VOLUME 4 JUNE. 1927 NUMBER 2 Roosevelt Wild Life Bulletin OF THE Roosevelt Wild Life Forest Experiment Station OF The New York State College of Forestry AT Syracuse University PREDATORY AND FUR-BEARING ANIMALS OF YELLOWSTONE PARK CONTENTS OF ROOSEVELT WILD LIFE BULLETIN (To obtain these publications see announcement on back of title page.) Roosevelt Wild Life Bulletin, Vol. i, No. i. December, 1921. 1. Foreword Dr. George Bird Grinnell. 2. Roosevelt Wild Life State Memorial Dr. Charles C. Adams. 3. Appropriateness and Appreciation of the Roosevelt Wild Life Memorial Dr. Charles C. Adams. 4. Suggestions for Research on North American Big Game and Fur- Bearing Animals Dr. Charles C. Adams. 5. Theodore Roosevelt Sir Harry H. Johnston. 6. Roosevelt's Part in Forestry Dr. Gifford Pinchot. 7. Roosevelt and Wild Life Mr. Edmund Heller. 8. The Present Economic and Social Conditions as Results of Applied Science and Invention Hon, George W. Perkins. 9. Suggestions for Management of Forest Wild Life in the Allegany State Park, New York Dr. Charles C. Adams. 10. Aims and Status of Plant and Animal Preserve Work in Europe, with Special Reference to Germany, Including a List of the Most Important Publications on These Preserves. Dr. Theodor G. Ahrens. 11. Current Station Notes The Director and Editor. Roosevelt Wild Life Bulletin, Vol. i, No. 2. August, 1922. (Otit of Print) 1. An Opportunity for Great Public Service Col. Henry S. Graves. 2. An Investigation of the Beaver m Herkimer and Hamilton Counties of the Adirondacks Dr. Charles £. Johnson. 3. The Life of the Yellowstone Beaver Mr. Edward R. Warren. 4. Current Station Notes The Directo and E(iitor. Roosevelt Wild Life Bulletin, Vol. i. No. 3. March, 1923. 1. The Summer Birds of the Allegany State Park. . . Aretas A. Saunders. 2. The Ruffed Grouse, with Special Reference to its Drumming Edmund J. Sawyer. 3. Current Station Notes The Director and Editor. Roosevelt Wild Life Bulletin, Vol. i, No. 4. March, 1923. 1. Relation of Summer Birds to the Western Adirondack Forest Perley M. Silloway. 2. Notes on the Relation of Birds to Adirondack Forest Vegetation Dr. Charles C. Adams. 3. The Summer Birds of the Adirondacks in Franklin County, N. Y Theodore Roosevelt, Jr., and H. D. Minot. (Reprinted: original date of publication, 1877.) 4. Current Station Notes The Director and Editor. Roosevelt Wild Life Bulletin, Vol. 2, No. i, October, 1923. 1. The Control of Blood-sucking Leeches, with an Account of the Leeches of Palisades Interstate Park Dr. J. Percy Moore. 2. Preliminary Report on the Parasitic Worms of Oneida Lake, New York Dr. Henry S. Pratt. 3. Acanthocephala from the Fishes of Oneida Lake, New York Dr. Harley J. Van Cleave. 4. Current Station Notes The Director and Editor. Syracuse Univ. Bull. JUNE. 192 7 Vol. 24, No. 27 Roosevelt Wild Life Bulletin VOLUME 4, NUMBER 2 OF THE Roosevelt Wild Life Forest Experiment Station OF The New York State College of Forestry AT Syracuse University ANNOUNCEMENT The serial |)ul)licati()ns of the Roosevelt W"\\d Life Forest Experi- ment Station consist of the following: 1. Roosevelt Wild Life Bulletin. 2. Roosevelt Wild Life Annals. The BitUct'ui is intended to include papers of general and popular interest on the various phases of forest wild life, and the Annals those of a more technical nature or having a less widespread interest. These pul^lications are edited in cooperation with the College Committee on Publications. The editions of these publications are limited and do not permit of general free distribution. Exchanges are invited. The subscrip- tion price of the Bulletin is $4.00 per volume of four number?, or $1.00 per single number. The price of the Annals is $5.00 per volume of four numbers, or $1.25 per single number. All com- munications concerning publications should be addressed to The Director, Roosevelt ^^^ild Life Forest Experiment Station, Syracuse, New York. Copyright, 1927, By Roosevelt Wild Life Forest Experiment Station Entered at the Post Office at Syracuse, N. Y., as second-class matter [156] TRUSTEES OF THE NEW YORK STATE COLLEGE OF FORESTRY Ex Officio Dr. Charles W. Flint, Chancellor Syracuse University Dr. Frank P. Graves, Commissioner of Education.... Albany, N. Y. Hon. Alexander Macdonald, Conservation Comm'er Albany, N. Y. Hon. Seymour Low man, Lieutenant-Governor Albany, N. Y. Appointed by the Governor Hon. Alexander T. Brown Syracuse, N. Y. Hon. John R. Clancy Syracuse, N. Y. Hon. Harold D. Cornwall Glenfield, N. Y. Hon. George W. Driscoll Syracuse, N. Y. Hon. Louis Marshall New York City Hon. William H. Kelley Syracuse, N. Y. Hon. Edward H. O'Hara Syracuse, N. Y. Hon. Charles A. Upson Lockport, N. Y. Hon. J. Henry Walters New York City Officers of the Board Hon. Louis Marshall President Hon. John R. Clancy Vice-President HONORARY ADVISORY COUNCIL OF THE ROOSEVELT WILD LIFE STATION American Members Mrs. CoRiNNE Roosevelt Robinson New York City Hon. Theodore Roosevelt New York City Mr. Kermit Roosevelt New York City Dr. George Bird Grinnell New York City Hon. Gifford Pinchot Harrisburg, Pa. Mr. Chauncey J. Hamlin Buffalo, N. Y. Dr. George Shiras, 3rd Washington, D. C. Dr. Frank M. Chapman New York City Dean Henry S. Graves New Haven, Conn. European Members Viscount Grey Fallodon, England Sir Harry H. Johnston Arundel, England [157] ROOSEVELT WILD LIFE STATION STAFF Franklin AIoon, M. F * Dean of the College Charles E. Johnson, Ph.D Alvin G. Whitney, A. B . . W'lLFORD A. Dence, B. S... Acting- Director of the Station Assistant Director Assistant Ichthsologist Temporary Appointmentst Thomas L. Hankinson, B.S Field Ichthyologist* Perley M. Silloway, M.S Field Ornithologist Aretas a. Saunders, Ph.B Field Ornithologist Bradford A. Scudder Game Naturalist Alfred O. Gross, Ph.D Field Ornithologist Robert T. Hatt, A.M Field Naturalist Clinton G. \\'eymouth. A.B Field Ornithologist Victor H. Cahalane, M.F Field Naturalist Collaborators r Charles C. Adams. Ph.D.. Sc.D \nimal Ecologist** W'illia.m Cox\i:rsi; 1\k> hali,. A.M.. M.D Ichthyologist Edward R. W'arki .x. B.S Field Naturalist Richard A. Muttk( »\\ - k i. Fh.l) Field Naturalist Milton P. Skinnkk, B.S Field Naturalist GiLi5KRT ^I. Smith. Ph.D Field Naturalist * Resigned as Station Ichthyologist October i, 1921. Resigned as Station Director May i, 1926. 7 Including only those who have made field investigations and whose reports are now in preparation. [158] CONTENTS 1. The Predatory and Fur-bearing Animals of the Yellowstone National Park Milton P. Skinner. 163 2. Current Station Notes Charles C. Adams. 283 ILLUSTRATIONS FIGURES All figures are from photographs taken in Yellowstone Park by the author. Figures 23, 28, 31, 41, are from his Yellowstone Nature Book; figures 34, 39, 40, are from his Bears in the Yellowstone. PAGE Fig. 23. A coyote hunting on upland prairie. Near Gallatin River, Yellowstone Park, Oct. 10, 1922 Facing 163 Fig. 24. View of Lamar and Soda Butte valleys, showing the lowland grassy area, aspen in center foreground, coniferous forest on lower slopes of Druid Peak (at left), and the Thunderer with its peak above timberline (in distance). Yellowstone Park, Nov. i, 1917. 171 Fig. 25. Black bears are common, and of intense interest to visitors, who never fail to see them in the Yellowstone National Park. September, 1922 171 Fig. 26. Elk bulls in coniferous forest (limber pine). The one in the fore- ground has just shed his horns while the one at right still retains his antlers. Near Mammoth, Yellowstone Park, March 19, 1920. 172 Fig. 27. Beaver living in a pond where they have flooded a typical willow growth. The male in the center is peeling a willow switch and eating the bark. At the extreme left the head of a second beaver shows as he swims away. Near Lava Creek, Yellowstone Park, Oct. 5, 1922 181 Fig. 28. The woodchuck is the most prominent of 'the rodents. This one had his burrow under the log on the left. Yellowstone Park, Sept. i, 1922 182 Fig. 29. The mantled ground squirrel resembles a large chipmunk and is an important element of the rodent population. This one has his cheek pouches filled with oats spilled by horses 182 Fig. 30. A female mule deer feeding amongst the sagebrush, typical of the open areas below 7500 feet. Note the white tail with its black tip — the best field mark for this deer and distinguishing it from both the eastern deer and the Columbian blacktail. Near Mammoth, Yellowstone Park, Nov. i, 1914 191 Fig. 31. A male mule deer in the limber pine forest. Notice the V-forked horns, very different from the eastern deer, and the black- tipped tail. Near Mammoth, Yellowstone Park, Feb. 26, 1918. 193 Fig. 32. A coyote hunting mice in a small meadow. Gallatin Valley, Yellowstone Park, Oct. 10, 1922 201 Fig- 33- When a coyote hears, or smells, a mouse in the grass, he " points it for a few seconds much as a bird-dog points a game bird. Gallatin Valley, Yellowstone Park, Oct. 10, 1922 201 Fig. 34. Grizzly bears foraging at the eiga of tha lolgap^le pins forest n^a r Canyon Junction. In the Yellowstone Park, grizzlies are inof - tensive and actually seek to avoid trouble, unless provoked . Photographed September, 191 5 202 Fig. 35. Looking down on the open prairies bordering the Lamar River; lodgepole pine and aspen in foreground; elevation ab Jut 650'j feet. The mountain in the distance is The Thunderer. Northeast corner of Yellowstone Park. Nov. i, 1917 211 [159] l6o Roosevelt Wild Life Fig. 36. Scene above tiTiilHTline near Sportsman Lake, at the beginning of the winter, X< (nciiiIxt 8, 1917. The extensive dark pine forests of the plateau region in the distance. Note the forage in the foreground and the dark-colored gopher hill at the edge of picture in front 212 Fig. 37. Upland prairie, covered with sagebrush in the foregound; in the center, a little aspen surrounded by the darker lodgepole pine forest. Near Glen Creek, Yellowstone Park. Nov. 15, 1917. 221 Fig. 38. Sagebrush-covered hillsides, with pine forest in the background, and Electric Peak, 11,125 f<^et high, towering over all. Nov. 10, 1917 222 Fig. 39. A black bear industriously digging out a ground squirrel. A bit of the lodgepole pine forest in the background. Yellowstone Park, September, 1922 231 Fig. 40. A black bear travelling along one of his paths. Bears are noted for stepping in each other's tracks. Here can be seen a distinct trail for each foot with the untrodden grass between. Yellow- stone Park, September, 1922 231 Fig. 41. A beaver house and pond. The trees in the background have been killed by being flooded when the beaver dam in the fore- ground tirst formed the pond. Near Lava Creek, Yellow- stone Park. May 22, 1920 232 Fig. 42. A beaver eating bark from a willow switch that can be seen in his mouth, the peeled switch appearing as a short white streak against his cheek. Near Lava Creek, Yellowstone Park. Oct. 5, 1922 241 Fig. 43. A woodchuck, such as are hunted at times by the coyotes and bears especially. Yellowstone Park, Sept. i, 1922 241 Fig. 44. A flower-bedecked meadow such as we expect everywhere under natural conditions. Near Gardiner River, Yellowstone Park. Altitude 5500 ft. June 15, 1920 242 Fig. 45. A mountain sheep, or bighorn. Such are some of the animals that are now preserved in our great National Parks. In Gardiner Canyon, Yellowstone Park, March 20, 1920 251 Fig. 46. Mountain sheep, one of the finest of the "big game animals." Near Gardiner Canyon, Yellowstone Park. March 20, 1920. ... 252 Fig. 47. A rock rabbit, or cony. A curious little rodent resembling a tiny rabbit in many w^ays, but hiding its home in crevices among loose rocks. Near Golden Gate, Yellowstone Park. Oct. 13, 1922. . . 263 Fig. 48. A pair of beaver, one swimming and one eating. Near Lava Creek, Yellowstone Park. Oct. 7, 1922 264 Fig. ^9. vSometimes, if the snow is not too heavy, the elk can remain higher than usual and get a little food (grass) through the snow. Near Mammoth, Yellowstone Park. Dec. 12, 1922 264 Fig. 50. The winter range for these elk is so limited that it is badly over- grazed. This band of elk is trying to exist on ground that is almost bare of vegetation. Near Gardiner, Montana, Jan. 20, 1920 271 Fig. 51 . If the snow gets too heavy, or becomes crusted, the elk may starve. The elk pictured here have had a hard time of it and are reduced to " mere skin and bones." Near Mammoth. Yellowstone Park. March, 1920 272 MAPS Map I. Topographic map of Yellowstone National Park. From U, S. Geological Survey Atlas sheet, revision of 192 1, reduced one third At end. Map 2. The major animal habitats of Yellowstone National Park At end. NATIONAL PARKS POLICY AND WILD LIFE "The service thus established shall promote and regulate the use of the Federal areas known as national parks, monuments, and reservations herein- after specified by such means and measures as conform to the fundamental purpose of the said parks, monuments, and reservations, which purpose is to conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and the wild life therein and to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future gen- erations." Au act to cstabh'sJi a National Park Scrz'icc, and for other purposes. Public — Xo. 235 — 64th Congress, (H. R. 15522): 1916. "For the information of the public an outline of the administrative policy to which the new Service will adhere may now be announced. This policy is based on three broad principles : 'first, that the national parks must be maintained in absolutely unim- paired form for the use of future generations as well as those of our own time ; 'second, that they are set apart for the use, observation, health, and pleasure of the people ; and 'third, that the national interest must dictate all decisions afYecting public or private enterprise in the parks.' " Franklin K. Lane, Third Annual Report, U. S. National Park Service, p. 361 ; 19 19. [161I THE FIELD-NATURALIST'S WORK The average field-naturalist tends to become a collector of specimens, rather than an investigator of the ways of animal life. His ambition is to collect the specimens as soon as he can, and as many as he can; and fearing lest each specimen shall escape him and be lost, he neglects the opportunity to observe it in life and to learn something about its habits and its ways. Often he takes this attitude from the institution for which he is working. It desires a great series of specimens which he feels he must secure. Yet the collecting of a large series of specimens, and the bringing them home in satisfactory shape, should be only a small portion of the field-naturalist's work. Skins and skulls are useful, but skins and skulls and measurements and proportions tell us only a little about the living animal. Most of us wish to learn something about its ways of life. George Bird Grinnell, Forczi'ord, Roosevelt Wild Life Bulletin, Vol. I, No. I, p. 9; 192 1. [162] THE PREDATORY AND FUR-BEARING ANIMALS OF THE YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK* \\\ AliLTON J\ Skinner Field Xaturalisf, Roosevelt Wild Life Forest Experiment Station, Syraense, Ahw York Formerly Park Xaturalist, Velloivstone Xational Park CONTENTS PAGE 1. Introduction 164 2. General Description of Yellowstone Park Conditions 165 Physical Character and Climate 165 Major Animal Habitats 166 Classes of Animals 168 3. Historical Development of the Yellowstone Fauna 169 Original Conditions 169 The Immigration of Large Mammals 175 Present Numbers of Predatory and Fur-bearing Animals. 179 4. Notes on the Predatory and Fur-bearing Animals in Yellowstone Park 183 5. The Value of Predatory Animals, and Where to Preserve Them 206 Economic and Educational Values of the Predators 206 Implications of the Destruction of Natural Conditions. ... 216 National Parks as Suitable Areas for Preserving Flesh- eaters and Fur-bearers 219 6 . Relation of the Yellowstone Animals to Park Policies 224 The First Civilian Regime 224 The Military Regime 225 The Park Protective Act 229 The National Park Service and Its Wild Life Policy 230 Progressive Extermination of the Carnivorous Animals. ... 236 Alternative Policy: Preserving the Parks in Natural Condition 239 7. Status of Wild Life Administration in Our National Parks. 248 Necessity of a Definite Protective Policy 249 Remaining Wild Life and Its Management in the Parks 2 53 8. Future Wild Life Administration in Yellowstone Park 265 9. Summary 273 10. List of References 274 *An abstract of this paper was read at the Sixth Annual Meeting, American Society of Mammalogists, held at Cambridge, Mass., April 15-17, 1924. [163] 164 Roosercit Wild Life Bulletin INTRODUCTION The ori,e[itial predatory and fur-bearing animals nf North America were so ])roHric as to l)e an unendino- source of amazement when they first became known to Euro]x\ Perhaps the French and Canadians were more (piickly ai)])reciative than the English colonies; probably because the New Englanders and the settlers of the Atlantic coast to the south were farmers, while the French were descended from a race noted for its love of luxuries and consequently more apprecia- tive of fine furs. AlthouiLih the Spaniards of the south and south- west were also a l)eaut\-loving race, they were too busy following the lure of gold to give a thought to humbler products of their country. 11iat the warmer climate of their colonies produced less valuable furs undoubtedly had its effect also. Although the French of the Canadas were the first to develop the fur trade, the English of the more southern Atlantic seaboard were not long in following their lead. With characteristic Yankee thoroughness they soon outstrip])ed their northern competitors. As a consequence, Canada has still a good supply of furs to draw upon, but the American trappers have reduced what was once the richest of fur countries to a point where we must conserve and augment our remaining animals in every possible way. In another way, our settlers and farmers were antagonistic to the carnivorous animals. On the farms, man's domestic animals are l^enned up and j^eculiarly subject to the attacks of the wild preda- tors; and the destruction that folk)ws is often very serious, indeed. For the farmer destroys the carnivorous animals wdienever he can to protect his domestic stock. Furthermore the farmers unwittingly aggravate the attacks on their animals b)- killing ofi:' the rodents that would otherwise furnish food to the predators. In the National P^arks in general, and in the Yellowstone Park in particular, there is no obligation to defend livestock ; but it has been thought proper with- out a thorough inxesligation to kill tlrj carnivorous species in order to have a greater increase of other forms of wild life, apparently considered more imi)ortant by those who ba\e the autborit\- to order the killing. It has not been appreciated that we need these predatory and fur- bearing animals alive and living their normal lives, that the situation in the Parks where we believed these animals were preserved is not satisfactorv. and that we are slowly losing a valuable possession there. Nevertheless, the Yellowstone National Park is a most logical Predatory Animals of Yelfozvsfone Pm^k 165 place to preserve our native animals. It is one of our largest Parks ; it has a strong and continuing protector; it has large areas of wild land ; and it is hetter stocked with a representative colony of wild life in an environment approaching primitive, natural conditions. In spite of these favorable factors, there has been little, or nothing, said about the situation and almost nothing has been written to show^ how unscientific, how careless, we have been in the Yellowstone National Park in the past. There have been no wholly adequate studies made and very little is positively known about the wild life' in this Park and the interrelations of the various species of its wild plants and animals. Careful, minute investigations should be made, on which a wise general policy for the care of all wild life, and for such control as may be needed, can be based. GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF YELLOWSTONE PARK CONDITIONS Physical Character and Climate. The Yellowstone Park was the first National Park to be established and it is still our largest park, having an area of 3348 square miles. Much the larger part of it lies in Wyoming, with narrow strips in Montana and Idaho. In addition, it is ]»roposed to add certain lands east and south of the present Park, including the Teton Mountains, and comprising about 1250 square miles. The enlarged Park will' then contain some 4600 square miles, or al)out 3,(XX3,0()0 acres,- — practically all wild land in its original condition except for man's ravages amongst its wild animals, and the fire scars in its forests. The Park's lowest ])oint, at the junction of the Gardiner and Yellowstone Rivers, is 5300 feet above sea level ; its highest point at the present time is Electric Peak, 11,125 feet above sea level (Fig. 38). Curiously, the highest and the lowest points are only six miles distant from each other. A large share of the Park is a lofty plateau with an average elevation of about 8000 feet above the sea (Table i ; Map i). This l)lateau has resulted from the outpouring of vast amounts of volcanic materials that have filled up an originally low valley between former high mountains, to the present level. The Yellowstone plateau presents much unevenness and diversity of surface, although the larger part of the rocks and soil are volcanic in origin. All the volcanic outbursts were prehistoric, and now there is no such activity except for the hot springs and geysers that remain as the last expir- ing remnants. So great a time has elapsed since they were active that even the outlines of the old volcanoes have been broken down and can no longer be easily recognized. i66 Roosevelt Wild Life Bulletin Table 1. Areas at Different Elevations in Yellowstone National Park Square Per cent Height above sea level, in feet miles of the Park 5300-6000 19 0.6 6000-6500 Q2 2.8 6500-7000 196 5.8 7000-7500 425 12.7 7500-8000 1 120 33.4 8000--8500 824 24.6 8500-9000 428 12.8 9000-9500 153 4.6 Above 9500 91 2.7 Total 3,348 100.0 Naturally such a large elevated area is peculiarly adapted to attract- ing and catching moisture, ensuring an ample rain and snow fall. Since the rainfall is generous on the plateau and the streams descend to the bordering lowlands quite abruptly, there are water- falls or tumultuous rapids on all. Yet the Yellowstone Park really lies in the dry belt and the air, except when it is actually storming, is dry and the climate almost desert-like. \\'ith such a set of condi- tions there is a striking difference in temperature between sunlight and shade, between noon and midnight, and between summer and winter. The summers are short and dry, yet the nights are cold enough on the plateau to have frosts every week in the year. August is almost always dry with scant rainfall. The autumns, springs and early summers are comparatively stormy. Winters are usually cold and bracing, but not so much snow falls as is usually the case in late autumn and early spring. Given such great daily variations, winds are frequent and sharp, and sometimes erratic, although usually light in the morning and stronger in the afternoon. The prevailing winds are from the southwest. Snow falls to an average depth of a foot at the northern entrance during the winter (see Figs. 26, 31, 49) — although seldom remaining long on the ground below 6000 feet elevation, — increases to many feet on the mountains, and declines to an average of four or five feet at the southern boundary. The average on the conifer-clad plateau is about four feet. There are no genuine glaciers actually within the Park and only a few perpetual snow-fields. This is probably due to the hot sunshine of the long summer days, and even more to the warm dry winds sweeping stead- ily across from the deserts of the southwest. The Major Animal Habitats. The primary habitat areas in Yellowstone National Park are shown on Map 2 at the end of this Predatory Animals of Yellowstone Park 167 Bulletin. This map has been compiled from my notes made durinj^- about twenty of the thirty-one years that have elapsed since I first visited the Park in 1895. During the time I have been in the Park, both winter and summer, I have travelled all roads and trails and also much country where there were neither, again and again, prob- ably 30,000 miles in all. Previous to this attempt, no data has been collected along this line. But now that we have this map, we can see a good many interesting things. Almost six per cent of the area is under water ; tw^elve per cent is in open, grassy lands (Fig. 24) ; nearly eighty per cent is covered by forest; and the remaining area, a little over two per cent, comprises grassy and rocky areas above timber line. At the latitude of Yellowstone National Park, timber line is approximately 9500 feet above sea level. Of course, there is a good deal of grass amongst the trees in the forested areas, especially in those regions that have been fire-swept and are not yet completely reforested. Still, the typical Park forest is dark and heavily shaded so that there is comparatively little or no undergrowth on the needle-strewn ground. There is also a large area (20 square miles) where the forest has recently died, as the result of a sprucr budworm infestation. For a time at least, this area (i^ per cent of the whole Park) should be subtracted from the forested area and added to the open, grassy lands. Over eight per cent of the forested lands is covered with aspens, willows, etc., and therefore available as browse for the elk, deer and moose. The remaining forests are coniferous with remarkably few species, not more than a dozen, all told. The lodgepole pine (Fig. 37) constitutes two-thirds of the forested area, or more than fifty per cent of the Park. Fortunately the region has never been extensively lumbered nor injured by the axe, although the dryness of the climate has permitted many severe forest fires. But the burnt-over lands are usually quickly reforested, especially by the lodgepole pine. If there is any of the Sonoran Life Zone represented in the Park, it is by very limited areas. The Transition Zone is also compara- tively limited. The great bulk of the Park lies within the Canadian Zone although an important part is Hudsonian. As indicated by Table i, over two per cent of the Park lies above timber line and consequently in the Arctic-Alpine Life Zone (Fig. 36). While some of the soil, notably in the grassy areas, is rich and of fine quality, much of Yellowstone National Park is a coarse, volcanic sand and therefore rather sterile. Yet the parks and meadows scat- tered through the forests are important grazing grounds. Many of them are due to silt caught in old-time ponds backed up by beaver koosevelt Wild Life Bulletin (lams (Fig. 41) that may long ago have broken and rotted away, leaving no sign of their presence save the resulting meadows which have since naturally drained. 