this shrewd gray skulker of our wooded sections of Louisi- ana, although it must be admitted that this animal does not live up to the sly and cuninng reputation of the red fox of the North and East, an animal by the way, that does not belong to our fauna, although a number of them have been brought here and released by fox hunters. The Louisiana gray fox seldom, if ever, lives in bur- rows ; it shows a decided preference for refuges in hollow logs, or it will rake together a bed of dry leaves in a tangle of bushes and undergrowth and here it will sleep in the open air, and, frequently, the vixen, as the female fox is known, raises her litter of puppies in such a bed. The litter is usually three to five and the puppies are born blind and helpless, and are blackish in color. Audubon is the 152 Department of Conservation of Louisiana authority for stating that the period of gestation is "about three months," but W. B. Graham of Winn parish, who has bred them in captivity, says this period is 63 days, "the same as a dog." This fox is a clever hunter and feeds on almost every- thing that haunts the forest — birds, small mammab, in- sects, reptiles, berries, mushrooms, acorns. When the young are old enough they are taught the ways of the wild by the parents, for the gray foxes, like other members of the dog family, are devoted to their offspring and the family remains together until the young are old enough to care for themselves. The thin bark of the fox, or "yap," which is heard mostly in the early spring months, is a mating call. This fox seems to well deserve its title of "tree fox," for it has a marked ability to climb to the upper branches of small trees, but it usually performs this feat only when chased by dogs. Swift and tireless when running, the gray fox can lead the dogs a merry chase, and because of the sport involved his pelt and brush are eagerly sought by the fox hunters of the state. The gray fox is not particularly valuable for its fur, but quite a few are caught every winter by the trappers, as the catch ranges from S50 to 500. Its coat of gray hair and underfur is not to be compared with the much finer red fox, nor does it equal any of the red fox's color phases — black, silver, or cross fox. The tail or brush of the gray fox is much coarser than the red fox, and is not as highly prized as a trophy. The highland and timbered regions of the state provide suitable habitat for this member of Louisiana's fur animal family, it being entirely absent from the coastal marshes and the wetter swamp lands. The Parish of Allen seems to lend in the production of fox pelts, with Bienville and Rapides second and third respectively. Assumption, Caddo, Bossier, Calcasieu, De Soto, Franklin, Grant, Natchitoches, Sabine, Union, Vernon, West Feliciana, and Winn are only a few of the parishes where the gray fox roams and where native trappers take his pelt for fur purposes . The grey fox is the only representative of the fox family found in Louisiana, specimen mounted in the Louisiana State Museum. Thi The young grey fox is an alert little fellow and becomes quite tame in captivity. 154 Department of Conservation of Louisiana The Louisiana law provides that "foxes used in the sport of fox hunting" are protected. Therefore, it is up to the trapper to first ascertain whether or not the fox that is un- fortunate enough to put his foot in the trap is used for that purpose or not. As this animal is unquestionably a depre- dator, it would seem wise to continue it, along with the wolf, bob-cat, and cougar, in the "outlaw" class and not give it the protection fox hunters desire. CHAPTER EIGHTEEN IT will be surprising to many who perhaps will learn for the first time that Louisiana is the leading fur-producing territory of North America, to be told that Louisiana fauna not only once included beaver but that we still have colonies of these very peculiar mammals. Today the Loui- siana beaver is rigidly protected by state laws, and in the one locality of the state where this mammal exists, in spite of man's usurpation of its habitat, the inhabitants observe the ban against trapping religiously. LePage du Pratz wrote of the beaver in Louisiana and gave the readers of his quaint volumes an idea as to the looks of the beaver in the engraving that embellished one of the pages. Another early Louisiana writer, Father Charlevoix, in his "History of New France", said: "We had heard that the Beaver was formerly found near New Orleans, but we never saw one in Louisiana".20 In this brief life history of the beaver the liberty has been taken of drawing freely on what Vernon Bailey, chief field naturalist of the bureau of biological survey, has pub- lished in his bulletin on this very peculiar rodent,21 as it is ="Charlevoix, Nouv. France, vol. iii, P- 133. ^Bailey, Beaver Habits and Experiments in Beaver Culture, Tech. Bull. No. 21, U. S. Dept. of Agricul. 