1 should judge that a very large part of the smaller Yellowstone meadows are thus due to beaver. Classes of Animals. The animals of the Yellowstone National ]\'irk may be divided into three general classes on the basis of their environmental relations and practical administration: the so-called "big game animals," including those like the elk (Figs. 26, 50, 51), deer (Figs. 30, 31) and buffalo, that are very interesting to the tourists; the rodents (Figs. 28. 29, 43, 47) whose great place in nature, although many of them are of exceeding interest also, seems to be to turn vegetation into food for the predacious animals through the medium of their own bodies ; and the predatory and fur-bearing animals, — of which two at least, namely the bear (Figs. 25, 34, 39, 40) and the beaver (Figs. 27, 42, 48), exceed all other Yellowstone animals in point of interest f()r the tourists, — whose preservation is most difficult of all. The game animals live in all parts of the Park. Being largely grazing animals, their movements are leased upon the presence of suitable forage. In summer, they are on the mountain pastures where the areas above timl)er line are important grazing groinids for elk, deer and mountain shee]) (Figs. 36, 38) ; but in winter the snow drives them down t(j the grazing lands lowest in elevation (Figs. 44, 50), and they would naturally leave the Park altogether and go still lower if it were safe to do so. Although a few rodents even have their homes above timber line, they are most numerous at the lowest elevations ; but a few like the snowshoe rabbits and porcupines live normally in the forests on the plateau. In general the rodents either hibernate or else store up food for winter use, so that they are not out of doors much during the colder months. Of course, there are some exceptions, like the rabbits, which are about and active all winter. The predatory and fur-bearing animals live in all parts of the Park, from the lowest elevation to the highest, and from the barest desei't to the heaviest of forested lands. The terms "predatory animals" and "fur-bearing animals" mean almost the same species. All the predacious species are fur-bearers although one or two, like the bobcat, have pelts of comparatively little value. A few of the fur- bearers, such as the beaver and the muskrat, are not predatory. The bears and the skunks hibernate, and the badgers and beaver either live through the winter on stored food or enter a partial hibernation. Predatory Animals of YeUozvstone Parh But the great bulk of the predatory animals are as active in winter as in summer, and this is the direct cause of the pressing problem con- nected with them. Their natural food, the rodents, are safe under ground, or at least under the snow and ice. Then the carnivores are obliged to turn to other food, and unfortunately the only available supply is the rabbits and the game animals. But the game animals cannot retreat to the plains for safety as they normally would, and are unable to withstand this concentrated and more or less unnatural attack upon them. Consequently, although the carnivorous animals attract little adverse criticism in summer while they are preying on their natural food, in winter they become conspicuous because of the animals they kill. The various classes of animals are so interrelated, and each one is such an important part of the whole balance, that we should study carefully the probable results before we interfere. After having once disturbed nature, we should be still more careful before we try to rectify the first interference with another unconsidered dis- turbance. Darwin's classic example of the relationship between house cats and clover is well known ! In the Yellowstone National Park, the coyotes (Figs. 23, 32, 33) are the most prominent of the predatory animals, yet they are im- portant checks on the increase of ground squirrels (Fig. 29), mice and rabbits. And these latter animals destroy much vegetation that is needed by the antelope, deer, elk and bufifal6. It is reported that in Alaska the overabundance of rabbits which feed on the same food as the moose — willows, beech twigs and leaves, alder bush, aquatic plants, etc., — is bringing starvation upon the moose ('*An Alaskan," American Forestry, Vol. 29, 1924, p. 750). HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE YELLOW- STONE FAUNA Original Conditions. When pioneers first entered the western plains and mountains they found there a wonderful aggregation of large animals, especially on the broad, wide open prairies and plains. In the mountains, all of the dififerent species were represented by more scattered individuals, probably because the mountains did not contain such a superabundance of food so widely distributed. In later days wild life was more abundant in the mountains. But that this was not so originally, we find very evident from a careful perusal of Lewis and Clark's journals. While they were on the plains, and right up to the time they entered the mountains, these v/o Roosevelt Wild Life Bulletin explorers were able to supj^ly themselves with an abundance of fresh meat. But after they entered the mountains, game practically ceased ; and when they met the Shoshoni Indians on the headwaters of the Jefferson River even the Indians had only salmon and berry cakes to trade to them (Wheeler, '04, Vol. 2, p. 57). A little later, on Sept. 12, Lewis and Clark speak of the ''scantiness of game" and relate that the Indians had to peel the pine trees "to procure the inner bark for food" (I.e., p. 81). On Sept. 14 they "killed a colt, on which they made a hearty supper" (I.e., p. 91). And after that, Lewis and Clark were forced to depend on horses secured of the Indians, and even on dogs purchased from the same source, for their only food supply. And this condition was prevalent all through the mountains ; traveller after traveller speaks of the abundance on the buffalo plains and contrasts that abundance with the comparatively gameless mountains in those early and primitive days. At a later date, when the hunters and settlers worked steadily west of the Missouri, the larger "game" animals were forced to retreat towards the mountains. "Under these conditions not less than 90 per cent of all the big game remaining between the Mississippi Val- ley and the Pacific Coast has been forced to retreat to the moun- tains traversing that vast region. There among the rugged peaks and forest-covered slopes which characterize our remaining wilder- ness are sheltered the survivors of the wonderful hosts of big game animals which once graced so large a part of the continent." (Nel- son, '17, p. 139.) From these general conditions, the Yellowstone National Park was not at all exempt : "As a game country in those early days, it could not compare with the lower surrounding valleys" (Chittenden, '18, p. iij. When the discovery party led by Washburn, Langford, and Doane explored the then unknown headwaters of the Yellow- stone, they found very few animals present. They speak of an antelope killed in the Blacktail valley and that they had plenty of venison in camp that night, but there was no more game killed dur- ing their remaining four weeks of travel through what is now the finest of the Yellowstone game regions (cf. Langford, '05, pp. 15, 19). In fact, it is really astonishing how few animals this party did see. A black bear was seen near the Mt. Washburn Hot Springs (I.e., p. 23) ; tracks of grizzlies, etc., were seen near Crystal Falls (I.e., p. 28) ; tracks of a herd of elk were seen near Park Point and of another herd south of Yellowstone Lake (I.e., pp. 57, 62) ; Fig. 24. View of Lamar and Soda Butte valleys, showing the lowland grassy area, aspen in center foreground, coniferous forest on lower slopes o"5 Druid Peak (at left), and 1 he Thunderer with its peak ab()ve timber line (in distance). Yellowstone Park, Nov. i, lOi/. Fig. 25. Black bears are common, and of intense interest to visitors, who never fail to see them in the Yellowstone National Park. September, 1922. \J2 Predatory Animals of Vclloivstonc Park 173 and a grizzly hear and culis were seen south of Yellowstone Lake (I.e., p. 67). In addition, Mr. Langford speaks several times of the panthers' screams heard during the night. But these are remark- ahly few animals to see in the wilderness during a five weeks' trip. So few, indeed, that I do not wonder that rations were short south of Yellowstone Lake and throughout the remainder of the trip (I.e., p. 83). The government Hayden Survey of 1871 saw even fewer animals. Although they had professional hunters with them, employed especially to keep the Survey supplied with meat. Dr. Hayden says : "Our hunters returned, after diligent search for two and a half days [from their camp at South Arm, Yellowstone Lake] with only a hlack-tailed deer, which, though poor, was a most important addi- tion to our larder" (Hayden. '72, p. 131). And this is the only animal recorded in this report. The party conducted hy Capts. Barlow and Heap, army engineers, that same year of 1871, had better success. This party of fifteen men were in the Park about five weeks and evidently recorded every animal seen. Capt. Barlow's official report for July 23, 1871, says: "One of the men killed a large brown bear and three cubs. The latter were brought in and served our mess with delicious steak for several meals" (Barlow, '71, p. ti). Three days later, Capt. Bar- low saw three elk at the foot of the southern slope of Mt. Washburn (I.e., p. 14). On Aug. 12. one member of the party killed a deer near i\It. Sheridan (I.e., p. 35), and four days later they "encountered a large grizzly bear and cub" near Bridger Lake (I.e., p. 37). It is not recorded that they shot this grizzly and cub. Evidently they did not, for the next day "provisions were just exhausted." "Several elk and deer" were seen on ]\Iirror Plateau on Aug. 25 (I.e., p. 40). But just as soon as they came down oflf the Park plateau and were on lower ground, they saw "numerous bands of antelope" in the upper Lamar Valley. The next day, still nearer Mammoth Hot Springs, they killed an elk and a deer (I.e., pp. 40-41). Although I have recorded all the animals seen on an extensive trip, the number is very meagre indeed. Most eloquent of the paucit\- of game animals is the fact that a party of fifteen all armed, and some at least expert shots, allowed their supplies to become "just exhausted" eight days before the end of the tr\]^ so that they had to send back for more food! Yet this ])arty covered a gcxjd deal of territory never before visited by a white man. so far as we know\ Dr. F. V. Hayden led another government exploring party into the new Yellowstone National Park (set aside as such March i, 174 Roosevelt JJ'ild Life Bulletin 1872) in 1872 and this time they had naturalists attached to the party. Yd these experts record only wolverine, skunk, red squirrel, chipmunk. 2 s])ecies of mice, Baird's rahhit, and 3 species of hats, collected ; and there is no mention of either other mammals or game anywhere in the report (Hayden, '73, pp. 662-669). But Dr. John M. Coulter, hotanist of Mr. Stevenson's section of this party, has written an interesting letter, dated April 28, 1924, saying: "One of the very definite recollections, however, is of a trip I made to the edge of the geyser hasin with the professional hunter whose busi- ness it was to keep us in fresh meat, when we ran into a tremendous herd of elk; in fact, it was so large a herd that the hunter, who had spent all his life in the west, was surprised at it. An occasional moose came into our camp at night and investigated our tents." In 1873, Capt. William A. Jones, army engineer, led a party of thirty-one men into the Park and remained thirty-one days visiting many new and remote sections. Yet this party, also, had trouble finding game and were soon so short of rations, they had to send a party post haste to Fort Ellis, a hundred miles away, for a pack train load. On the east side of the Park, near what is now Pahaska Teepee, ''a mule deer was killed" and furthermore the report says that "elk, deer, and trout are abundant" (Jones, '74, p. 19). But this territory is on the outside of the Park, and easily accessible from the plains where the animals were then. "Two bears came down to witness our passage" through Jones Pass on Aug. 2, 1873 (I.e., p. 21). On the same page it is recorded that an elk was killed near Yel- lowstone Lake the next day. A week later, the report says: "Pro- visions are getting low" (I.e., p. 27). And from that time until Sept. 2 the party was unable to secure any game, and did not even see any, although they went around Yellowstone Lake and up the Upper Yellowstone Valley, a very fine wild animal range at the present time. Another ])arty visited the Park in 1873 and left us some interest- ing records. It was led by Theo. B. Comstock, a noted geologist who was also interesterl in animals. Tn fact, he was the first to advocate the desirability of the ^'ellowstone as a wild animal reserve, but he speaks of the necessity of iutvoducincf and preserving ani- mals! He mentions no animals as then in the Park except: "mule deer which is occasionally met in this region" (Comstock, '74, p 75), and "the order Rodentia is well represented in this section" (I.e., p. 164). In many ways, a party of visitors in 1874, led by the Earl of Dunraven, has left a still more interesting record, because all its Predatory Animals of Yellowstone Park 175 members, except the cook, were experienced hunters. Near Mam- moth Hot Springs they killed five antelope to take along as a suppl}- of meat (Dunraven, '22, p. 289). On the south side of Mt. Wash- burn, the party "found wapiti close to camp, and Campbell fired at but missed a stag. Jack killed one later in the day" (I.e., p. 192). An old bull elk. too poor to eat, was killed near the Yellowstone River between Canyon and Hayden \'alley (I.e., p. 204). But a few days later : "meat had been growing very scarce for the last few days. We had scraped clean the bones of the antelope we packed with us from Gardiner's River." So they halted and all hands hunted two days in the upper end of Hayden Valley, where thousands of eik summer now. But Dunraven says : "not a single fresh track and nothing whatever eatable to be seen" (I.e.. p. 219). Two men stayed at this place longer to hunt, while the others visited the Geysers and then returned to find the two "hard up for food, for the country had produced no game [p. 247], . . . we had counted upon getting plenty of game . . . not an atom of fresh meat had we tasted for days" (I.e., p. 288). During the return of the Dunraven party, they encountered antelope (15 individuals in all) on the Black- tail, and hunted all the way to Mammoth but secured nothing what- ever (I.e., pp. 289-295). Capt. Ludlow made a rapid surveying reconnaissance into the Park in 1875 with a party of twenty-two persons, including George Bird Grinnell as naturalist, and was in the Park only two weeks. Just before reaching Tower Creek "two deer were seen, the only game animals we encountered in the park" (Ludlow, '76, p. 30). In addition, a cougar was seen on the Yellowstone River near Alum Creek (I.e., p. 63). Dr. Grinnell reports there were considerable numbers of elk and bighorn, and that moose and mountain buffalo were abundant (I.e., pp. 69-71). But this would seem to be based on information from other sources, especially in view of Capt. Ludlow's statement that two deer were the only game animals seen. The report of the Hayden Survey of 1878 does not mention any mammals at all except to say that the Falls River Basin "is one of the few remaining haunts of the moose in the Northwest" (Hay- den, '83, Vol. 2, p. 468). The Immigration of Large Mammals. It becomes evident however from Grinnell's information that game animals were be- coming more abundant, and by 1878 this was noted by several parties. As the period 1870- 1878 coincides with the last great killing on the plains, it seems quite likely that the surviving animals retreated more 176 koosevelt Wild Life Bulletin and more into the monntains, especially in the summer, to escape the slauiihter. For a time, jjrohahly until a large part of the lowland outside the Park was taken up and fenced, these animals that sum- mered in the Park were driven hy snow each winter to the plains and lower valleys outside. Visitors to the Park since 1878 usually speak of the large numher of animals. Capt. F. A. Boutelle, Acting Superintendent, speaks of the increasing number of animals in his report for 1889 (Boutede, '89, p. 22). Mr. Arnold Hague gives a fascinating picture. "The Park supplies what is really needed — a zoological reservation where big game may roam unmolested by the intrusion of man, rather than a zoological garden inclosed by fences, and the game fed or sustained more or less by artificial methods. . . . All the large game animals of the northern Rocky jNIountains are known in the Park except the white goat {Mazauia inontana) and the caribcju (Rangifcr tarandns) . . . Elk, moose, deer, antelope, moun- tain sheep, buffalo and bears are found . . . For elk, the park is an ideal country.^ They frequent the alpine meadows and grassy terraces, passing freely from one to the other of the open uplands. Where streams How through these openings, or ponds occupy shal- low depressions, the elk resort to them in large numbers during summer and autumn" (Hague, '93, pp. 252-254). The rodents — mice, gophers, squirrels, rabbits, woodchucks, etc., — have always been abundant in this region so far as we know. In fact, Theo. B. Comstock speaks of them in 1873 as "well repre- sented" in the quotation already given (Comstock, '74, p. 164). Still, it seems likely that the ground squirrel {CitcUus unnatHs Kennicott) has increased in number and enlarged its range within the Park in recent years. Beaver (Castor canadensis canadensis Kuhl) have always been quite common in Yellowstone National Park, and, although fluctua- tions are noticed at times, the actual number present remains about the same throughout a course of years. Since this paper bears on the status of the predatory and fur- bearing animals, it may appear strange that I have not mentioned them so far in this chapter. But the whole life and habits of the carnivorous animals depend directly upon the presence, or absence, of the other classes. Game animals are grazers and browsers, living on various forage plants ; and the rodents are largely eaters of grasses and herbs. On the other hand, the carnivores must neces- 1 Mr. Hague evidently overlooked the lack of adequate winter forage, a condition that had not made itself manifest at the time he wrote. Predatory Animals of Yellowstone Park ^77 sarily depend on the bodies of other animals for food. This means that before predacious forms can thrive in a certain section, there must be a fair supply of other animals already established. Hence the necessity, in any animal problem, of determining first the food sup])ly available. "Throughout the animal world we find that not only is the abundance of the higher predatory animals dependent upon the abundance of the lower forms upon which they prey, or which may indirectly affect their food supply, but this dependence may result in remarkable periodic fluctuations in the numbers of the predatory forms" (Hewitt, *2i, p. 213). Naturally the small meat-eaters prey on the smaller animals, es- pecially the rodents. Since the rodents were originally common, it is quite probable that the carnivores that pursued them were com- mon also. Yet their total number has never been great ; and it is very small now, as mav be seen from Table 2. page 180: indeed some of the s])ecies are dangerously near the vanishing point. While we have no early reports as to their actual abundance, it seems quite likely that most of the smaller fur-bearers have maintained their former numbers. An exception is the pine marten (Maries aiucri- cana caurina Merriam) which seems to have declined during the last ten years, iwssibly because of heavy trapping in the forests surrounding the Yellowstone National Park. In addition to the smaller meat-eaters, the mountain lion (Fcli's hippolestcs Merriam) has always been reported rather common in the Yellowstone although subject to great fluctuations in numbers present at any one time. The bears, both black bears (Urstis amcricanus Pallas) and grizzlies (Ursus Jwrribilis Ord), are carnivorous at times. Still, they eat so much food other than meat — being able, indeed, to do without meat altogether — that their depredations on animals other than mice, ground squirrels and woodchucks, are negligible. While they have always been common and still are, for that matter, in tTie regions under consideration, they have no special bearing on the wild animal population except to maintain a check on the three rodents just named. The coyote or ])rairie wolf (Cam's latrans Say), was. as the latter name indicates, primarily a ]M-airie or plains animal and very seldom penetrated the mountains, and still less often actually lived there. Dr. George Bird Grinnell who visited the Park in 1875 and whose 178 Roosevelt Wild Life Bulletin opinion I value highly, has just written me: "It has always been my impression that wolves and coyotes in old times were not often seen in the park. They were animals of the open country rather than of the forest as I recall it" (Grinnell, in letter dated March 4, 1924). That is, they stayed down on the plains where the carcasses of larger game animals as well as rodents could be secured for food. the destruction of the game animals on the plains, the settle- ment of the lower country, and the intensive killing of the coyotes' preferred food — rodents — through trap and poison, large numbers of the canines retreated to the mountains just as so many game animals had done. Here in the Yellowstone National Park they found rodents abundant and they remained and established them- selves. Furthermore, it seemed as if the coyotes were as quick to appreciate the advantages of protection as the game animals had been, and just as ready to take advantage of it. Hewitt has expressed it particularly well : "The creation on any extensive scale of wild life reserves will inevitably result in an increase within, and the attraction to such reserves of predatory mammals such as wolves and coyotes, and of birds such as eagles, great horned owls, and such noxious hawks as the goshawk. Cooper's, and sharp-shinned hawks,- owing to the fact that these reserves will not only contain a larger number of the animals and their young which predatory animals destroy, but as the reserves afford sanctuary to such animals they will tend to contain a much greater abundance of wild life than neighbouring territory. Following the general rule in nature that predatory species collect where the species on which they subsist occur in unusual abundance, an increase in game and other animals will bring about an increase in their enemies, especially when the latter are harassed elsewhere" (Hewitt, '21, p. 193). Later on, Hewitt says : "When we study these phenomena as they occur in our wild life, the dependence of the larger animals upon the abundance of the smaller is very marked, and we discover the significance of the well-known ])eriodical increase and decrease in the prevalence of many of the well-known members of our wild life" (Hewitt, '21, p. 214). So long as they confined their attacks to the mice, gophers, and ground squirrels, the coyotes had a safe home. But these animals 2 As far as the Yellowstone is concerned, the birds named have not increased appreciably. Predatory Animals of Yellowstone Park 179 were to be had only in summer. When winter came the coyotes were rehictant to leave the ])rotection they had found, and preyed upon the only animals to be had — the i^ame. This in turn roused the Park authorities who began killing the coyotes to save the game animals assumed by them to be more valuable. In Dr. Grinnell's words, the timber wolf (Canis nubilus Say) was an "animal of the open country," and "not often seen in the park." It is likely that an occasional one wandered in. Howard Eaton, told me he saw them within the boundaries as early as 1890. Thereafter, they were occasionally reported, one or two each year. In 1912, I saw four near the Lamar \'alley. After that, signs of their presence increased and I bciieved they were coming in faster. I had no proof of this, however, until Sept. 7, 1914, when I found an extraordinarily bold pack of eleven big fellows in the Pelican Valley. That winter of 191 4- 191 5 two or three packs harried the elk on the lower, open valleys of the Park. There the elk and other animals were at a disadvantage in the snow, especially when it was crusted, the lighter-weight wolves being able to run over snow that would not support their heavier prey. As the wolves found abundant food and ample, secure breeding dens, they, also, were able to establish themselves and remain in spite of every effort to kill and dislodge them from the region. Summing up, we have now in the Yellowstone National Park a section where small fur-bearers are native and not too numerous ; where rodents are abundant ; where game animals were not common originally but are now able to maintain a precarious existence on ground unsuitable to them in winter, and against foes not so much handicapped ; and where coyotes and wolves were not common deni- zens there originally, but have increased and now prey on the rodents in summer and on the game animals in winter. Present Numbers of Predatory and Fur-bearing Animals. Because of their elusive and mobile character, wild animals are difficult to enumerate under natural conditions. Particularly the carnivora, hunters and hunted as they are, are extremely hard to estimate with any degree of accuracy. In Table 2 I have listed the predacious and fur-bearing mammals now existing in Yellowstone Park, and have given as close an estimate of their numbers as I could. . i8o Roosevelt Wild Life Bulletin Table 2, Predatory and Fi;r-bearing Animals now Living in the Yellowstone Park Kind of animal. Relative status. Grizzly Bear. . . Black Bear . . . . Gra\- wolf Coyote Red Fox Marten Fisher Wolverine Weasels Mink Northern Skunl Badger Otter Mountain Lion. Canada Lynx. . Bobcat Muskrat Beaver 40 150 20 400 (in the autumn) 12 200 Doubtful if any are present 6-8 200 150 100 200 60 12 10 6-8 No data for an estimate. . . About 10,000 Decreasing. Stationary. Decreasing. A yearly kill of possibly 150 necessary to check undue increase. Stationary. Decreasing. Always was rare. Decreasing. Stationary. Decreasing. Stationary. Increasing. Decreasing. Stationary. Stationary. Stationary. Stationary. Stationary. The figures comprising this table have been compiled from a mass of field notes gathered from 1914 to 1925 inclusive, except for a short period during the war. The ten years previous also con- tributed to the final result by making me more famihu- with the ground to be covered and the animals likely to be found, a very necessary apprenticeship to a careful check-up. During the first men- tioned period, I travelled Yellowstone National Park from end to end on foot, on horseback, and by automobile, and much of it was covered in winter when deep snow permitted only travel on skis. Whenever I saw an animal or a track, I noted it down in my note book at once and later plotted it on a map, or rather a series of mai)s. These maps soon showed where these animals lived and how^ many, approximately, to each "township" area. After these figures had been secured for each township, it was easy to add them together to get the whole predatory population. Such a table, based on only one year's experience would have been little more than an interesting guess, but twelve such }'ears checked one against the others has given a result that should be approximately correct, although subject to fluctuations from year to year. l82 Fig. 29. The mantled ground squirrel resembles a large chipmunk and is an important element of the rodent population. This one has his cheek pouches filled with oats spilled by horses. Predatory Animals of Yellowstone Park 183 NOTES ON THE PREDATORY AND FUR-BEARING ANIMALS IN YELLOWSTONE PARK Grizzly Bear; Silvertip. Ursiis horribilis Ord. — This bear (Fig. 34) has been well known in Yellowstone National Park ever since the first authentic exploration in 1870 by the Washburn- Doane Expedition which recorded seeing grizzly bears in the for- ested wilderness south of Yellowstone Lake. Although it is esti- mated that they number 40 in the Park at the present time, it is probable that this figure is not a greatly reduced one from the original population. It is not likely that the grizzly was ever as numerous here as in some other parts of its range. The grizzly ranges largely in the forested sections but I have seen it in the open Lamar Val- ley, on the upland prairie called Hayden Valley, and on the bald ridges above timber line. The food of this animal is largely vegetable in character — grass, leaves, berries, bulbs, roots and mushrooms. It is an important destroyer of mice, gophers and ground squirrels. While I have seen it kill young elk and bufifalo, I have never considered that it killed the larger animals to any appreciable extent. In the Yellowstone National Park the grizzly feeds somewhat on the garbage from hotels and camps, but not to the extent that the black bear does. The grizzly here has an inoffensive disposition, seeking only to avoid trouble. Although accidents have occurred, and even human lives have been lost, in every case without exception it has been proved that a person was at fault, or that the bear had reason to think so, at least. A grizzly breeds every third year, sometimes every second year, and normally raises two or three cubs at a time. The total number is decreasing because they are being trapped and shot outside the Park, and all about the boundaries. Their status is not satisfactory because the total number of breeding grizzlies is so small. They are of great importance to the Park and of intense interest to the visitors. While the writer was in charge of the Yellow- stone's Government Information Bureau, he asked a long series of visitors what they found most interesting in the Park, and 42 per cent answered : "Bears." Probably the grizzly shares equally with the black bear in this interest, for while not so often seen, he is invested with a greater interest ])erhaps because of the greater quantity of literature about him. His role in Yellowstone National Park is that of an inofifensive animal, strictly minding his own Roosevelt Wild Life Bulletin business. He is a check on the mice, i^round squirrels and wood- chucks, and an active ai^ent in scatterini^^ and plantinj]^ tree and berry seeds. In the Park, <;rizzHes must l)e absohitely protected ; their cap- ture for outside museums and zoos shoukl be discontinued ; and they should be better protected in the surrounding States. Black Bear. Ursus aincricanus Pallas. — The brown bears, the cinnamons, and the yellowish bears are only color varieties of the black bear (Figs. 25. 39. 40). Frequently the black bear has a white breast patch, or varied marking. This bear has been a member of the fauna ever since the Park's discovery. At the present time, there are estimated to be about 150 inrlivifluals present, — less than there were twenty years ago and probably less than there were originallv. These bears roam about a good deal and many are trapped and shot after they cross the Park boundaries, on all sides. They frequent all parts of the Park although they prefer the coniferous forests of the ])lateau to the lower, unforested sections. Still, they are actually out on the open hills and valleys at times. Their food is largely vegetable, and great quantities of grass, leaves, bark, berries and roots are devoured. But they also devour large numbers of insects, mice and ground squirrels, and they in- terfere with the larger animals only to a limited extent. Most of the regular bear inhabitants of the Park sooner or later discover the garbage thrown out for them, and during July and August garbage is a considerable item of their food. In September and October they do a good deal of damage to food supplies and to the camps and storehouses in which food is kept. Black bears are disposed to attend to their own business, but the tourists and the concessioners' employees seem possessed to feed and them, especially the cubs. For a time, there is no special harm in this. But it has the efifect of making the bears too familiar with mankind, so that when they become larger they lose their fear and grow destructive. Being very treacherous and strong, it is never safe to allow one of these half -tamed bears to approach closely. The attempt to feed bears from the hands is highly dangerous. Black l)(.-ars ])reed every third }ear. in some cases every second year. The average number of cubs is two, although as many as four have been seen with one mother. The total number of bears in the Park is slowlv decreasing, due to the fact that they wander a good deal, especially in fall, and are shot or trapped soon after crossing Predatory Animals of Yellowstone Park i8s the Park boundary. The practice of catching and shipping out bears to any public park or zoo, especially when breeding females are caught, is further depleting the supply. These bears share with the grizzlies the keen interest that a bear has for all visitors. It would be as great a calamity to Yellowstone National Park to lose the bears as to have Old Faithful geyser stop playing, or the Yellowstone Falls run dry! Not only do the bears amuse and instruct the Park visitors, but their pictures form an essential part of all the Yellowstone moving picture films that are circulating over not only this nation, but over Europe and all foreign countries as well. As an educational and as an advertising feature, bears are well-nigh priceless to the Yellowstone. The role of the black bear in nature is that of a scavenger, and as a check on mice, ground squirrels and other rodents. He is an im- portant destroyer of forest insects and grubs : and he is of value in the destruction of old logs, and in the planting of trees, shrubs and berries. He does no damage except to storehouses containing food and to people who get too familiar with him. No control methods are needed for the black bear, but the people should be prevented from feeding and molesting the bears. Better protection is needed in the surrounding States, and trapping for menageries should be discontinued within the Park itself. Gray or Timber \\'olf. Canis nuhilis Say.- — A large propor- tion of the wolves in Yellowstone National Park, possibly as much as 40 per cent, are black, and the remainder are gray. Originally the wolf was a rare animal here, but it is likely that a few wandered in from time to time. They began to increase about 191 4, soon num- bered about sixty, and maintained themselves until severe hunting by the Park Rangers has again reduced their numbers to the point of extermination. Wolves range throughout the more 0])en parts of the Park, usually following the elk herds to and fro in their spring and autumn mi- grations. Localities where I have seen them, range from 6000 feet up to timber line at 9500 feet, and while most of them were in open valleys, some wolves were in the forest. ^ly records are mostly for the northern and eastern sections of the Park, possibly because there is not enough food in the southern and western sections where the game animals do not go in so large numbers. In summer, they catch small prey, such as mice, woodchucks, rab- bits and squirrels, and attract very little attention. In winter they kill elk and deer, and even antelope and mountain sheep, and cause Roosevelt Wild Life Bulletin considerable damage ; but even so, it is likely they kill mostly the old, the diseased, and the unfit. Probably as many as two or three elk were killed e\cr\ day during;- the winter, a few years ago, but this was counterbalanced somewhat by the good the wolves did in devour- ing dead animals and carrion. \\diile the wolves in the Yellowstone National Park are bolder than they are outside, they are still wilder and more wary than other Park animals. Wolves' dens are apt to be in natural caves or cavities among th. rocks and glacial debris. They breed every year, one litter a year of from three to six pups. Other authorities give a higher figure else- u-here. Three lots of pups that I knew of were born about Alarch I. but did not leave the dens for some time after that date. A pair of wolves keep together throughout all seasons and probably mate for life. The rate of increase without artificial control and where food is plentiful is about 60 per cent of all wolves present. Probably there is no danger to people in the Yellowstone because of these wolves. Possibly a man might be in danger in winter if he encountered a pack of wolves made aggressive by poor hunting. It is possibly just as well to keep them in awe of man by more or less steady hunting. These wolves are too seldom seen to be of any value to visitors although all are interested to know they are present. The wolf is of positive value as a scavenger and as a killer of weak and diseased wild stock. There is little doul)t but that they played their part in developing speed and cunning among many forms of animals and in preventing epidemics. Coyote. Cauls lafrcuis Say. — The coyote (Figs. 23. 32, 33) was not probably originally native to the Park but came in after persecu- tion began in the lower country ; or perhaps it followed the grazing animals in. It is said that both the wolf and the coyote followed the sheep herds when they were first brought to the Park boundaries, or driven in to the slaughterhouse. I have ])Iaced the numl^er of coy- otes in the Park in the autumn as 400. At that time the Rangers begin their annual campaign and gradually reduce the number to 200 coyotes or less by spring. The usual winter kill is from 150 to 250, but the yearly increase just about averages this number. Coyotes are common in all parts of Yellowstone National Park and at all elevations. X'ernon Bailey's notes would indicate that they were partial to the lower open country. It is probable that the coy- ote originally lived in the open altogether, but many are now living in the forested places, sometimes in the densest parts. Nor are Predatory Animals of Yellowstone Park 187 they merely passing through the forest, for they Hve there steadily. But even these forest animals hunt the meadows and open parks for mice and other rodents. It has got to the point, I helieve, that there are fully as many in the forest as in the open, especially in sum- mer. They are as frequent ahout hahitations as elsewhere ; at times, more so. Many, if not all, of the forest-dwelling coyotes remain there even in winter although food then becomes very scarce. A trapper, Mr. Musser, operating about Old Faithful in the heavy lodgepole pine forest, caught from fifteen to twenty every winter. Since all parts of the Park are lived in, all kinds of habitats are frequented. Coyotes are in the open and sagebrush lands far from any forests ; in the brushy areas ; along streams under the cotton- woods, willows and alders ; in the lowest forests where groves of aspen and Douglas fir alternate with open parks ; in the aspen, Douglas fir, limber pine, cedar, lodgepole pine, spruce, white-bark pine, and the stunted timber line forests ; even above timber line at times and out on the bald summits, and in high mountain hollows and meadows. At times, coyotes are even in the canyons, on slide rock, and in rocky gulches. Also in the burnt-over land, and in tangled windfalls. I frequently see them on the hot spring and geyser formations, probably in search of the rodents and other small animals and birds that frequent such sites. In summer, when the females are tied to a den of pups, and the males to their mates, for they are exemplary family animals, I doubt if the individual goes more than two or three miles from its home. In winter they may follow game animals to the winter ranges, but many do not. Those that stay at home, and those that go to the game ranges and establish a home there, seldom range out more than four or five miles from the den. I have observed no periodic movement except that mentioned above. Yet coyotes evidently appreciate the protection given in the Park and have moved in from the outside. Similarly, if severely hunted by the Park Rangers, they may leave their accustomed ranges altogether. I believe the most common item of the coyote menu is mice of various kinds, with ground squirrels and rabl)its closely competing in weight of meat furnished, if not in actual numbers. 1 often see them hunting mice and grasshoppers in summer, and even more often in September and October. On October 10, 1922, I found one on a small meadow so engrossed he paid no attention to me but allowed me a full view of his operations. The grass was not high, i88 Roosevelt Wild Life Bulletin but what there was of it had matted down and afforded some cover for the mice. When the coyote heard, or perhaps smelt them, he "pointed" them for a few minutes (see Figs. 23, 32, 33) and then by a sudden spring he had them under his paws. Only tw^o or three bites to a mouse. On this occasion the coyote caught a mouse about every four minutes. On March 27, 19 14, I saw a coyote find and jump a rabbit in the same way, but in this case the prey was quick enough to get away, pr()l)ably having received some warning before the coyote leaped. I frequently see coyotes near water and I assume they get frogs, snakes, and small birds there in addition to mice. I know they frequently get small ducklings, and even the adults, for I have found the remains of mallards and Barrow golden-eyes that had been caught and eaten. I have seen coyotes sneaking upon ducks on Twin Ponds and on Swan Lake and along Yellowstone River. I have seen a rather unsophisticated one try to catch a goose; and they occasionally catch and eat the white pelican of Yellowstone Lake. While coyotes occasionally come to the garbage piles, they are more timid and allow the bears to monopolize them most of the time. But they will eat any scraps they can find, either there or about camps. I have seen them nosing about old camp sites. On May 15, 191 5, after a snowy night, I found their tracks all about my tent and even within two feet of the canvas. After the summer is well started they find a good many lunches and scraps along the road, and for two or three months they haunt the roadways, espe- cially at night. For this reason they are often seen when the auto- mobile headlights flash on them. In winter, when the rodents are hil^ernating or underground, the coyotes combine in packs and hunt the larger animals. It is always difficult to tell when coyotes have actually killed animals, because they almost always find a carcass and their tracks may obscure that of the real killer. I do not believe coyotes kill a third of the animals charged against them. In many cases they find a dead or dying animal. But they do sometimes kill quite large animals. I have seen coyotes chasing antelope and deer (Feb. 11, 1915). On Nov. 5, 1919, I found a case where a five-months-old elk had evidently been killed by a pack of covotes. I was going along Slough Creek canyon on the trail. M\ notes read: "For some time I followed tracks of four coyotes in the trail, and then suddenly ran on to eight magpies and a coyote at the carcass of a fresh-killed elk calf. Evidently the coyotes had secured their prey by suddenly springing on it. The entrails had been eaten, the meat not yet disturbed." Predatory Animals of Yellowstone Park 189 Coyotes are noted scavengers, finding a carcass as soon as dead and returning to it time after time as long as a shred of anything eatal)le remains. For this reason, among others, they are vahiable to mankind. Here in Yellowstone National Park where they are seldom shot at, considering the number of people they see, they often become astonishingly tame, especially in late summer and fall. On July II, 1917, I met with a coyote on Mary Mountain trail so tame he only turned out a hundred feet to pass me. On Oct. 10, 1922, one allowed me to drive up to within a hundred feet or so. On Oct. 27, 1 9 14, a coyote on the open flat with no bushes or grass to conceal him crouched flat and let me pass 150 yards away. On Oct. 22, 1 91 7, a coyote ran across the road ahead of me but so tame he stopped behind a screen of aspens to watch me pass. But a very wild one was seen only two days later. During the late fall and winter, they are apt to be wild, for they are hunted steadily then by Rangers detailed for that purpose. Yet even in the spring some are astonishingly tame. ^ly notes read : "A very tame coyote in Snow Pass," July 16, 1917. "A very tame coyote near the road near the 7-mile pond," April 16, 1921. "A coyote came so close, near Geode Creek, he almost ran into me," May 24, 1 92 1. The puppies are very playful. Even the adults are commonly seen at it. Sometimes I see them playing in the water, and on Oct. 27, 1914, I noted: "Two coyotes played with each other like pup- pies. One would spring at the other while the second one would crouch or jump away." Once (Sept. 22, 1917) we had a ban joist in camp in the evening, and all the time he played the coyotes were in full chorus all about us. I have seen coyotes on the hills watch me pass by below, evidently with much curiosity. At night they have prowled around and through my camp either from curiosity or because they were looking- for scraps of food. On the morning of Oct. 12, 1919, I saw one on the opposite side of the river watching me very intently and curi- ously, as I groomed my horses near the old Basin Station. On Oct. 18, 191 7, on arrival at Wisdom's camp at Crystal Creek, I found two coyotes squatted in front of it, about 200 feet away, and watching the smoke coming over the intervening knoll. With these animals mating is supposed to last for life, some writers even going so far as to say a coyote mourns for a lost mate. Personally, I should say a new mate is found before long. Coyotes dig regular dens in soft soil on a dry location, or in sand. Usually these dens are deep, often five feet or more under ground. Roosevelt Wild Life Bulletin In winter they serve as protection for the a(hilts ; in sumrriei' natal dens for the pups. Most of the dens I have found were near Mammoth at 6000 feet elevation. l)ut on July 17, 1919, I found a den near Sour Creek, /Sco feet above sea level. There are usually four to six })ups to a litter, born l)etween Ai)ril and June. Three young- coyotes were seen at the mouth of their den on Sour Creek, and later I saw the mother hunting just above the falls, July 17, 1919. Sometimes the female is with the pups and sometimes the father only, but both parents assist in taking care of them. As I have noted already, apparently an average yearly kill of 150 by the Rangers just about balances the increase. The visitors are more interested in the coyote than in a good many animals but probably not more so than in the deer, elk, moun- tain sheep and antelope. They are not so much thought of as the bear, beaver and wolf. We must not overlook the great service this animal does for us and for our health by removing dead carcasses that might other- wise be offensive and even dangerous. The coyotes will return time and again to a well-picked skeleton perhaps a year or two old to remove any last bit of flesh that may remain. In the past it has been the custom to detail certain Rangers to kill and trap the coyotes wherever they can. Since 1907 we have definite figures for coyotes poisoned, trapped and shot (see Table 3). Table 3. Numbers of Coyotes Destroyed in Yellowstone Park, 1907-1926. Figures taken from the Park Superintendent's reyxirts, for fiscal years ending June 30. Year Number killed Year Number killed 1907. 1908. 1909. 1910. 191 1 1912 . 1913 1914 1915 1916. 99 97 60 40 129 270 154' 155 100 180 1917. 1918. 1919. 1920. 1921 . 1922 . 1923 1924. 1925- 1926. 100 190 227 107 140 130 221 226 180 243 Total for 20 years. 