156 Department of Conservation of Louisiana quite certain that the Louisiana beaver does not differ materially in habits from the beaver found elsewhere on the North American continent. In the fur history of the new world, the beaver holds first place. The beaver trade has had a great deal to do with the development of our country, and in the adventure and pioneering of the early days, it occupies a niche that will never be filled by another animal. "Originally beavers inhabited the greater part of North America/' writes Dr. Bailey, "and at one time produced fur of greater value than that of any other fur-bearing animal of the continent. They were to the native people an impor- tant source of food and warm clothing, and the beaver skin became a unit of barter with the Indians. Beaver fur soon attracted white traders and trappers, and traffic in the skins became an important commercial factor in promoting the early settlement of the country. Through the gener- ations of intensive trapping that followed, beavers were greatly reduced in numbers and restricted in range, until now they have been exterminated over much of their former area." The beaver belongs to the extensive and important rodent family, three members of which have been long noted for their value to the fur trade, , i. e., the beaver, which is the largest of the three, the muskrat, which is the smallest, and the coypu (pronounced koy'poo), a South American rodent, intermediate in size between the beaver and the muskrat, which produces the fur known as nutria. The beaver is a compact, heavily-bodied mammal that is as aquatic as the muskrat and the coypu. Its pelage is a dense coat of fine, soft, waterproof underfur, overlain by coarse guard hairs. The soft underfur is brownish in color, varying from yellowish to a brownish black, while the guard hairs are either light brown or a rich dark chest- nut in color. The most characteristic thing about a beaver is its broadly-flattened, hairless tail, the use of which for hun- dreds of years has been the source of much speculation and has given rise to many odd folk tales. Like the muskrat, The Fur Animals of Louisiana 157 This type of submerged woodland occurs over a large part of alluvial lands in the southeastern section of the state, and is the home of the Louisiana beaver. A Louisiana beaver from a mounted specimen in the Louisiana State Museum. 158 Department of Conservation of Louisiana the beaver has hind feet much larger than the fore feet, and the five toes are fully webbed for swimming. The smaller front feet are unwebbed, and again like the musk- rat, their main use is as hands for holding food and they give invaluable service for carrying or holding building material when dams are being constructed. The eyes are small and the vision, Bailey believes, evi- dently is not very keen except under water. The ears are short, lined with fur, and valvular, closing as the animal dives under the water and opening the moment the animal puts its hsad above the surface. The sense of hearing pos- sessed by the beaver is remarkably keen, Bailey declares. It has a keen sense of smell, according to the same author- ity, although the nostrils are small and valvular. Like the ears and nostrils, the mouth can also be shut so tightly that water cannot enter while the long front incisor teeth are being used to gnaw on roots beneath the surface, and the molars, or grinding teeth, used for chewing. Beavers weigh from 25 to 45 pounds, some older speci- mens attaining a weight of 60, 70 and even 100 pounds. The sexes are so alike in weight and external appearances that it is not an easy matter to distinguish one from the other; adult females, however have four conspicuous mamae ar- ranged in a perfect square, two being borne on each of the elongated mammary glands lying between the front legs. Before referring to the broad flat tail which has given the beaver its position in popular fancy, it might be of interest to call atention to the double combing claws it possesses on the two inner toes of each of the webbed hind feet. The animal uses the claws for combing out and keep- ing its fur smooth. These "combing claws" are to be found immediately beneath the nail of the two inside claws. The flat wide tail is not used as a trowel to plaster mud on its house and dam, as has been claimed by fanciful writers, but let us ask Vernon Bailey, who probably knows the beaver better than anyone else, to answer the question r "Why is a beaver's tail flat?" "It is only necessary to see it in use, tilted up, steering one way or the other, or striking downward as the animal A typical beaver dam on a tributary of the Amite River in St. Helena Parish. The beavers have so increased in this territory that they are reported as doing damage to adjacent corn fields. Beaver cuttings near streams in St. Helena, where this fur-bearer is increasing in numbers due to the State's protective laws that prohibit it from being trapped at any time. 160 Department of Conservation of Louisiana dives from the surface, to understand its aquatic use. Espe- cially is its full width and steering power taxed to the Km t as the beaver swims, tug-like, by the side of a pole or log" that it is towing to the house, dam cr food cache, with only the tail thrown out sideways to keep the swimmer from progressing in circles. On land the tail has other uses, but in the water it serves variously as rudder, propeller, and signal gun, its loud slaps on the surface of the water serving as warnings to friends or enemies. "In diving, beavers swim downward or in any direction under water. They swim long distances, half a mile or more, without appearing at the surface and commonly re- main submerged four or five minutes at a time, but much longer if alarmed." While beavers are powerful, graceful and easy swim- mers, they ordinarily do not progress rapidly through the water, preferring to paddle with their large, webbed hind feet while