3048 Predatory Animals of Y ellowstone Parh This is an average of 152 coyotes killed per year. And still the stock seems to maintain its numbers ! But the question should l)e carefully studied in all its ramifications immediately and a definite policy adopted. The idea that it would be wise to exterminate this, or any other animal in a National Park, is antiquated and should be abandoned (cf. Grinnell, '25, p. 437; Adams, '25, '25a). Mountain Red Fox. Vulpes fiilva uiacroura Baird. — Probably this was always a rare animal in this section. ]\ly only notes in ten years are : "A red fox seen near the Trail down the north side of Alt. Washburn" (Aug. 18, 1919.) "A silver fox seen in the road to Canyon Junction five miles from Lake" (Nov., 1922). Probably the estimate of a dozen in the Park is liberal. Although one is now and then killed or poisoned in mistake for a coyote, they are main- taining their number. They are generally distributed over the northern and eastern sections of the Park, where they hunt mice, ground squirrels and rabbits. Occasionally they eat carrion. Foxes are not social and do not hunt in packs, at most a pair or family party together. Even at that the pups soon separate after leaving the den and hunt for themselves. Here, where most animals lose their fear of man, the fox is a notable exception. Their breeding habits here are similar to what they are elsewhere and they increase only fast enough to maintain their numbers. Because of their rarity, they concern the Park visitors but little. What little efifect their presence has on the Park, is good. They destroy rodents and they scavenge, causing no damage of any kind that I know of. No control, nor even interference, is needed. Marten. Martes aniericana caurina (Merriam). — So far as I can determine martens have always been rather common in Yellow- stone National Park, especially in the forested sections. They range from the lowest Douglas fir forest to the highest white-bark pine forest near timber line. At the present time I estimate their number at 200 indivduals and steadily decreasing. This decrease has been going on for ten years at least and is probably due to excessive trapping in the regions surrounding the Park. The food of the marten is largely mice and squirrels, although it also eats birds, rabbits, chipmunks, reptiles, fish, and frogs. It also devours carrion to some extent, especially in winter. While no one can doubt that this animal is a weasel, it lacks the wholesale destruc- tiveness of that animal. It is wary and largely nocturnal in the Park. They begin breeding when only a year old. Their mating habits are unknown although believed to be promiscuous. The pair do 194 Roosevelt Wild Life Bulletin not live together after mating. The young usually number three or four, and there is probably only one litter a year. If all the females bred every year, this would mean a 50 per cent increase each year; but it is believed that the females breed only when food is l)lenty, but not too abundant. Martens are pretty and attractive when seen running about, but the visitors see so few they are of little general value. In unseen ways, they are of economic value. They are important checks on several species of rodents, clean up some carrion, and do little or no damage. They should be absolutely protected in the Park. Further than that, it is evident that they need more protection in the sur- rounding National Forests. Like the protection and care of a good many other animals, the situation in the Park and the surrounding National Forests should be handled as a whole after it is determined how many martens can safely be spared each year in the Forests. Fisher. Martes pcnnanti pennanti (Erxleben). — This animal is so rare that it is doubtful if there are any in Yellowstone National Park at the present time. Even the one record for the Park of a skin taken by General Anderson from a poacher is open to the objection that it might have been caught outside the Park. Wolverine. Gido litscus luscus (Linnaeus). — Probably this animal has always been present in limited numbers. Our estimate of six or eight individuals seems like very few in such a large terri- tory. Still, the wolverine is never much more numerous than that any- where. The Yellowstone National Park is apparently a peculiarly favorable habitat and they were twice as abundant twenty years ago as they are now. They occur in all the forested parts of the Park but are apparently most numerous in the northeastern and eastern sections. Their food consists almost altogether of rodents, sick and crippled animals, and carrion. While their strength and courage would enable a 25- pound wolverine to kill practically any American animal except the cougar and bear, they are slow and clumsy animals at best and ill- suited to the life of killers. They are sullen, gluttonous, and given to much w^andering. While they have no habits that would appeal to tourists or sight- seers, the wolverines are peculiarly valuable as scavengers, — probably the most industrious scavengers the Park contains. For this reason they should be absolutely protected in the surrounding National Forests as well as in the Park itself. "Trappers around the borders obtain more specimens than in any other part of the United States. Predatory Animals of YcUoivstone Park 195 The park evidently serves as a breeding and rccruitin.e^ ground which has kept this interesting and rare animal from local exter- mination." (Bailey, '20, p. 78.) Arizona Weasel. Mustcia arizoncnsis (Mearns). — Presumably these weasels have always been common residents of the Yellow- stone National Park. At the present time there are probably 200 individuals present and that number seems to be more or less sta- tionary. They are common about ^lammoth and down to Gardiner. On Dec. 10, 1914, I saw one in Golden Gate; in Oct., 1912, one on the Upper Yellowstone meadows; on Oct. 31, 1920, one near Fountain Ranger Station; on Sept. 6, 191 7, one near Lone Star Geyser; on Aug. 18, Aug. 29, and Sept. 8, 1922, near the Canyon. While not numerous on the Park Plateau they appear well distributed through- out the lodgepole forests between 7000 feet and 8500 feet above sea level. They live in lodgepole pine forest, in meadows, in swamps, and on the geyser and hot spring "formations" apparently wherever they can find prey. They are indefatigable and bloody hunters, killing all animals smaller than themselves and some that are larger. Rodents are their special prey. When following up such small prey they insinuate themselves into every crack and under every ledge. Notwithstand- ing such thoroughness, the weasel while hunting is very quick and active. It is their relentlessness, however, that is their chief char- acteristic as hunters. They progress over the ground, especially when there is snow on the ground, by a series of quick, long leaps. They are quite apt to stop occasionally and stretch up to their full height while standing securely on their hind feet. Theirs is a well earned reputation for blood-thirstiness and ferocity out of all proportion to their size. Seemingly they kill for pure love of killing, even after they are well fed. I have seen no disposition to return to the carcasses they have left. At times they grow remarkably tame where they are permitted to do so. They are promiscuous breeders and their litters of young come regularly every year that there is an abundant food supply. Ap- parently the food supply is the limiting factor, for the females are not so fertile when the hunting is poor. The visitors are interested in this animal whenever they see it, but that is not often enough to be of any importance. They form one of the most important checks we have on several kinds of indents, especially mice and ground squirrels. For that reason it is 196 Roosevelt JVild Life Bulletin proper to afford tlicm complete protection. At the present time no control measures are necessary. Least Weasel. MusteJa eieognanii Icpta (Merriam). — This smaller species of weasel is occasionally seen in Yellowstone National Park and has all the characteristics already noted for the Arizona weasel. Because it is the deadliest enemy of the various species of mice no control should be attempted until after a thorough study of its influence has been made. Mink. Lntreola lutreoeephala (Harlan). — The mink was probably present originally in Yellowstone National Park, yet it has always been a rather uncommon animal here. I have seen mink as follows: first, on April 15, 1915, one near Junction Butte; second, on May 22, 1915, one ran past the Riverside Geyser; third, on June 27, 1 91 6, one was seen in the grass beside Yellowstone River just above Canyon Junction; fourth, during the winter of 1919-1920 one staid about the Boat Company dock near the Lake Outlet and was frequently seen until May ; fifth, one near Gardiner River where it crosses the Montana State Line. One of the above records is at 5500 feet, one at 6300 feet, and the other three at 7300 to 7800 feet. Hence my exj^erience is somewhat different from Bailey's who found them "especially at the lower levels." At the present time, I believe there are about 150 individuals, a decrease from the number present ten years ago. Although on December 3, 1922, I found the remains of a Barrow golden-eye probably killed and eaten by a mink, this animal lives to a large extent on trout which it is very expert at catching. Probalily it eats a good many frogs and mice also. Birds at times fall a prey to the mink. ^* ^ Although the mink is a close relative of the weasel, it has not the other's blood-thirst and destructiveness. At times, a mink becomes used to people and is remarkably tame. Little is known of the breeding habits, but it is believed that one litter of four or five kittens a season is the usual family for a mink. The males and females do not remain paired. Occasionally these little animals are seen by the tourists, and always arouse keen interest among the ladies, especially if they know what the animal is. The mink causes no damage in the Park, for the fish consumed can be easily spared. On the other hand he does some positive good as a check on rodents and by consuming some carrion and dead fish. Mink should be absolutely protected in the Park, and be given better protection in the surrounding National Predatory Animals of YcUozvstone Park 197 Forests to prevent the steady drain on the Park animals which are slowly decreasing in numhers. North KRN Skunk. Mephitis hudsoniea Richardson. — Prohahly the skunk has always been present in Yellowstone National Park. Although not common, it is generally distributed throughout. It occurs in aspen groves and lodgepole pine forests. Often out in the meadows and open parks and almost always near water. As my records are of skunks observed at elevations from 63cx) to 7800 feet above sea level, it is evident they live on both the lowlands and the Park plateau. A skunk's menu consists largely of grasshoppers, crickets, and mice. At times a few birds' eggs and even birds, if caught. They hunt a great deal along banks of streams, especially in spring, but I could not tell w^hat food attracted them. Col. Wirt Robinson says that on July 23. 1907. a skunk came into his tent at the Lake Camp and ate some butter and then lapped up some cream from a small pitcher "just as a cat does," and then "it withdrew quietly." Three days later he passed in the rear of the Lake Hotel and "in the cellar saw a skunk walking slowly about and sniffing at some crates." The skunk has absolute confidence in its "smell-gun." And rightly so, for very few animals will face it. This gives this fur- bearer a l:)earing of self-assurance at all times, and it makes no efifort to escape. Ordinarily they pay no attention to a man passing, or approaching, until within fifty feet, then they turn and face the intruder. Although I sometimes find the odor strong. T am con- vinced that this animal never actually uses his weapon until he is forced to by some enemy. They breed once a year and have from three to seven kittens at a time. It is difficult to see why they do not increase more rapidly, but their fertility is probably limited by the available food supply. The Park visitors always like to see these pretty little black and white animals. They cause no damage whatever although the Park employees do not like to have them about because of the dire efifects when one is molested. They are of value as a check on mice and ground squirrels and dispose of some carrion. They should be abso- lutely protected, as there are only a hundred of them according to my estimate and they are not increasing. Badger. Taxidea taxiis taxiis (Schreber). — These animals have probably always been present. With the increase of the ground squirrels during the last few years, the badgers have increased also. 198 Rooscrcif JJlId Life Bulletin My estimate of 200 individuals at the i)rcsent time is very con- servative. 1 lia\-e tre(|nentl\- seen these animals in all ])arts of the lower sections helow the forests. 1 have also seen them twice, once in IQ07 and a.^ain June 7, 191 7, at Swan Lake Basin; and once on Specimen Ridiie at 7300 feet altitude. That I have not seen them also on the o])en sections in the higher parts of the Park is prohably due to their hein<;- most numerous where their prey is common. Seton records one in Upper Yellowstone Valley at 7800 feet. They pr^y a'most exclusively on the ground squirrels, which they can catch by fairly outdigging- them, a considerable feat in itself. What a rapid digger this animal is ! I have seen them fairly sink out of sight in soft ground, throwing the dirt perpendicularly behind them in a fountain ten feet high. Col. Wirt Robinson says: "T heard the go]:)hers [ground squirrels] and chipmunks on a nearbv hillside making a great racket and at first thought that their scold- ing was directed at me, but on looking across I saw a tawny, clumsy animal lumbering along with the heavy run of a woodchuck and I recognized it as a badger." Sometimes they are quite tame here in Yellowstone National Park. They live a lonely life and seem sullen and ugly, yet they form strange friendships with other animals and can be tamed by man. Not much is known of the breeding habits. Apparently the two badgers mate and remain together, and have one litter a year of two to four youngsters who remain with the parents throughout the first year. As with most other carnivores, badgers tend to increase in times of plenty. Badgers are not of sjiecial interest to Park visitors because ?o seldom seen. As a check on the ground squirrels, this animal is the most inij^ortant one present, and absolute protection should be granted it. Otter. Lutva cava den sis C(Uiadcnsis Schreber. — -Apparently otters have always been dwellers in the larger lakes and streams of the ^'c•ll()\\■st()ne and Snake River systems, but not originally along other streams because of insufficient fish for food. At the present time I should rate the otter as locally abundant in a few places. I believe there are only about sixty of the animals in the Park, and the number is decreasing because of overtrapping on the National For- ests surrounding the Park. Predatory Animals of Yellowstone Park 199 Col. Wirt Robinson found an old and much weathered skull of an otter on a gravel bank of the Gardiner River. On May 11, 1914, I saw a large otter run across the meadow near lower cabin. Slough Creek; on June 20, 1915, one in the water at Willow Park beaver dam; on Oct. 15, 1920, one near Obsidian Creek, 14 miles from Mammoth; on Jan. ii, 191 5. one near \^irginia Cascades; on Sept. 21, 1917, in Gibbon Canyon; on Oct. 23 and 26, 1920, fresh tracks were seen near Riverside Geyser; on Oct. 26, 1920, two otter crossed the northern IMallard Lake Trail ; during the winter of 1919-1920, one was frequently seen near Lake Outlet and on June I, 1920, it was seen again in openings in the ice just west of the Fish Hatchery; on May 28, 191 5, I saw four on Yellowstone Lake near Wolf Point; and on Oct. 26, 1920, I saw a fresh track near the Lake Outlet. The above data would indicate that otter are to be found at ail elevations between 5500 feet and 8000 feet and quite common near the Upper Geyser Basin, Gibbon River, and about Yellowstone Lake. Naturally, I have seen otter only in or near water ; some- times about beaver ponds. Probably 90 per cent of the otters' food is fish which they catch by diving and outswimming their prey. The otters are so far superior to all other Yellowstone swimming mammals as to be in a swimming and diving class by themselves. Only the beautiful, dashing trout can rival them in expertness and speed. They can swim long distances, too, without fatigue. Probably they would eat other animal food if forced to it by hunger but they are not known to eat vegetable food ever. Here in Yellowstone National Park they are comparatively tame and unsuspicious. Although a member of the same group as the weasel, I see in them no evidence whatever of the blood-thirst and ferociousness of that animal. Although a brave and courageous fighter when necessary, the otter lives in peace with the other animals. I see otter often about beaver ponds, but have observed no sign of animosity between otter and beaver. It is probable that the otter in these haunts are after trout that are often very numerous in beaver ponds. Otters are very playful animals. On Jan. 11, 1915, I found an otter and his slide beside the Gibbon River just above Virginia Cascades. The slide was down a steep bank about twelve feet high and ended in a shallow pool of the River. The otter slid down flat on his belly with forepaws and legs stretched out in front. On May 28, 191 5, four came swimming past my camp on the shore of Yellow- 200 Roosevelt Wild Life Bulletin stone Lake. Lart of the time they were under water, l)ut mostly on the surface rolhns^", diviniLi'. and ])layin^ toj^ether as they swam along, much as 1 have seen puppies do. Otter hreed once a year and have from one to three kittens at a time, llie mother is devoted to them, but I am not sure that the father is ever with his family after the birth of the young. This is rather a slow-breeding animal, not likely to increase greatly. Although not often seen by tourists, they share with other wild animals the interest shown these days in all wild life. While the otter does no damage whatever, further studies are needed to show his full economic value. Undoubtedly he has his value in keeping fish development up to the mark, and in preventing epidemics among them, by killing the unfit and the diseased. Absolute pro- tection is rightly given in the Park. The protection in the surround- ing regions should be strengthened and improved to prevent the present overtrapping there. Mountain Lion; Cougar. Felis hippolestes Merriam. — The very first animal records we have of the Park speak of the presence of cougars. So numerous are the records that we must conclude that the animals were rather common; that is, for this species. But they have been so hunted and harried by the Rangers that compara- tively few remain — not more than a dozen at the present time. They range throughout all parts of the Park, especially where the animals they prey on are to be found. In winter they are more numerous in the northern section than elsewhere. In summer, the mountain lion lives mostly on small animals and then kills large numbers of rabbits and woodchucks. Colonel Roose- velt says they also kill gophers and mice. But in winter, they are apt to transfer their attention to deer, mountain sheep, elk calves, and even antelope, and thus invite the animosity of the Park authori- ties. It is said that they also kill coyotes and wolves but I cannot substantiate this from my own experience. Possibly a mountain lion may eat carrion, but as a rule it kills more than it really needs for itself, then makes a fresh kill when it is again hungry. A cougar is naturally ferocious and destructive, but also rather cowardly. It shares with the weasel its reputation for killing more than it needs whenever opportunity ofifers. Cougars breed once in two years, giving birth to from one to three kittens, and are therefore rather slow breeders and not apt to increase rapidly in any one district. But they roam about a great deal and a plentiful supply of prey will attract them a long distance. Fig. 33. When a coyote hears, or smells, a mouse in the grass, he "points" it for a few seconds much as a bird-dog points a game bird. Gallatin Valley, Yellowstone Park, Oct. 10, 1922. Predatory Animals of Yellozvstone Park 203 As this is the hardest of all animals to see and observe, it is of no great value from the tourist standpoint although serving as the source of thrilling tales. Although there are authenticated cases of attacks in the Ignited States on persons, and especially on children, the fact is so rare that its danger can be disregarded in such a territory as the Yellowstone National Park. The cougar is of some value here as a destroyer of rodent pests, and of sick and diseased animals. Its numbers will doubtless have to be limited, but it is already so near extermination that further killing should be prohibited, pending the carrying out of a careful and unprejudiced study of its relations to the other animals. Perhaps in the future the cougar will receive special protection in the Yellowstone, for it should be noted well that there are but few areas in the country where it can be preserved at all (cf. Heller, '24. pp. 433-434). Canada Lynx. Lynx canadensis canadensis Kerr. — Probably this cat has always existed in limited numbers in the Park, where it frequents the forests of the plateau region. I believe there are about ten individuals present and that the number has not changed materially for years. Its food consists largely of snowshoe rabbits, and possibly other rodents. It has been said to destroy young deer, elk, and mountain sheep, but the number in Yellowstone National Park is so few that the damage done cannot amount to much. Like all the cats this is an inveterate hunter, but without the relentlessness of the weasel and cougar. A pair of lynxes have but one litter a year of from one to three kittens. Like so many other carnivorous animals, the fertility of the females seems to depend to a large extent on the food supply. Because of their limited number in the Park, they are of small value to the tourists, who never see them. If they do any damage at all, it is probably more than balanced by the number of rodents killed. Therefore they should be protected and not molested. Bobcat. Lynx uinfa IMerriam. — \\'hat the lynx is to the higher, forested regions of the Park, the bobcat is to the lower, rough coun- try of the northern section. Natural to their smaller size, they prey mainly on rodents and to a limited extent on birds, and are not even accused of killing "game animals." They are very few in number, not more than two or three pairs. Their place in the Park fauna is almost wholly as a check on the rodents. In the Yellowstone, bobcats should be given complete protection. 204 Roosevelt JJlId Life Bulletin MusKRAT. Fiber cibefliieus osoyoosensis l.orrl. — Muskrats have always existed in ^^Mlowstone National Park so far as we know. They are quite i^cncrally distributed over the Park except on the highest elevations, the altitude variation of their range being from 5300 feet to 8300 feet above sea level. Usually their homes are in still waters that are not too deep, but they seem to prefer waters not subject to floods or very low stages, ^'et I have often seen them on "reedy pond" which has no outlet and where the fluctuations of water level are correspondingly great. They seem fond of some alkaline ponds, especially those lined with reeds and tules. Muskrats are common in Yellowstone River in Hayden Valley where the current is not strong. On the other hand. I have seen them in the Gardiner River where the water is rapid and tumultuous, but they may have been only using that river as a water route. Usually they live about more or less warm and stag- nant waters, but beside Sylvan Lake on July 17, 1921, I noticed one on the shore of this cold, clear, spring and snow-fed lake. The food of the muskrat is almost wholly vegetable, although occasionally a little animal food is eaten. Usually they come ashore to eat or climb out on a rock in midstream, and sometimes on the edge of the shore ice. On May 9, 1923, I found one out on the meadow well away from ''reedy ])ond" eating the fresh grass. Sometimes they are quite tame but normally rather more sus- picious than most of the Park animals. They frequently live in lieaver ponds, even erecting their houses in the ponds still inhabited by the larger animal. I see no signs that the two are unfriendly or that the muskrat is parasitical on the beaver beyond merely taking advantage of the deep, still water provided by the other's industry. The Park visitors are interested in these animals as part of the normal Park fauna. Since they do no damage, they are rightly given complete ])rotection. Probably the Park serves as a source of supply of muskrats to the surrounding country. Beavrr. Castor eauadensis eanadensis Kuhl. — Beaver (Figs. 27, 42, 48) ])robably always have existed in the Park. Caches of beaver traps have been found in the Park that w^re of a type used by the fur companies in the earlier half of the nineteenth century, and there were a few other indications that beaver trappers roamed the region before the Park was established in 1872. Beaver occur in practically every stream and pond (where there is suitable food) in the Park. The only extensive watercourses where I have not noted them are those of the Pelican Creek system Predatory Aninwls of YcUowslonc Park 205 and 1 believe they are there also, at least aIon<^ the lower part of Pelican Creek. They live about all streams and i)onds, and along the shores of Yellowstone Lake in a few favorable localities. They are even to be found in the warm streams and mineral waters. Their habitat depends on food, — and the favorite foods seem to be the bark of the following trees, in the order named : aspen, cottonwood, willow, alder, birch, and Douglas fir; and on Aug. 4. 