the front feet are held motionless to their breasts. However, when alarmed they can swim under the water with the speed of an otter, "and with a somewhat similar undulatory motion of body and tail, an appendage that appears to be as effective as a high-speed propeller," Bailey found. The beaver has been famed the world over for its ability as a woodcutter and as a house and dam builder, but this animal is not endowed with the intelligence ascribed to it by many of the early writers. However, it is an expert among the mammals in damming up streams to obtain a higher water level; it can gnaw through a tree trunk and fell a sapling, although it does not possess the ability to cause a tree to fall in a certain predetermined direction, the tree falling in the direction it happens to be leaning, which, when growing by the side of a stream, is generally in the direction of the water. In Louisiana the beavers do not seem to confine their food to poplars and cottonwoods, which are the favorite foods in the north, but exercise their incisors on a large and varied menu. When attacking a tree for food the The Fur Animals of Louisiana 161 L AK£ MA UPEPAS The dotted areas show the location of colonies of beavers in Louisiana along the Comite and Amite Rivers in the four parishes of East heliciana, St. Helena, East Baton Rouge and Livingston. animal cuts or "rings" the tree by cutting off chips, and the bark is usually eaten from the chips before they fall. It is believed that an adult beaver can fell a poplar tree 3 to 4 inches in diameter, cut it into sections from 4 to 8 feet, each, and drag it to water, and that it takes several nights' work to cut down a larger tree. While he was under the impression that beavers did not attack pines, Vernon Bailey was shown a number of yellow pine trees that these animals had "barked" and cut down along the Amite river in Louisiana. These animals had also fed on wild blackberry vines, as well as a variety of hardwoods, and several members of the colony had made excursions to nearby cultivated corn fields, in proof of which we found stalks entwined among the sticks and branches that formed the dam. 162 Department of Conservation of Louisiana In building dams, beavers work from the upstream side, Bailey says. Sticks, leaves, grass, sods and mud are laid across the stream, and are added to until a water flow is checked and the level begins to rise. Then, as it rises, sticks are pushed over the top and allowed to lie criss-cross on the lower slope, bound and securely held by mud and earth added to the top and upper slope until the dam is high and strong enough to hold water in the pond at the desired level, impervious to leaks. That the beaver is endowed with sufficient mechanical and engineering knowledge to build its dam in a perfect semi-circle calculated to resist water pressure, theoretically as well as practically, is not true. It possesses no such ability. It can, and does, lay a haphazard structure across a stream and while the site is usually selected at a logical place for such work, the dam is sometimes a successful ac- complishment and sometimes it is not. Besides building dams, the beaver of the north also builds houses, but the Louisiana beaver appears to neglect this activity and confines its home-building to making ex- cavations in the banks of the streams where it lives. The entrances to these subterranean quarters are below the sur- face of the water and extend upwards so that the living chamber and nursery is above the water level. As very little research work and study has been done on the beaver colonies in Louisiana, it is necessary to pre- sume a great deal as to their habits. A desire to leave the colonies undisturbed to allow the population to increase has been responsible for the fact that so little scientific atten- tion been paid to this very interesting animal. It is presumed that our beaver breed earlier than do the beavers of the northlands. The time of mating and the period of gestation are not known, but the young appear in May, and a few as late as June. Therefore, it is not un- likely that the young should appear in March and April in Louisiana. There is no evidence to show that there is more than one litter a season. Bailey finds that in the north beavers apparently begin breeding when they are a year The Fur Animals of Louisiana 163 old. The usual number in a litter is four, although he has records of six young and even eight embryos found in a large, old female. As the females have only four teats, more than four young must take turns in nursing. As a rule, the sexes are equally divided in a litter. The Louisiana beaver is known as Castor canadensis carolinensis under the belief that it is related to the sub- species first described from North Carolina. A study of specimens and skulls may show that our beaver is entitled to a subspecific rank all its own. That it was known to the first inhabitants is shown by the fact the Biloxi called it tama and they called a beaver pelt tama abi. The Choctaws knew the beaver as kinta, the beaver dam was a kinta oktabli, while a pelt was called kinta oktapa. The early French settlers called it Castor and this name and its early distribution is reflected in the numerous Castor Creeks, Beaver Dams retained in the geography of the state. The quaint illustration of a beaver found in Le Page du Pratz's work is sufficiently interesting to be here reproduced. Ca