191 7, I found one had cut a lodgepole pine apparently for food. They also eat other vegetable food such as sedges, flags, cow parsnips, and other plants. Presumably the total number of beaver in Yellowstone National Park has always been about the same although fluctuating in certain localities. The normal increase leaves the Park and goes down the various streams to be caught or lost in the surrounding territory. I have estimated the beaver population of Yellowstone National Park at about 10,000, l)ut believe that figure to be very conservative. In the primitive wilderness it is likely that the beaver lived and worked during the cooler parts of the day as well as by night. When hunted and trapped, they become strictly nocturnal. Here in Yellowstone National Park, where they find themselves protected and secure from man, they gradually come out earlier and earlier until it is not uncommon to see them out as early as 5 p. m. on warm days, and at all hours on cooler days. Even so, they still continue to do their building and repairing of dams, canals and houses at night. The beaver colonies seem to be patriarchal in form. So far as I know the original couple remain mated and are the leaders of their colony. The younger members emigrate whenever the home quar- ters become too crowded but I do not know as there is any regularity or sequence to the movement. Several kittens are born each year and the species increases rapidly in any favorable section. Next to the bears the beavers are the most interesting and the most sought after of all the Park animals. As they are entirely harmless, except for minor interference with man's engineering, they are rightly given complete protection except that now and then a family is trapped and presented to some public zoological garden. The Park serves as a nursery for beaver for all the surrounding country. When food grows scarce, they emigrate. On Oct. 11, 1922, I found a pair in the Gallatin River and thirty miles north of the Park. Evidently they had come down that river. 2o6 Roosevelt JJlId Life Bulletin THE VALUE OF PREDATORY ANIMALS, AND WHERE TO PRESERVE THEM "As the settlement of the C()untr\- prnoresses and the ori^jinal aspect nf nature is altered, the national ])arks will prohahly he the only areas remainin^^ unspoiled for scientific study, and this is of the more significance when we consider how far the scientific methods of investigatin,^- nature then ohtaining will be in advance of those now applied to the same studw" (Grinnell and Storer, 'i6, p. lo.) Economic and Educational Values of the Predators. That the coyotes, wolves, and their near relatives are exceedingly interesting animals cannot l)e denied by anyone who has read Ernest Thomp- son Seton's entertaining stories. And by this. I mean interesting to the unscientific as well as to the naturalists. To the naturalist every animal is keenly interesting — especially ones as highly developed and as diversified in habits as the ]M-edatory animals are. It is only by study that we can really know an animal and find out what it eats; whether it is fletrimental to man's interests and should be kept under control; or whether the good it does (for every animal does sonic good) overbalances the evil it may do. If it does more good than harm, it obviously should be protected. The animals must be pre- served somewhere if we are to study them, and the National Parks are logical places for that preservation. Undoubtedly in a careful study of the predators we are going to fiiul them most instructive as well as entertaining. "You have all read your Darwin carefully enough to know that neither camels, horses, nor deer would have evolved as they did exce]:»t for the stimulus given to their limb and speed develo])ment by the contem])oraneous evolution of their enemies in the ck)g familw" (Osborn. '14, |). 354.) In another way. wild life is benefited by predacious animals which serve us well b\- remo\ ing weak and sickly animals, thus keeping the breeding stock vigorous and free from epidemics. On the grouse moors of Scotland, "birds of ])re\- anrl small mammals — so-called 'vermin' — are killed off in order to ]n-eserve the grouse, yet this interference seems in ])art to defeat itself by making the survival of weak and diseased l)!rds unnaturall_\- easy, and epidemics of grouse-disease on this account the more prevalent." (Thomson, '96. p. 27.) Mr. A. A. Saunders, also, is impressed by this view of their influence on bird life. "The wild enemies of birds weed out from their ranks the weaker individuals- those les^; fitted for the struggle Predatory Animals of Yellowstone Park 207 for existence. If through destruction of these enemies, the weaker ones increase, disease or ])arasitic enemies may start, and spread from weaker to stronger and do far more to decrease hird Hfe than other natural enemies ever woukl." (Saunders, '23, p. 243.) Although I have used birds to illustrate my meaning, it is just as true of mammals that they require predatory enemies to keep them at the top-notch of efficiency. The bison of the tame herd in Yellow- stone National Park are subject to hemorrhagic septicemia which breaks out at intervals with tragic results. Since the wild animals do not have the disease, we are beginning to wonder if a few preda- tors would not normally have stopped the disease with the first weakened animal before it could spread to others. I know of an instance back in 1917 where I found a single mule deer infected with actinomycosis, or lumpy jaw. This deer avoided all natural enemies by living near Mammoth where the crowds of people scared off the coyotes that would otherwise have killed him during the early stages of his trouble. But as it was, this deer lingered on for two years more. From that date to 1921, I saw five different mule deer that were infected with this disease although I had never noted a case among them before. Unfortunately I was not able to trace the dis- ease back from the five mule deer to the one first seen in 1917, but the presumptive evidence is very strong that they contracted it from the first deer. Prominent among the predatory animals are the coyotes. Tell the average rancher outside the Park that you see a coyote out on his meadow, and he immediately rushes for his gun. He never gives a thought as to whether the coyote's usefulness overbalances the mis- chief he does. But that very coyote that the rancher would shoot, is, nine times out of ten, catching mice that are much greater enemies to the ranch, at that very time. One careful investigator discusses the influence of the coyote as follows : "Due credit must also be given the coyote for destroying rodent i)ests, particularly ground squirrels. An examination of the stomach contents shows that ground squirrels form a large part of coyotes' diet at certain seasons of the year. The good that they thus do in destroying squirrels, is, of course, counterbalanced in greater or less proportion by their destruction of game birds and mammals. The fact remains that if we kill off all the coyotes, we must face the problem of ourselves accounting for the thousands of ground squir- rels which these animals now annually destroy. In certain instances coyotes have actually been afforded protection by ranchers on the ground that they were proving beneficial through the catching of koosevelt Wild Life Bulletin gophers and other rodents when flooded out (Un-ing the irrigation of alfalfa fields. coyote is not necessarily a bad citizen." (Dixon, 20, p. 381.) And Lantz is another investigator who gives full credit to the coyotes for the good work that they sometimes do : ''Among the mammals included in the food of the coyotes are many injurious species ; and, so far as their food is confined to these, the animals are decidedly beneficial to the farming interests of the country. The destruction of rabbits, both large and small species, is of great ad- vantage, especially on the plains and in the cultivated valleys, where their depredations are keenly felt l)y the settlers. The various spe- cies of jack rabbit have often been observed as included in the coy- otes' fare, and the smaller rabbits are also habitually eaten. The coyotes usually catch the rabbits by lying in wait behind bushes and bunches of grass near their paths and pouncing upon them as they pass. Sometimes they have been known to hunt jack rabbits in com- pany. While a single coyote would not be able to run down a jack rabbit, by hunting together, taking turns in the drive, and by taking advantage of the tendency of the hare to run in a circle, they are able to capture it. . . . Prairie dogs {Cynomys Indovicianus and other species) are also a staple coyote food. The coyote captures them by hiding behind clumps of weeds or bunches of grass at some distance from the burrows. When the unsuspecting rodent, in feeding, ap- proaches near enough, a few leaps enable the coyote to secure it. . . . Besides rabbits and prairie dogs, the food of the coyote is known to include the following mammals: Rice rats (Oryj^ornys) , kangaroo rats (Dipodomys and Perodipus) , w^ood rats {Neotouia) , ground squirrels {Amnios per mo philiis, Callospeniwpliiliis, and Spermo- philus), woodchucks (Marniota) , voles (Microfus), pocket gophers (TJioniornys), chipmunks (Eutaniias) , and pocket mice (Perogna- tliKs). All of these are more or less harmful, and the coyote per- fcjrms an important service in preying upon them. The service is not an occasional or a spasmodic one, but lasts throughout the year and throughout the life of the coyote. When the number of animals taking part in the w^ork is considered, the enormous importance of its bearing in maintaining the 'balance of nature' becomes apparent. The coyote is useful also as a scavenger. In the prairie country, especially in winter, it comes into towns at night searching for gar- bage thrown into the alleys. Here it finds remnants of meat from the table, offal from game, and similar prizes. When hungry it will re- ject no animal food, not even carrion. The slaughterhouses near the towns are favorite feeding places, and the animals are often shot Predatory Animals of Yellowstone Park 209 there by moonlight. On the ranges they soon consume dead horses and cattle, leaving the bones clean." (Lantz, '05, pp. 12-13.) The value of the coyote as a scavenger is liable to be underestimated. I have picked out the coyote for this argument because it is the carnivore against which the greatest outcry has been raised. All the other predacious animals are of more or less value along the same lines. Unquestionably the coyote causes damage at times, sometimes great damage, outside the National Parks. And so do the mink and the weasel cause damage in populated districts. We do not deny that frequently such an animal has fallen into evil ways from the point of view of our economy. What we contend is that each species should be studied on its own merits. If we had more time we would go even farther and say that each individual should be studied on his own merits, for we are beginning to realize more and more that in- dividual animals differ in their ways just as men do. But such stud- ies are too much to hope for yet, and so if the decision is against a species after we have weighed its merits against its demerits, by all means kill the animals individually responsible, but we should move very slowly indeed when it comes to declaring war against a whole species (cf. Grinnell, '25, p. 437). If these coyotes are sometimes as valuable as this, they are worthy of careful study. To study them carefully, they should be preserved in great natural areas where they are free to develop naturally. In partially disturbed areas, and still more so in captivity, habits change : and, while a captive is very interesting, we can never be sure such an animal is showing the characteristics of a normal wild individual. Even the form and proportions of the bones change, as so clearly shown in Hollister's fine study of captive lions ('17, pp. 180-192). What is true of lions in this respect, is probably true of captive coyotes. And our whole argument based on coyotes, is just as true for all predatory and fur-bearing species. To have normal animals fit for our careful study they must be living in large, natural areas. For this our great National Parks are well suited. Besides these economic and scientific values, predatory animals have an esthetic and educational value for all outdoors people that can scarcely be overstated. A few years ago, wild life and the wil- derness-in-a-state-of-nature did not appeal so strongly to the average person. As Enos Mills has vividly expressed it: "Most peo])le think that the wilderness is a supremely dangerous place f(jr human beings. They carry through life a handicap of fear of the outdoors. These children learn that the wilds are not only friendly but hospitable ; they 210 Roosevelt Wild Life Bulletin find ferocious animals only in storybooks, and ere long being out after dark or in the rain is fun. ''A well-known educator recently emphasized the fact that to have a sane and healthful view of life it is necessary to have correct fund- amental information concerning natural history; and that this knowl- edge can be acc|uired only by intimate contact with nature. "For two or three hours in a |)rimeval forest we played that we were primitive people. The children had a glimpse of the childhood of our race ; learned something of the diet of primitive people ; why we have so many domesticated plants. All this started over seeing mushrooms and wondering whether they were poisonous. "When out with nature the unexpected often happens. If we come upon something well worth while — like a mother bird leading her young from the nest, beavers at play, or a near view of mountain sheep — we remain and make the most of this opportunity." (Mills, '20, p. 168.) But conditions are changing, people are becoming more addicted to cross-country travel, camping, and living in the open, all of which promotes an interest in wild nature. Our growing boys and girls are imbibing a knowledge even more worth while than in the old farm days, for they now have competent leaders and natural science instructors. The adults are becoming interested in what their youngsters find so absorbing. Since wild life has so largely disap- peared elsewhere, we shall have to depend upon our National Parks more and more for this aspect of the primitive. "As has already been intimated, the animal life of the parks is among their best rec- reative assets. The birds and mammals, large and small, the butter- flies and the numerous other insects, even the reptiles and amphibians, are of interest to the visitor. As a stimulant to the senses of far sight and far hearing, faculties largely or altogether neglected in the pres- ent scheme of civilization, they are of no less consequence than the scenery, the solitude and the trails. To the natural charm of the landscape they add the witchery of movement. As soon as the gen- eral surroundings lose their novelty for the observer, any moving ob- ject in the landscape will catch his eye and fix his attention. People will walk miles and climb thousands of feet to secure a good view of falling water, and this desire for movement is even more completely satisfied by the sight of animals in motion. The moving deer, passing within range of the stage-coach, rouses exclamations of surprise and delight. Eagles and pigeons in flight overhead readily claim the traveler's notice, and the smaller birds often mingle the fascination of sprightly movement with that of bright color and pleasing song. Con- Fig 35. Looking down on the open prairies bordering the Lamar River ; lodgepole pine and aspen in foreground ; elevation about 6500 feet. The mountain in the distance is The Thunderer. Northeast corner of Yellow- stone Park, Nov. i, 191 7. 212 Predatory Animals of Vellozvstone Park sidering the predilections of the average visitor, we should i)erha])s regard these last as the most indispensahle creatures in the parks. "The interest of moving ohjects de])en(ls upon a numher of ele- ments other than movement, among which their color, and especially their size, is important. The chipmunk is more attractive than the ground squirrel, primarily hecause its movements are more rapid, and secondly because of its more l)rightly colored markings. But when movement and color are equal the average observer's selection seems to have a quantitative basis, though the rarity of the object, and its romantic or other associations affect the equation. A bear or a deer will elicit more interest than a smaller mammal, even though the latter be of a rarer species. There are exceptional cases where an animal's extreme rarity will make it of exceptional interest in spite of its inferior size, but in general the larger species are the more rare, as they are the first to disappear before human invasion. They have therefore a double claim to consideration, and measures should be taken to prevent their numbers from diminishing. After the visitor's initial curiosity has been aroused and his powers of observation de- veloped, he may be trusted to give a closer study to the smaller spe- cies." (Grinnell and Storer, 'i6, pp. 5-6.) As a good illustration of this general rule, we can instance the bears of the Yellowstone. When they first began to come about the garbage piles, the Acting Superintendent thought they ought to be killed off! 'T am more than ever convinced that the bear and puma do a great deal of mischief and ought to be reduced in numbers." (Boutelle, '90, p. 6.) Fortunately the tourists were not at all back- ward in making known their wishes in the matter, and a wiser view more favorable to the bears, prevailed. At the present time we know that these bears do very little damage compared with the interest they arouse among the Park visitors. Certainly, without its bears, the Yellowstone would lose a great part of its attractiveness. "One may have a preconceived idea that people who visit the Yellowstone National Park center their interest on the geysers that spout and play and fill them with awe by their wonderful hydraulic displays. Noth- ing, however, is farther from the truth. The summer tourist prob- ably is most fascinated by the sight of the two species of Park bears. The black or brown bear is a friendly animal and is a never-ending source of wonder and amusement ; and the shy but powerful grizzly expresses in every movement an alertness and a spirit of independence that instantly commands respect. The tourist's conversation follows the promptings of his heart, and bear talk flows from his lips far of- tener than any regarding the geysers or other inanimate objects." 214 Roosevelt Wild Life Bulletin (Heller. '24, pp. 405-406.) Yet, with this striking illustration be- fore him. Major j, 'in K's I>. Unghes, .Actiuo- Sn])erinten(lent of Sequoia and General ( irant National Parks, advocated the killinj^ of the l)ears in the two Parks under his jurisdiction. "Authority should he given to kill l)ears in the parks by certain authorized persons; so far as I have observed or have been able to learn the bear is absolutely use- less as an ornament or for any good purpose." (Hughes, '12, p. 193.) But bears are not the only predacious animals that the people want to see. In fact, I know of one instance where the tourists were in- tently watching the bears near the Canyon Hotel when a small weasel came running in and out along some piled logs. Instantly the atten- tion of everyone was riveted on the weasel to the exclusion of the bears. Without being at all versed in nature lore, they recognized the greater rarity of the weasel (in the Yellowstone at any rate) ; and as such it occupied all thoughts as long as it remained in sight. Then again, I have been out with tourists who wanted to see coyotes. From the time they entered the Park until they left, they talked about coy- otes and importuned me repeatedly to be sure to show them one whenever I saw it. As for mountain lions and wolves, I believe many of the guests would make a new trip to the Yellowstone National Park if they were sure they would see one of these animals. There is no doubt, then, of the tourists' interest in predatory and fur-bear- ing animals. "For the love of nature includes vastly more than the appreciation of natural scenery." (Sumner, '20, p. 238.) But these lesser animals are hard to find and see for they are largely nocturnal animals, or at least much shyer than the bears. Indeed, it would be hard to gauge the full extent of the interest in the bears shown by the tourists to the Yellowstone National Park. As Mr. Heller says, they talk about bears incessantly and one would judge from their conversations that these bears were of primary importance. As it is now. Bruin is the one large animal that everybody can count upon seeing. This is not because it is hard for any one to find other animals but simply because the average visitor does not know how and when, and does not spare the time, to hunt up the other animals in their native haunts and at the right time of day. But the bears are accommodating, they come right down where the people are and show themselves off to the immense pleasure and satisfaction of everyone. Second only to the bears, in point of interest, is the beaver. Per- haps to some people the beaver is of even more interest than the bear. Mr. E. R, Warren expresses this well when he says: 'Tf I were to judge from my experience at Camp Roosevelt, in the north- Predatory Animals of Yellowstone Park 215 eastern part of the Yellowstone National Park, during the past summer, no animal except the bear arouses so much interest on the part of the i:)ark visitors as the beaver. Within fifteen minutes' walk from the camp, near the bridge over the Yellowstone River, and close beside the Cooke City road, is a fine series of small beaver ponds. Hardly an evening passed during the summer but anywhere from half a dozen to thirty people thought it well worth while to walk down there and spend an hour or more watching these fascinating animals, which are obliging enough to go about their usual activities almost oblivious to the interested observers lined up upon the bank beside the road. Here one can observe not only the ponds, dams, lodges and all stages of felled trees and stumps, but even the beavers themselves swimming about in the w^ater, crawling over the dams, cutting aspen branches, and busily and audibly eating the bark. If one is careful, by refraining from making quick movements and un- usual sounds, so as not to disturb the animals, the opportunities for observation are excellent. Indeed, there are few places in America, even in remote regions, where such opportunities are equalled." (Warren, '22, pp. 187-188.) It is the fact, so well brought out above, that when we see beaver we also see something of their strange life and works, that makes this animal so enticing as a subject of study. The skunk holds a dififerent interest for- us. The first impression of an observer is expressed in the exclamation : "Oh ! how pretty he is!" when a skunk is sighted. Next comes wonder at the intrepidity of an animal who goes along attending to his own business indiffer- ent to an audience. But w^ien that audience finds out just what this pretty little animal is, the interest changes to wonder in the skunk's terrible weapon. To those who know what that weapon is, the skunk achieves a new interest because of his absorption in his own business and his refusal to use his weapon unless actually teased into it. Some- how he seems even stranger than the bears "who refuse to go about hugging every luckless human being they can catch," as one woman expressed it. As for the mink, the minute that word "mink" is spoken it brings to mind furs and beautiful fur coats beloved by all. Naturally, everybody, especially the feminine tourists, are keen to see what the animal that furnishes the fur looks like. T have seen mink in the geyser basins and have been greatly impressed to see the tourists turn away from one of the great, spouting geysers to watch a little mink running along the river shore. It showed as nothing else could how great is the interest in all animals, no matter how small, This is but 2l6 Roosevelt Wild Life Bulletin an instance of the jn^reat value of National Parks to nature students and the average visitor, so well expressed hy Grinnell and Storer : "But national parks have other less generally recognized advantages, and among these we consider their potential uses as places for rec- reation and for the study of natural history, especially worthy of notice." (Grinnell and Storer, 'i6, p. i.) Implications of the Destruction of Natural Conditions. Else- where than in the National Parks and the remotest and most inac- cessible regions natural conditions are being altered rapidly. Indeed, there are very few sections retaining their natural wealth of trees, flowers and animal life in anything like their original condition. Be- sides the shooting and trapping going on everywhere, forests are dis- appearing, brushland is being cleared, swamps are being drained, great areas of desert land are being irrigated, and on many areas valuable native plants are being destroyed for commercial purposes or through overgrazing. "The splendid redwood forests of the northern California coast belt — perhaps the finest forests on the American continent — are falling before the axe and the saw of the 'lumber king' and the air for much of the year is hazy with the smoke of the burning brush and trees which have to be thus removed before the fallen giants can be cut up and dragged away for the market. The result is a scene of appalling desolation for years to come. When these forests are gone — as they will be, save for a few remnants — our fertile- brained inventors will discover quite acceptable substitutes for the redwood lumber, and the building business will continue *as usual.' But we shall never find any acceptable substitutes for the redwood forests, which it took nature thousands of years to produce. It is true that in the case of this particular tree a second growth may reforest an area which has been logged over or damaged by fire. But this is a slow process, and we can not be sure that the same plant associations will establish themselves as existed previously. "Even the desert, which has long furnished interesting problems to the naturalist, as well as inspiration to the poet and the painter, seems doomed to wholesale invasion and exploitation. To make the desert 'blossom as the rose' has for ages been looked upon as typical of man's C()n(|uest over nature, and the wonderful achievements in our own Southwest stand in the t'ront rank of such elTorts. Hut we can not overlook the tragic side of the picture. The limitless vistas uf I)icturesque desolation lose much of their mystery when we find that they are threaded in all directions by automobile roads, and when the Predatory Ammah of YeUowstone Park 217 eye is everywhere confronted by scattered rectangular clearings, due to the fruitless efforts of would-be desert farmers. The highly in- teresting and picturesque plant associations in the western portion of the Mojave Desert are being rapidly destroyed by so-called 'settlers' who are probably not getting enough out of the land, in most cases, to pay expenses. The weird and beautiful tree-yucca, a plant so typ- ical of our California desert landscape, is now being largely used for various commercial purposes. I know of at least one company, or- ganized with the particular object of exploiting these yucca products. As this is a tree of extremely slow growth, we may expect its prac- tical extinction within large areas in the near future." (Sumner, '20, pp. 240-241.) And Theo. B. Comstock brings the situation home to the Yellow- stone National Park v^hen he says : 'T consider that the Yellowstone National Park can be made a really valuable laboratory and conserva- tory of science at little cost . . . Momentous questions are now agitat- ing the scientific world, calling for experiment and observation which are daily becoming less possible, owing in a great measure to the obliterating influences of modern civilization. Thus it would almost seem that the present difficulties in the way of the solution of many questions, bearing upon the process of natural selection, will soon be- come insurmountable if some means are not employed to render more practicable the study of animals in a state of nature." (Comstock, '74, p. 72.) If this was true fifty years ago when we were still com- paratively rich in many animal forms, it is still more true in this day of wholesale destruction. In fact, there is a crying need for sections maintained as Nature made them : for the scientists and for millions of others also. Only wild lands, free from domestic stock, free from domestic crops, and free from foreign weeds will answer. Furthermore, there must be no imported products of any kind — neither fur, fin, nor feather, nor ornamental shrubs and trees. What is wanted is great areas of wild land with plants and animals living in a natural environment. A competent technical staff should decide what is natural and do their utmost to maintain it so. As we have seen, the balance has already been disturbed in the Yellowstone National Park so that what we re- quire now is to maintain it at the present point, and that necessitates intensive study. "The pleas against extermination of any species and against the introduction of exotic species of animals or plants into wild life preserves are points well taken and should have the widest publicity. 2l8 Roosevelt Wild Life Bulletin Our National and vState parks and reservations are our only hope for the preservation of any part of the primaeval wilderness and all com- mercialism or destruction of Nature's balance within these areas must be prevented. Certain species may be 'pests' or 'vermin' on the farmer's acres and may have to be killed there to allow some other species of commercial value to increase abnormally, but in the wilder- ness where the aim is to preserve primaeval conditions all species are on the same footing and nature who has always taken care of their interrelations can be trusted to govern them without man's interfer- ence." (Stone, '23, p. 552.) In the National Parks, especially, we must not destroy, we must not exterminate, for we cannot reproduce that which we may at one time consider a menace, or a nuisance, just as in the case of bears, as related on ]:)age 213. ''These animals were not made in a day, nor in a thousand years, nor in a million years. As said the first Greek philosopher, Empedo- cles, who 560 B. C. adumbrated the 'survival of the fittest' theory, of Darwin, they are the result of ceaseless trials of nature." (Os- born. '14, p. 353.) Dr. E. W. Nelson puts the case even stronger when he says : "The splendid mammals which possessed the earth until man interfered were the ultimate product of Nature working through the ages that have elapsed since the dawn of life. . . . The wanton destruction of any of these species thus deprives the world of a marvelous organism which no human power can ever restore." (Nelson, '16, pp. 401-402.) At the present time, fur-bearing animals are rapidly being driven out of the country as a whole; and soon we must domesticate some of them outside the Parks and raise furs for market, just as we do chickens. In fact, this is being done now in the case of a few species. But before we can domesticate them and breed them successfully we must know much more about them>, we must study them in their wilderness environment. And wild animals cannot be preserved in menageries or zoos ; there they lose their wild habits, their stamina, their intelligence, and even their form. (Hollister, '17, pp. 177-193.) ''The need for prompt and drastic action to save our native fauna, especially the birds and mammals, has been ably and forcibly set forth by various recent writers. It is scarcely necessary for me to rehearse the gloomy chronicle of extinct and vanishing species which has been recorded by Hornaday ['13, pp. 1-411] and others. Let us not, however, focus our attention too exclusively upon these relatively few examples which are so conspicuous — the mammals and birds Predatory Animals of Yellozvstone Park 219 which are sought for as sources of food or feathers or fur. . . . I^rge tracts of land, representing every type of physiography and of plant association, ought to he set aside as permanent preserves, and properly protected against hre, and eigainst every type of depreda- tion." (Sumner, '20, pp. 239, 241.) And in the same article Mr. Sumner speaks of the National Park Service and its care of the Parks as playgrounds, and hopes that they will also undertake "the permanent preservation of the native fauna and flora hy reason of their value to science, and to the higher interests of generations to come." It cannot be too strongly emphasized that the predatory fur-bearers and other carnivores, as part of the natural fauna, are quite as valuable for preservation as the herbivorous animals tha^ usually constitute their prey. In the National Parks, we have only to consider the reactions of the animals on each other or on the wild plants. We must not think of any one species there as of more interest than another. The Yellowstone National Park was created for everybody, not for any one class ; neither the sportsman, nor the fisherman, nor the botanist, nor the nature-student, nor the rancher, nor the irrigation enthusi- ast has a predominant interest in this great Park. Therefore the only way to preserve it for everybody is to preserve it as Nature made it, as nearly as we can. "It should be borne in mind that the mountains are for the whole people, not for certain classes ; and no one doubts that the presence of wild animals adds greatly to the allurement of the woods." (Barnes, '22, p. 8.) National Parks as Suitable Areas for Preserving Flesh-eaters and Fur-bearers. Since these animals are being destroyed outside the National Parks because of their destruction of domestic animals, we must preserve them inside the National Parks. The Yellowstone National Park being the largest and most isolated from farms and ranches, here is the place where we must preserve predatory animals if at all. In fact, this has been realized for a long time. Indeed, the earliest article on Yellowstone animals that I can find, specifically advocates the protection of cougars, wolves, coyotes, weasels, er- mine, otter, skunks, and bears. (Comstock, '74, p. 75.) Natural areas are as important to the tired tourist seeking diver- sion and recreation as to the naturalist and the nature student. Among the factors that make these National Parks so fascinating is the chance of seeing wild life. As a part of that wild life, the preda- tory and fur-bearing animals take an important part in this respect ; the bears, weasels, mink, coyotes, mountain lions, and wolves espe- 220 Roosevelt Wild Life Bulletin cially. Perhaps these animals are not primarily responsible for bringing the people to the Yellowstone National Park; but after the people do reach the Park, wild life plays an important part in diverting and amusing the otherwise idle sojourner. Physicians tell us it is of the first importance to the tired or run-down system, that it be interested and amused. Nothing aids more in the rejuvenation of the summer tourist than to be drawn out of himself to the forgetfulness of his ordinary troubles. In this the animals take the most important part because they are something diverting, something alive. And we are all so constituted that amusing, living things are more interesting than dead and inert ones, at least to the majority of people. "The interest of the visitors tO' the Yellowstone in its game animals evidences the strength of the attraction which wild life has for all. Despite the scenic beauties and natural wonders of this park, the presence of thousands of game animals in their native haunts is widely adver- tised as one of its most notable features. There is scarcely a well- informed man, woman or child in this country who does not know something of the Yellowstone bears and their free and easy man- ners." (Nelson, '17, p. 144.) Of the animals that amuse and divert the visitors in the Yellowstone National Park, the bears and their kindred easily take first place. But the other carnivorous animals are no less valuable from the point of view of science and education. Ther^ can be no reasonable excuse for permitting the extermination of a single one of the nearly twenty species of predatory mammals native to the Yellowstone wilderness. We can no longer doubt the great value of predatory and fur-bear- ing animals living as free, unhampered parts of a normal environ- ment. The Boone and Crockett Club has put itself squarely upon record as favoring the protection of predacious and fur-bearing ani- mals. "The Game Committee believes that the time has come when the same public interest should be aroused in the protection of fur- bearing animals as in the. protection of insectivorous game birds and game . . . Their preservation is an asset of the highest value to the nation and a boon to civilization." (Boone and Crockett Club, '12, P- 23.) I know that the naturalists are not in favor of unstudied attempts to rectify fancied faults in nature by the extermination of any ani- mal, or even by the partial extermination. As Grinnell and Storer have said : "Thus far we have laid chief stress on the importance of the national jjarks to recreation, and have shown the necessity, in 221 Predatory Animals of Yellowstone Park 323 adapting them for this purpose, of retaining the original balance in plant and animal life. But the same necessity attaches to their adap- tation for another end. hardly less important than recreation, namely, research in natural history." (Grinnell and Storer, '16, pp. 9-10.) Grinnell and Storer are even more concise and straight to the point where the carnivores are concerned. "As a rule predacious animals should be left unmolested and allowed to retain their primitive rela- tion to the rest of the fauna." (I.e.. '16, p. 8; see also Dixon, '25.) Another view of the case, but along the same lines, is that of Adams: "Naturalists are only beginning to awaken to the importance and seriousness of this matter. There is an urgent, acute need for care- ful, scientific study of the predatory animals in these parks (and elsewhere for that matter), because of the prevalence of a strong prejudice against the predatory animal. A sane, long look ahead is what is needed in this matter. It is only too easy to order out the trapper or hunter to kill these animals, without a previous and ade- quate study of the whole situation. The eagerness with which the uninformed public devours news items concerning the destruction of supposedly dangerous animals readily makes fuel for cheap politi- cians." (Adams, '24, p. 280.) Strongest of all arguments for natural areas, because representa- tive of so many different men and different interests, is the policy of the "Council on National Parks. Forests and Wild Life" which says : "A further land requirement is the maintenance of a part of the nat- ural flora and fauna undisturbed by outside agencies, for education and scientific research. This calls for the setting aside and preserva- tion of certain areas, selected so as to represent the more important types of plant and animal life, and so far as may be, the maintaining of the balance of nature on these areas. The need for such areas in the prosecution of the sciences on which human welfare depends, notably agriculture, has long been recognized by scientists, but it is as yet only dimly realized by the general public. Furthermore, such lands will be of value in education as actual examples of original America." {A policy for National and State Parks, Forests, and Game Refuges, Oct. 25, 1923, p. 8.) The study of predatory and fur-bearing animals needs an ample territory abundantly stocked with these animals in as nearly a nat- ural environment as possible, for we must remember that these ani- mals have developed in such a natural state, and it seems quite prob- able that such a natural condition is the one best suited to them now. At any rate, before we can improve their habitat and method of liv- Roosevelt Wild Life Bulletin ing, we must know more about them. And we must acquire that knowledge from animals Hving freely and naturally, for a changed habitat and changed habits may result in an animal not at all typical of the species. Furthermore, with extermination of several species more or less imminent, we must have a safe reserve for the supply of breeding stock. Since these must be natural, healthy animals to start with, it necessarily restricts the choice to animals from large and natural wild lands if possible. This is where our National Parks — and especially the largest, most natural, and best stocked of all, the Yellowstone National Park — will be of incalculable value. RELATION OF THE YELLOWSTONE ANIMALS TO PARK POLICIES In m\- treatment of the historical development of the present pre- dacious fauna, I have already discussed the changes that have taken place in the original stock of animals. In that discussion we have seen how comparatively few game animals and predacious animals were a constituent part of the original fauna in Yellowstone Park. The First Civilian Regime. Let us see what the Park policy has been and upon what basis it rests. When the Yellowstone National Park was set aside on March i. 1872. absolute protection of the wild life was not intended. The Act of Dedication does not mention animals or natural conditions specifically, although it does "provide against the wanton destruction of fish and game." Indeed we know that in those days animals of all kinds were so abundant elsewhere, especially on the plains, that only the most far-seeing men of the times ever gave it a thought but to deem the supply inexhaustible. The first Superintendent. Mr. Nathaniel P. Langford. did the best he could to protect the animals of the Park, but having no funds for expenses and not even able to live in the Park, he could accomplish little. P)Ut he did suggest in his first report that "wild game of all kinds lie protected by law," and that trapping be prohibited. From this suggestion came the first regulations : "All hunting, fishing, or trapping within the limits of the Park, except for purposes of recrea- tion, or to supply food for visitors or actual residents, is strictly prohibited." On April 18. 1877, Mr. Philetus W. Norris succeeded Mr. Lang- ford, and soon after that the first appropriation was made. "He [Norris] strongly recommended game protection, but not the pro- hibition of hunting." (Anderson, '95, p. 381.) In fact, Norris' forces of workmen "lived upon game, which was hunted only in season. Predatory Animals of Yellowstone Parh and preserved, or jerked, for a supply for the remainder of the year" (I.e., p. 382). After Norris left in 1881, a series of ci\ilians were appointed to the office of Park Superintendent, but they did little to protect wild life. The regulations, already quoted, were very liberal, and ''even these extremely wide-open rules were not enforced; it rather seems to have been the policy of the superintendents and their assistants to beg ( !) the shooters to be moderate in their ac- tivities." (Cf. Skinner, '22, p. 93.) Even scant protection resulted, as Capt. Boutelle said later, in making the Park a game preserve: '"From what I can learn, the Park until recent years was considered by many living in the neighborhood little else than a fine hunting- ground. I think most of those who were in the habit of hunting in the Park have now a feeling of proprietary interest and recognize that the protection afforded the game makes it a safe breeding- ground, and that there will be more game in the adjacent country if the animals while in the Park are not disturbed." (Boutelle, '89, p. 22.) Meanwhile, in 1882, there was formed a strong corporation known as the "Yellowstone Park Improvement Company" whose policy it was to grab everything in sight. Among other things, "the company tried to give out a contract for twenty thousand pounds of wild meat at five cents a pound, for the boarding houses for their laborers and mechanics." (Grinnell, '13, pp. 445-446.) Fortunately this contract was never consummated, for practically all of this meat would have been killed within the Park ; but the incident shows well the difficulty of protecting the wild life. Especially as it required the united ef- forts of all the Park's strongest friends for ten years to defeat this company and its many and varied nefarious ramifications. Indeed, this company was so powerful and so greedy, it went far beyond utilizing the wild life as it chose and threatened the very existence of the Park itself ; and until it was defeated, the defenders had little time to devote to other questions. "The dangers which threatened were very real, and continued for a dozen years." (L. C, '13, p. 447.) ' The Military Regime. During the early life of the Improvement Company, the Park administration was so inefficient and even cor- rupt that it became a scandal. But such a state of aft'airs could not last. Congress finally refused to appropriate money for a protection that did not protect, and the Secretary of the Interior was forced to ask for a detail of troops to care for and protect the Park, Major Moses Harris was the first military Acting Superintendent ("Act- ^25 Roosevelt Wild Life Bulletin ing" l)ecause the military was looked upon as a temporary expedient, although it was actually to endure for 32 years). He arrived in the Park with one troop of the First Cavalry on August 17, 1886, and assumed control on August 20th. "He made splendid efforts to pre- vent fires, to protect game." (Grinnell, '13, p. 449.) Better yet, all hunting and shooting was stopped and wild life began to recover. This was the beginning of real protection for which "Major Harris was an ideal selection, and he came none too soon. Austere, correct, unyielding-, he was a terror to the evil doers." (Anderson, '95. p- 387-) It was a marked change for the better. While friends were fight- ing in Washington, in both houses of Congress, for the life of the Park against commercial seizure, the military were in the Park en- forcing the laws already on the books, without fear or favor. ''From this time on things assumed a dift'erent aspect. He [Major Harris] had the assistance of a disciplined troop of cavalry, and he used it with energy and discretion. It very soon became unsafe to trespass in the Park, winter or summer, and load upon load of con- fiscated property testified to the number of his captures. . . . He speaks of the 'immense herds of elk that have passed the winter along the traveled road from Gardiner to Cooke City,' and he goes on to say that 'but little efficient protection can be afforded to this species of game except upon the Yellowstone and its tributaries.' He re- mained in charge until June i, 1889, when he transferred his duties to Captain F. A. Boutelle, and in the three years of his rule he in- augurated and put in motion most of the protective measures now in use. Captain Boutelle. in succession to [Major] Harris, continued his methods, and protection prospered. Meantime, in 1889, an addi- tional troop of cavalry was detailed for duty in the Park in the sum- mer, and had station at the Lower Geyser Basin." (Anderson, '95, PP- 3^3-384.) To get the l)est idea of the protective measures in force at this period, I give the following quotations from General George S. Anderson who was the next Acting Superintendent, and probably one of the best that the Yellowstone National Park ever had. He has described these methods so well that I could not hope to better them. 'Tn protecting the beauties and wonders of the Park from vandalism, the main things to be contended against were the propensities of women to gather 'specimens,' and of men to advertise their folly by writing their names on everything beautiful within their reach. Small squads of soldiers were put on guard at each of the geyser Predatory Animals of Yellowstone Park 22^ basins, and at other points where protection was needful, with orders to arrest and threaten with expulsion anyone found breaking off or gathering specimens. ( )nly a few examples were needed to mater- ially diminish this evil. . . . "The protection of the forests — perhaps of more material import- ance than any other form of Park protection — became a subject of study, care and attention. As a rule, fires originated in one of three ways : by carelessly left camp fires, by lightning, or by the rubbing together of two trees swayed by the wind. There is no way of preventing the last two forms of ignition; the only thing to be done is to keep a ceaseless watch, and, so far as practicable, prevent the fire from spreading. The extensive areas burned over in days evidently prior to the advent of white men make it very apparent that these two agencies of destruction were then at work, as it is cer- tain they have been since. Camping parties are many of them from cities, and they know little, and care less, about the devastation a forest fire may create. They leave a small and apparently harmless bunch of coals where their camp fire was ; after they have passed on, a wind springs up, fans the embers into flame, the dry pine needles are kindled, and at once the forest is ablaze, and no power on earth can put it cut. When once the flame reaches the tree tops, if the wind be strong, a man on horseback can scarce escape before it. As the wind ceases the fire quiets down, only to spring up again next day on the appearance of the afternoon breeze. The only time to fight the fire is when the wind has gone down and the flames have ceased. Then water poured on smouldering logs, earth thrown on unextinguished stumps, and the clearing of a path before the line of fire in the carpet of pine needles are the effective means of ex- tinguishment. After a fire is once got under control it is no unusual thing for it to reappear 500 yards from any of its previous lines, carried there as a spark through the air, and dropped in the resinous tinder ever ready to receive and spread it. . . . *'A fire in pine woods may be successfully fought so long as it is kept confined to the ground, but once it gets a start in the tree tops no power on earth can cope with it ; no effort is of the slightest avail. Campers who leave their fires unextinguished often make the excuse that they did not believe any damage could result, as the coals were nearly dead. Although such might be the case at the hour of their leaving, in the still air of morning, the afternoon wind is quite capable of blowing them into dangerous and destructive life. My rule has been to insist on the rigorous enforcement of the regula- 228 Roosevelt Wild Life Bulletin tions reqiiirin^c: expulsion from the Park in such cases. One or two expulsions each year serve as healthy warnings, and these, backed hy a system of numerous and vigilant patrols, have brought about the particularly good results of which we can boast. ... "As a last heading of my subject I shall touch on the protection of the game. This was never seriously attempted until Major Harris came to the Park, in t886; but he attacked it with an earnestness and a fearlessness that has left a lasting impress. It is not probable that the Park is the natural home of bison, elk or deer,"^ yet the last remnant of the first and great numbers of the last two are found here. The high altitude, great cold and extreme depth of snow make it a forbidding habitat for the ruminants. They remain here simply because they are protected. Protection was given by a system of scouting extended over the best game ranges, and throughout the season of probable game destruction." (Anderson, '95, pp. 388-389, 390-391, 393, 394.) This scouting was a peculiar system in itself, requiring the utmost hardihood, knowledge of woodcraft, resourcefulness, and energy. Naturally even the best troopers, untrained to the work and unac- quainted with the Park, could accomplish very little. Now and then a soldier did have the qualities necessary and slowly acquired a knowledge of the Park. But the usual short residence of each group of soldiers would soon remove these men and a new lot had to be used. This led to the employing of from one to three civilian "scouts" who were mountaineers familiar with such work and hard- ships and who remained year after year. These scouts did the wil- derness work and looked after the wild life, especially guarding against infraction of the hunting and fishing regulations, while the soldiers patrolled the roads and more prominent trails, guarded the formations, and prevented the infraction of the rules by the tourists. The protection was absolute for a time and included all animals. Soon the idea that the "game animals" were more valuable began to be entertained. In his report for 1889. P- Capt. F. A. Boutelle, then Acting Superintendent, says : "The carnivora of the Park have, in common with other animals, increased until, I believe, something should be done for their extermination." In his report for 1898, Capt. Erwin. Acting Superintendent says : "Coyotes — \'ery numer- ous in certain sections. They do some damage to the young elk. but the young deer and antelope are their particular prey. Ef¥orts ^ Further researches since General Anderson's time have shown that a small band of mountain buffalo and a few elk and deer have probably always lived in the Park. Predatory Aiiimals of Y cUoiv stone Park 229 are made in winter to keep their number clown by poisoning carcasses of dead animals, and to a certain extent it has been successful." This poisoning campaign was kept up and probably a hundred coyotes were destroyed every year. From 1907 to 1926, inclusive, there are definite records to show 3048 coyotes poisoned, trapped, and other- wise killed; or an average of 152 coyotes per year. Although the campaign against the coyotes has been most efifective and sustained, mountain lions and gray wolves have been killed also whenever opportunity oflfered. A detailed list of the reported killings will be found on page 239. The Park Protective Act. Even though the military authorities had been in charge since 1886, and were succeeding in protecting the Park, there were actually no laws under which they could punish offenders beyond ejecting them from the Park. In March, 1894, a poacher, Howell, killed seven buffalo on Astringent Creek in the Pelican Valley. Through a series of fortunate happenings this calamity became widely known and w^as used effectively in getting from Congress a code of laws, the Park Protective Act, signed by President Cleveland, May 7, 1894, designed to punish offenses Yellowstone National Park. Under this Act, **the preservation of elk, deer, antelope, and the carnivora is assured. Their numbers elsewhere, their wide distribution within the Park, their relatively small commercial value, added to the danger attendant on killing them within the Park, is a sufficient protection." (Anderson, '95, p. 400.) This quotation is very important because General Anderson was Acting Superintendent in 1894 and the above quotation indicates that the act was intended (although it only says ''birds and animals") to protect predatory animals and was so understood at the time. Unluckily, as we have just seen, this view did not prevail for long and the killing of predators was begun. After the passage of the Act of 1894, it was not long before the results of real animal protection began to show. To our great nat- uralist-president, the Hon. Theodore Roosevelt, it was particularly evident in April, 1903, when he visited the Yellowstone National Park. "To any lover of nature it could not help being a delightful thing to see the wild and timid creatures of the wilderness rendered so tame ; and their tameness in the immediate neighborhood of Gard- iner, on the very edge of the Park, spoke volumes for the patriotic good sense of the citizens of Montana. Major Pitcher informed me that both the Montana and Wyoming people were co-operating with him in zealous fashion to preserve the game and put a stop to 230 Roosevelt ]VUd Life Bulletin poachino-. For their attitude in this rei;ard they deserve the cordial thanks of all Americans interested in these great pojnilar playgrounds, where hits of the old wilderness scenery and the old wilderness life are to he kept unspoiled for the henefit of our children's children." (Roosevelt, '14a, pp. 44-45-) Generally, the wild life protection under the military regime was good and effective, but there were some abuses. Among so many men recruited for military duty, there were some not at all in sympa- thy with duty in Yellowstone Park and in its protection of wild life. Several soldiers were actually caught trapping and poaching on the very animals they were supposed to be guarding. Naturally, the offi- cers were very conscientious in their work and most of them took keen delight in their tour of duty in the Park. During the war years of 1917-1918 there was a relapse on their part, due probably to an inferior grade of men obtaining commissions. At that time, the officers failed to instruct and impress their men with their protective duty. Many of the troopers actually thought they could kill game for their own use. Some animals zverc killed, and the officers proved very negligent in inflicting punishment. Fortunately the soldiers were withdrawn before the end of the war and the military regime ended. The very fact that patrolling and guarding the Park was not mili- tary duty, that the soldiers did not stay long enough to become used to their duties, and that they had no natural inclination for Park work, had been used often as a reason why a force of permanent Park Rangers recruited from men with natural aptitude should be formed. At the time the military took charge of the Park the pre- ceding administration had already become inefficient and corrupt, and a strong, disciplined force was necessary to rescue and restore the Park. This the army accomplished. For the time and the work thev had to do, soldiers were necessary, and they did their work quickl} and w^ell. But the emergency having passed, Yellowstone Park under the more or less settled conditions now prevailing, i? much better cared for by a force of civilian Rangers without a trace of military training. The National Park Service and Its Wild Life Policy. The Act of Congress of August 25, 1916 (39 Stats., 535), had created the necessary administrative machinery for the organization. And when the Deficiency Appropriation Act of April 17, 191 7 (Public No. 2, 65th Congress) provided the necessary funds, the National Park Service was immediately org^anized as the ninth bureau of the 231 Jiirtesy A. C. McClurg & Co. Fig. 39. A black bear industriously digging out a ground squirrel. A bit of the lodgepole pine forest in the background. Yellowstone Park, Sept., ig22. Courtesy A. C. McCliirg & Co. Fig. 40. A black bear travelling along one of his paths. Bears are noted for stepping in each other's tracks. Here can be seen a distinct trail for each foot with the untrodden grass between. Yellow- stone Park, Sept., 1922. 23^ Courtesy A. C. McClurg & Co. Fig, 41. A beaver house and pond. The trees in the background have been killed by being flooded when the beaver dam in the foreground first formed the pond. Near Lava Creek, Yellowstone Park, May 22, 1920. Predatory Animals of Yellowstone Park 233 Department of the Interior. A Director was appointed to carry out the provision of the Act which charged him with the supervision, management and control of the several national parks and monu- ments already under the control of the Department of the Interior. "A new ranger force, composed largely of members of the force de- veloped in 19 1 6 and disbanded last year, was organized . . . and is now engaged in protecting the park. Each one of these men has re- leased four or five soldiers for war service without, in the slightest degree, reducing the patrolled area of the park. The military force necessarily had to maintain a semblance of army organization in the park, hence its outposts were garrisoned with squads of men, only one or two of whom regularly patrolled each district. Under the new organization, rangers are assigned in pairs to districts and each is required to do patrolHng work. Thus the cost of protecting the park has been reduced enormously. The rangers are all hardy men of the mountains, skilled in forestry and woodcraft, accustomed to the hardships of the severe winters, trained in the use of snowshoes and skis, and thoroughly familiar, in most cases, with the entire park area. The soldiers formerly controlling the park were never sent there for a long tour of duty, and, consequently, never became thor- oughly acquainted with the park or intensely interested in the per- formance of their duties." (Mather, '18, p. 39.) The fundamental idea of the National Park Service was this re- placement of the soldiers with Rangers. Their permanent force now comprises about thirty Rangers under a Chief Ranger, and each sea- son from June 1 5 to September 20 it is reinforced by fifty to sixty temporary men. These Rangers perform the same general duties, in the same general way, as the soldiers did, with the addition of du- ties connected with checking and controlling automobiles. Two characteristic changes have been made. With cavalry in the Park, all summer patrol duty was performed on horseback; with Rangers, though trail patrols are still made on horseback, for the road patrols motorcycles have been substituted. Under military administration, all stations in the Park were occupied in winter as well as in summer ; now, under a Chief Ranger, only a few stations in the interior of the Park, and all the boundary stations, are manned in winter by the per- manent Rangers. This change was made on the principle that if all boundaries are patrolled and poachers prevented from entering the Park, there would be no need of Rangers in the interior. Of course, all persons entering the Park during the winter would leave behind unexplained tracks that would lead to their immediate investigation and possible arrest. Roosevelt Wild Life Bulletin As late as it is possible in the fall, patrols are made along the trails just inside the Park boundaries, and intentionally paralleling them, on horseback. These ])atrols are made every day at the most im- portant points and twice a week at the least important. When the snow becomes too deep for the horses, the same patrols are made on snowshoes (either "webs" or "skis" as each Ranger prefers). Not even a quite severe storm or intense cold is allowed to interfere with these duties. It is also a part of the Rangers' duties to keep track of all hunters and trappers just outside the boundaries and to maintain a record of all animals killed and captured. Excellent as the formation of the National Park Service was, it has, if anything, further confused this question of the balance of na- ture, so far as the Yellow^stone National Park is concerned. The Act of August 25, 1916, expresses the purpose of the National Parks in these words : "the fundamental purpose of the said parks, monu- ments, and reservations, which purpose is to conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and the w41d life therein and to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations." And this same idea is restated and emphasized as the National Park Service policy in a letter dated May 13, 191 8, by Sec- retary Lane to Director Alather : "First, that the national parks must be maintained in absolutely unimpaired form for the use of future generations as well as those of our own time." And further says : "The educational, as well as the recreational, use of the national parks should be encouraged in every practicable way. University and high school classes in science will find special facilities for their vacation-period studies." (Lant-. See Mather, '19, pp. 361-362.) The then Acting Director stated that: "The park is therefore the greatest wild-animal sanctuary in the w(jrld. Wt endeavor to re- frain from calling it a game sanctuary l)ecause park animals are not game in the popular sense of the term." (Albright, '17, p. 35.) Yet the old idea still persists of a separation of the game animals from the predatory animals, in a different catagory, the one being legiti- mately conserved, the other "vermin," to be exterminated. As wit- ness : "complete sanctuary they offer all the wild life, except preda- tory animals," (p. 23) ; "campaign of extermination waged against mountain lions and coyotes has shown beneficial results," (p. 64) ; "efforts are being made to exterminate them" [coyotes in Glacier National Park], (p. 156) ; "destroying predatory animals," (p. 170) ; and finally "The grey squirrels are numerous, and until they are ex- Predatory Animals of Yelloivstonc Park 235 terminated they will be a menace to bird life," (p. 177). These last five quotations are from Report of the Director, National Park Ser- vice, for 1923. This seems far too drastic an attitude to take, both because it is not in harmony with the law and because no adequate study has yet been made in any one of the Parks. It really appears that each Park official has been trying out his own ideas : ideas that may be disas- trous to the predatory and fur-bearing animals. And above all, we must remember that if we destroy these animals, we can never replace them. By all means, let this destruction be arrested until ivc knoiv zcJiat ur arc doing. In the opinion of many discriminating persons, our National Parks should not be conventionalized in any way. Grinnell and Storer have well said : "On the contrary, it is their chief function to prevent just that disfigurement of the face of nature by industrial machinery which is being carried on at such a disastrous rate in other localities. We mean rather that the ideal recreative conditions now to be found in them should be preserved, that all factors disturbing to these condi- tions should be excluded, and that the artificial elements required for the practical work of administration should be disguised or beauti- fied past offense. Let us, however, take up these points in greater precision and detail. The first necessity in adapting the parks for recreative purposes is to preserve natural conditions." ('t6, p. 4.) Fortunately, conditions in Yellowstone National Park have been changed only to a small extent as yet ; still more fortunately, there are no privately owned lands within its borders to interfere with any plan adopted for readjusting life to a natural condition and main- taining it there. I have already related how the military authorities developed their plan to protect ''the game animals" without much regard to the dam- age they might do to the animals tJicy considered harmful and that posterity might consider valuable. For we must not forget what Dr. Hornaday has written so well : "For educated, civilized Man to ex- terminate a valuable wild species of living things is a crime. It is a crime against his own children, and posterity. "No man has a right, either moral or legal, to destroy or squander an inheritance of his children that he holds for them in trust. And man, the wasteful and greedy spendthrift that he is, has not created even the humblest of the species of birds, mammals and fishes that adorn and enrich this earth. 'The earth is the lord's, and the ful- ness thereof!' With all his wisdom, man has not evolved and placed 236 Roosevelt JViJd Life BuIIefin here so much as a ,e:ronnd-squirrel, a sparrow or a clam. It is true that he has juggled with the wild horse and sheep, the goats and the swine, and produced some hardy breeds that can withstand his abuse without going down before it ; but as for species, he has not yet created and placed here even so much as a protozoan. "The wild things of this earth are not ours, to do with as we please. They have been given to us in trust, and we must account for them to the generations which will come after us and audit our accounts." (Hornaday, '13, p. 7.) Of course, military men whose training and profession are to kill, cannot be blamed too much if they have not been shown the other side of the case. At first, the predatory animals in Yellowstone Na- tional Park ate rodents in summer, but they could not get them in winter, so they killed "big game" with disastrous effect because of the concentrated attack. And then, when summer came again the rodents increased too fast because there were not enough enemies to check them. Besides controlling the overabundance of any one prey, the predators help to keep the breeding stock of all animals healthy and vigorous, and tend to prevent the development of epidemics. They are of primary importance in developing the speed, cunning, and watchfulness of the animals preyed upon. If we kill off all their enemies, it seems reasonable to suppose that our "big game" will deteriorate. Progressive Extermination of the Carnivorous Animals. As far as the predators are concerned, we can already see the handwrit- ing on the wall, and it means gradual extermination. My data in the list on page 180 calls attention to the few otter, mink, marten, and wolverines still in the Park and to the fact that they are decreasing, probably because of excessive trapping in the lands around the Park, This has been known for some time. S. N. Leek of Jackson's Hole, just south of the Yellowstone National Park, reported before 1913: "wolverine and pine marten nearly all gone." (Hornaday, '13, p. 51.) In many places, the wolverine is looked upon as the acme of ruthless destruction ; he is in truth the "Indian devil." Yet even he has his value in Nature's scheme and teaches us anew we must not jump to conclusions. "The wolverine forms one of the most interesting mem- bers of California's fauna and steps should be taken for its immediate protection. Its extermination, to me, seems a very serious crime in which man will be held to strict accountability. Furthermore, I be- lieve that these animals have played an important part in helping to save the larger game animals during attacks of contagious diseases Predatory Animals of Yellozvsfone Park by consuming as food the dead and sick animals, thus preventing spread of the contagion." (Fry, '23, p. 134.) I have already given much evidence in defense of the coyote but he has other valuable qualities not heretofore touched upon. In the far West, rabbits are a pest; but the coyote is one of the best natural checks upon them. "In eastern Oregon, where the coyote has been hunted by federal officials for the past several years, the jackrabbit has grown so abundant that since 191 1 it has taken at least 10 per cent of all the crops suited to its food habits. This applies, of course, to the sections along the stock growing belts where alfalfa is the chief forage crop. . . . Ground squirrels were nearly as numerous as the rabbits, but did not destroy as much because of the fact that they do not work all year. . . . The killing off of the rabbits by poisoning has been a total failure in the section where I took my notes, although it was tried several times. I am convinced that the best check is the coyote, which Nature has placed there to keep down just such pests." (Anthony, '23, pp. 111-112.) Perhaps a still more just argument for the rational treatment of the coyote is that by Dr. E. W. Nelson: "The complete destruction of coyotes would, no doubt, upset the balance of nature in favor of rabbits, prarie-dogs, and other harmful rodents, and thus result in a very serious increase in the destruction of crops. The coyote sup- plies much interest and local color to many dreary landscapes and has become a prominent figure in the literature of the West. There it is usually symbolic of shifty cunning and fleetness of foot. What- ever his faults, the coyote is an amusing and interesting beast, and it is hoped that the day of his complete disappearance from our wild life may be far in the future." (Nelson, '16, p. 424.) It will be noticed that in neither of the above quotations is there a desire to protect absolutely the coyote. It is admitted that the coy- ote causes damage in places. Dr. Nelson is, himself, the head of the greatest organization in the United States for the control of the pred- atory animals. That he has so much to say in the coyote's favor should be given double weight in any argument as to the good or ill that that animal does. From Canada comes similar testimony: "Anv • rational system of wild-life protection must take into account the con- trol of the predatory species of mammals and birds. And while the complete extermination of such predatory species is not possible, de- s:irable, or necessary, a degree of control must be exercised to prevent such an increase in numbers as would affect the abundance of the non-predatory species. In the treatment of predatory animals it is Rooscrcif U^ilci Life Bulletin necessary to deterniinc whether the species concerned are responsible for more harm than oood in a particular reg^ion." (Hewitt, '21, p. 193- ) As I have already shown in the chapter on historical development, conditions in the Yellowstone are unstable because man has already interfered with nature and made conditions too favorable to preda- tory animals of certain kinds. We cannot, therefore, allow them to increase indefinitely but must judiciously control them. Control is what is needed, not cxtcnnination. Furthermore, since there are no indispensable domestic Hocks or herds in the Yellowstone Park, con- ditions are different there from elsewhere, and rational control should be suited to those conditions. But we know very little about all the interrelation of those conditions, and a special study is needed to de- termine just what the most beneficial control would be. Some thirty years ago, Mr. Samuel N. Rhoads stated that ''concerning the sub- ject of economic zoology as specially affecting the United States it may be said: {a) that, in general, experience has shown that the ex- tenuiuatioii of any native species on economic grounds is undesirable, but its restriction, temporary or continuous, may be a subject for wise legislation; (/?) that the damage done by many so-called noxious species is offset in a degree beyond calculation by the fact that they form a large share of the food of beneficial or harmless species, which, if deprived of this source of supply, would be exterminated or become harmful by recourse to an unnatural diet; {c) that in the United States we have large areas so nearly in their virgin state that the balance of nature there existing may be taken as a criterion by which to restore the most natural order compatible with the changed conditions of populated districts; {d) that the unwise destruction of so-called noxious species in this country has not gone so far toward extermination that present-day reforms will fail to be a remedy, as is the case in Europe." (Rhoads, '98, p. 580.) In Table 4 are given the records from the Yellowstone Park ad- ministrative reports of the destruction of three of the predatory mammal species under the system of unregulated killing, or rather, attempted extermination. Doubtless more are destroyed than the ofificial records show. In this connection see also the stated policy of extermination of predacious and certain other forms of wild life in the various National Parks, pages 253-265. Predatory Animals of Yellowstone Park 239 Table 4. Official Record of Certain Predatory Mammals Destroyed IN Yellowstone National Park From Superintendent's Annual Report For Mountain Lions Coyotes Wolves 1904 1905 1906. 1907. 1908. 1909. 1910. 1911 . 1912. 1913 1914. 1915 1916. 1917. 1918. 1919 1920. 1 92 1 . 1922. 1923. 1924. 1925. Total 15 1 62 in unknown I t h e s e three years. unknown 23 II 121 99 97 60 40 129 270 154 155 100 180 ICQ 190 227 107 140 130 221 226 180 several. 14 4 36 6 28 12 24 8 2,805 I32t Alternative Policy: Preserving the Parks in Natural Con- dition. I have already touched upon the need of preserving our National Parks in their original natural condition so far as is hu- manly possible. Rarely some earnest critic sounds a deeper note of warning. "The whole problem with which we have to deal is, after all, one of relative values. What are the things that are most worth doing — and paying for ? Our whole plea for the conservation of these considerable fragments of nature rests, of course, upon the value of these to mankind. What the wishes of the animals and plants are in this matter does not much concern us. But we must recognize the existence of various standards of value, and I believe that there are standards far higher than are generally recognized and applied to this question. . . . "Again, it must be insisted that as things now go, our world is destined to be populated up to its capacity, within a comparatively brief period of time. In that day, if not before, we shall be faced with the problem of correlating the rate of reproduction with the means of subsistence under endurable conditions of Hfe. Would it Roosevelt Wild Life Bulletin not be ec[ually possible, and vastly more desirable, tliat we should strike this equilibrium some time before the inhabitable land had all been occupied? I think there can be no difference of opinion as to which of these alternatives oft'ers the greater prospect for future human happiness. This mad rush to till up every nook and cranny of the world is prompted in a large degree by national ambition for power ; partly also by the greed of the business promoter and the real-estate shark. These are the greatest foes of any movement toward leaving the world truly habitable for the future. 'T trust that I shall not be charged with voicing any general de- preciation of what we call 'man's conquest of nature.' To a large extent this has l^een desirable ; and in any case it has been the neces- sary price which we have had to pay for our advance beyond sav- agery. Many things in nature have had to be used, even though this use has destroyed their beauty and their interest as objects of scien- tific study. W^hat we insist upon is a fuller recognition of the non- utilitarian motives, or, we should perhaps say, a broader conception of what constitutes usefulness." (Sumner, '20, pp. 242-244.) .Surely this great country of ours can afford tC' keep our great National Parks as natural areas. In them wild life of all kinds should be preserved in as natural a balance as possible. What we need are natural areas where we can see and study the rocks and soil, and study plants, trees, hsh, reptiles, birds, and mammals in their natural environment, and living their lives naturally. At least, we should try to attain such an ideal. Xor am I making this plea from the scientihc side alone. There is another great army of peo- ple who want to become acquainted with nature. For these, John ]\Iuir is the greatest and most eloquent advocate I know. Speaking of the Yellowstone, he says: "This is the coolest and highest of the parks. Frosts occur every month of the year. Nevertheless, the tenderest tourist finds it warm enough in summer. The air is elec- tric and full of ozone, healing, reviving, exhilarating, kept pure by frost and fire, while the scenery is wild enough to awaken the dead. It is a glorious place to grow in and rest in ; camping on the shores of the lakes, in the warm openings of the woods golden with sun- flowers, on the banks of the streams, by the snowy waterfalls, beside the exciting wonders or away from them in the scallops of the moun- tain walls sheltered from every wind, on smooth silky lawns enam- eled with gentians, up in the fountain hollows of the ancient glaciers between the peaks, where cool pools and brooks and gardens of pre- cious plants charmingly embowered are never wanting, and good Fig. 43. A woodchuck, such as are hunted at times by the coyotes and bears especially. Yellowstone Park, Sept. i, 1922, Predatory Animals of Yellowstone Park ^43 rough rocks with every variet\- of chff and scaur are invitingly near for outlooks and exercise." (\Muir. '04. p]). 40-41.) W hat a glorious picture this is to the nature student or the tired business man. especially if we assure them that in addition to nature's beauty we can also show them some of nature's children living nat- ural Hves in such a place. As Walter P. Taylor says: "Few sub- jects of study possess more absorbing interest than a living animal that can be seen in action. Both children and adults are naturally interested in tracks and tracking ; in tracing the relationship of ani- mals to each other and to plants ; in observing the migration and movements of animals, their eating and drinking ; in finding and ex- amining their dens, nests, and shelters ; and in watching their growth and development. Life history studies of the higher animals, at least, deal with materials already a part of the experience of many persons, and so make possible a strong educational appeal." (Taylor, '24, p. 46.) Creating and maintaining the Yellowstone in a natural state, "just as nature made it," means of course that all exotic species should be kept out. There should be no exotic forms of either plants or ani- mals, not only because they introduce a foreign element, whose ef- fects cannot always be foreseen, but also because they are out of place (cf. Grinnell, '25, p. 438). Of the perniciousness of this, the familiar examples are the English sparrow and starling in the the United States, the mongoose in Jamaica, and the rabbit in Aus- tralia. Furthermore, the practice is dangerous, for even a seemingly harmless animal like the rabbit in Australia may disturb the natiu'al balance by making the living conditions of the native species too onerous. "The introduction of exotic species may become a dan- gerous factor in disturbing the original balance, even to the extent of assuming economic proportions." (Korstian, '21. p. 281.) This is a very insidious danger, for there are many people who, under the guise of improving a seeming lack, are anxious to introduce strange plants and animals, or perhaps ones more familiar to them in another clime. Occasionally they are even indifTerent to the fate of the na- tive species if they can only introduce their favorites. As long ago as 1874, Theo. B. Comstock advocated the introduction of animals into Yellowstone National Park under the plea of ''the preservation from extinction of at least the characteristic mammals and birds of the west, as far as they can be domiciled in this section." (Comstock, '74, p. 72.) As an antidote to this pernicious doctrine I offer a quotation found on pages 453-454 of the Boone and Crockett Club's 244 Roosevelt Wild Life Bulletin book, American IVig Game In Its 1 Jaunts. The author, presum- ably Cieorge liird (irinnell, had o-anu' and its shooting in mind, but his argument is just as good for all wild life. "There is a tendency in this country to avoid troul^le, and to do those things which can be done most easily. From this it results that efforts are constantly being made to introduce into regions from which game has been ex- terminated various species of foreign game, which can be had, more or less domesticated, from the preserves of Europe. Thus red deer have been introduced in the Adirondack region, and it has been sug- gested that chamois might be brought from Europe and turned loose in certain localities in the United States, and there increase and fur- nish shooting. To many men it seems less trouble to contribute money for such a purpose as this than to buckle down and manufac- ture public sentiment in behalf of the protection of native game. This is a great mistake. From observations made in certain familiar localities, we know definitely that, provided there is a breeding stock, our native game, with absolute protection, will re-establish itself in an astonishingly short period of time. It would be far better for us to concentrate our efforts to renew the supply of our native game rather than to collect subscriptions to bring to America foreign game, which may or may not do well here, and may or may not furnish sport if it shall do well." Unfortunately, introduction of foreign species into the Yellow- stone National Park has already taken place in the case of fish. It would seem to have been better to have stocked the waters previously without fish, with the black-spotted trout, native to other waters in the Park. The introduction of foreign species above the falls in the Firehole and Gardiner Rivers has resulted in those fish becoming established in the lower parts of these rivers, where they are now driving out the native fish. These foreign fish were introduced at the instigation of Capt. F. A. Boutelle, then Acting Superintendent. 'Tn passing through the Park I noticed with surprise the barrenness of most of the water of the Park. Besides the beautiful Shoshone and other smaller lakes there are hundreds of miles of as fine streams as any in existence without a fish of any kind. I have written Col. Marshall McDonald, U. S. Fish Commission, upon the subject, and have received letters from him manifesting a great interest. I hope through him to see all of these waters so stocked that the pleasure- seeker in the Park can enjoy fine fishing within a few rods of any hotel or camp. There are other reasons, too, to be considered in this connection. The stocking of these waters will add vastly to the breeding-grounds of the tributaries of the Missouri and Snake Rivers Predatory Animals of Yellowstone Park 24^ and add immeasurably to the food supply obtained from those waters." (Boutelle, '89, pp. 22-23.) But this object could have ])een better accomplished by the spreading of the black-spotted trout to the Ashless waters, if it is necessary to have fish in every water, which is very doubtful indeed in a wild preserve. As it is, the breeding- grounds and food supply in the Missouri and Snake Rivers have act- ually been depleted because of the competition by the foreign species. Another unhappy result further tending to spoil the naturalness of the Park has come about by the establishment of the U. S. Fish Hatchery at Yellowstone Lake as advocated by Capt. Boutelle. The Hatchery people are now demanding the destruction, or at least se- rious reduction of the white pelican colony which so much enhances the original beauty of that lake. Any decrease in the number of these pelicans will threaten the welfare of the colony, because a weakened colony gives its natural enemies too great a chance to take excessive toll in accordance with the well known principle enunciated else- where in this paper. (Cf. Adams, '25, pp. 383-385.) The bringing of buffalo from Montana and Texas into the Park has meant the introduction of a possible different variety of that animal. The large ''tame herd" of buffalo that has resulted is now a menace to native wild life because of the forage it consumes and the great area of native grass that has to be cut on what might be winter range for wild animals, especially elk. Furthermore these buffalo are infected with hemorrhagic septicemia, which is a standing danger to the native wild buffalo that may contract it, and perhaps to other animals as well. In other cases also, the authorities in charge are often the very peo- ple who wish to introduce these detrimental species. Major J no. Pitcher, Acting Superintendent, advocated ''that the capercailzie and blackcock, game birds of northern Europe, might be introduced in the park. The capercailzie is said to be the largest of grouse species, and is found in large numbers in Norway and Sweden. Its home is in the pine forests, and when the deep snows come it can live on the pine leaves. The blackcock is a fine game bird, and I believe it would also do well in many places in the park. If these birds could be successfully raised here they would spread into the neighboring country and soon afford fine bird shooting where there is little or none at present." (Pitcher, '02, p. 7.) In later years there have been many projects to introduce European chamois, white goats, caribou, and even eastern white pond-lilies. In the National Park Conference of 1911, Major B. Hughes offered a recommendation that: "Foreign and domestic game should be propagated in the 246 Roosevelt Wild Life Bulletin parks, and the necessary funds ai)i)r()i)riated to ])urchase desirable s])ecies, also an a])i)r()i)riati()n for the extermination of certain preda- tory animals that i)rey ni)on the i^ame." (Hu^^hes, '12, ]). 194.) Fortunately this was not adopted, and, so far as I know, has never been acted upon. But the danger is ever present and it is one that must be constantly watched. So evident was this danger to the American Association for the Advancement of Science that it passed the following resolutions at the Toronto meeting, December, 1921 : "IJliereos, One of the primary duties of the National Park Service is to pass on to future generations for scientific study and education, natural areas on which the native flora and fauna may be found undisturbed by outside agencies ; and Whereas, the planting of non-native trees, shrubs or other plants, the stocking of waters with non-native fish, or the liberating of game animals not native to the region, impairs or destroys the natural conditions and native wilderness of the parks ; Be It Resolved, That the American Association for the Advance- ment of Science strongly opposes the introduction of non-native plants and animals into the national parks and all other unessential interference with natural conditions, and urges the National Park Service to prohibit all such introductions and interferences." The Ecological Society of America, a leading organization of naturalists interested in outdoor natural history, has also passed similar resolutions {Ecology, Vol. 3, pp. 170-171). In considering the introduction of exotic species it must be re- membered that every introduced form will inevitably tend to crowd or even displace and destroy one or more native species. This applies to domestic stock, which in a sense are not so serious, if in small numbers, because the\' can be more readily gathered up and driven elsewhere than can wild animals. It is fortunate that in the Yellow- stone stock grazing is now prohibited by law ; and yet considerable numbers of milch cows and saddle horses are grazed within the Park by the concessioners, under the guise of "public necessity." The danger of permanent stock grazing in this Park is not yet past. Eter- nal vigilance is the price we must pay for the wild life and beauty of the Yellowstone. Only as recently as 191 1, did Mr. R. B. Marshall, afterwards Superintendent of National Parks, advance his belief "that many thousand head of cattle could be pastured each season in the various national parks with no resulting damage. If given 5-year leases the cattlemen would be glad to pay a reasonable fee per head a month, which w^ould create a large fund to be used in general improvement of the parks. The cattle would Predatory Animals of Yellowstone Park 247 keep the trails open and eat the underbrush. The interest of the cattlemen in conserving- the feed for their cattle would induce them to become an organized fire-fighting ally." (Marshall, '12, p. 114.) Apparently from Mr. Marshall's viewpoint the destruction of the underbrush (and consequent extermination of certain shrubs and the brush-nesting birds) would be an advantage! If that is the view of the landscape engineers, and I do not believe it is, I hope our great National Parks will always be safe from the landscapers ! We can only conclude that Mr. Marshall had not heard of the condition of Crater Lake National Park. Yet Crater Lake was under his care, as well as the other Parks. Of what use is it to have a central organization if the mistakes in one Park do not teach a lesson for all? Mr. Marshall even advocatied the fencing in of certain of the Parks' areas for the grazing of domestic animals (Marshall, '12. p. 120). (Cf. Adams, '25b, pp. 571-574. on cattle grazing in Sequoia National Park.) Mr. Steel, to whom Mr. Mills referred, who was so long the supervisor of Crater Lake Park, and. as Mr. Harriman put it, ' the inventor of Crater Lake,' tells a story of the way the flowers dis- appeared from the rim of that beautiful body of water. When I was there this summer I commented upon the lack of wild flowers around the lake's edge, remarking how poorly the rim compared in that respect with the wonderfully flowered country at the foot of Mount Rainier. He told me the reason. He said that some 25 or 30 years ago, before the park was created, sheep were allowed to feed there, and, as the soil was almost entirely light volcanic ash, they destroyed all the vegetation. Previous to that time, he said, the country was carpeted beautifully with wild flowers; it was a perfect picture, just as fine as any one of those Alpine valleys of Rainier. In the 25 years that have passed since, those flowers have never come back, and unless some artificial method is used it may be another 50 years or so before they will again be in evidence." (Mather, '17, p. 49.) Other National Parks have been subject to severe overgrazing by domestic stock. Mr. W. W. Crosby, formerly Superintendent of the Grand Canyon National Park, says : "Flowers in the Park below the rims of the canyon are extremely varied and beautiful in their successive seasons, but flowers on the rims are much scarcer than they should be because of the cattle grazing." (Crosby. See Mather, '23, p. 171.) After an examination in 1924, Adams ('25b, P- 569) pronounced the overgrazed condition on the canyon rims to be ''exceedingly bad." He says : "This is a deplorable condition, 248 Roosevelt Wild Life Bulletin which influences the wild life, changes the character of the vegeta- tion, favors the erosion of the soil and produces conditions directl\ the opposite of the intention of a National Park." Bringing our discussion home once more to the Yellowstone Na- tional Park, and bearing in mind Crater Lake's experience which should have been a warning, we have here another fine illustration of the damage caused by grazing. In former days the Transporti- tion Company was allowed to graze its horses in the Blacktail Valley, an important range for antelope and elk. Since the trans- portation people were not limited as to number of horses grazed, and since the}' had little or no interest in the future good of the range, they greatly overgrazed the area — putting horses on as early as possible each spring, keeping too many on the range all suni- mer, and keeping them there until the very last spear of grass was gone in the autumn. For instance, these horses were brought over from the winter ranges early in May, a month before there was any use for them and nearly two months before any number were re- quired. Although the tourist season closed September 15 the horses were kept on the Blacktail until the middle or end of Octbber. Big motor-bus autos handled all tourists after 19 16, yet the Transporta- tion Company was permitted to bring in hundreds of horses to the Blacktail and allowed to graze them until after Oct. 25, 19 17. The wild animals were disturbed by the horses, and actually driven out and fenced out by the Company's employees. Worse yet, the exces- sive overgrazing destroyed the natural forage, — a condition that is only now, after nine years' rest, beginning to remedy itself. Condi- tions were the same, only not so bad because of larger acreage per horse, on the Swan Lake Basin where the permanent camping com- panies grazed their horses, and in the Madison Valley, but within the Park, where the West Yellowstone Transportation Company grazed its horses. All three areas were important game ranges. Since the evacuation of the Blacktail range by the Transportation Company's horses, the antelope have re-established themselves there (Albright. See Mather, '21, p. 177) and the elk are slowly coming back to it once more. STATUS OF WILD LIFE ADMINISTRATION IN OUR NATIONAL PARKS Now that I have discussed rather fully the predatory and fur- bearing animals, their value, the danger they are in, and our own carelessness in advocating either extermination or control measures before we know wha^t are doing, it is time to see just what the Predatory Animals of Yellowstone Park 249 National Park Service is doing. In all that I have said already and in all that I am about to say there is no disposition to disparage the National Park Service for I firmly believe they are doing the best they can. But they have a multitude of troubles and cares and some of these points have never been brought forcibly to their attention. Necessity of a Definite Protective Policy. What w^e lack more than all else is a definite policy — a real plan for the conservation of all wild life. Dr. E. W. Nelson has expressed a similar thought: "At present the lack of a definite general policy to safeguard our game supply and the resulting danger to our splendid native animals are deplorably in evidence." (Nelson, '16, p. 404.) Dr. Nelson v^as writing of the continent as a whole. Had he narrowed his remarks down to conditions in the National Parks, his words would have fitted those conditions exactly. But I am hopeful that a good general policy can be evolved. The officers of the National Park Service are wide awake officials anxious to do their best for the good of their important reservations and for the increased pleasure and enjoyment of the people. They know that a good policy is the first step in efficient administration. With efficient protection, the Parks will acquire an army of effective friends. "If you can send a man back home after having visited Yellowstone Park, Yosemite Park, and the other parks and have him go back thoroughly satisfied with his trip and an enthusiastic admirer of the parks, you have accomplished more than could be accomplished by any general advertising campaign. ... it behooves every one intierested in our parks and resorts to see that they are so kept that the visitors will go away having had a pleasant and agreeable time and having seen the parks to the best possible advantage." (Fee, '12, pp. II, 13.) An analytical study of the Annual Reports of the Director of the National Park Service indicates uncertainty and confusion on the part of the various Superintendents, and a disposition to rashly ex- periment, and sometimes use extreme measures in dealing with the wild life entrusted to their care. The Director states the National Park policy to be that of preserving the Parks "unimpaired,"- — al- though at times he seems to over-emphasize the importance of hig game animals, whereas we believe he could improve his practice by making it cover all wild life. The fundamental policy of preservation of the National Parks "as nature made them" is all very fine on paper^ but the subordinate officials find it very difficult in actual 250 Roosevelt Wild Life Bulletin jn-actice. Unless they have a Ijackground of special training in natural science, they are unlikely to be cautious about applying drastic measures in dealing with delicately adjusted natural con- ditions, which in the case of wild life may result in irreparable damage. I find the Supervisor of Yosemite National Park, for ex- ample, hoping for "the complete elimination of the mountain lion from this section." (Lewis. See Albright, '17, p. 152.) He evi- dently considered the mountain lion of no value whatever. An ex- tremely undesirable attitude for an official in charge of a wild life sanctuary. On page 176 of the same Report, the Supervisor of Mesa Verde National Park, says : "These animals [the mountain lions] should be killed ofif, as they prey upon the deer." Is it not possible for Mesa Verde to raise enough deer so that a few mountain lions can continue to exist? Again on page 186, I find the Chief Ranger in charge of Rocky Mountain National Park reporting: "A start was made last winter to exterminate predatory animals." Actual c.rterrnination is wanted there, not conlrol! Of course, here is the conflict between extermination and control right out in the open. Which will win I do not know, but I hope I have said enough to show that the case for rational control, based on really adequate study in each Park, is a strong one, with many earnest advocates. Fortunately the National Park Service policy has been plainly stated by the Hon. Franklin K. Lane : "The national parks must be maintained in absolutely unimpaired form for the use of future generations." Control, then, for animals proved detrimental to the general good, but not extermination, or we destroy that which we can never replace, and we certainly do not preserve the national parks " in absolutely unimpaired form." Speaking of the statement from which the above is quoted, Stephen T. Mather, Director of the National Park Service says : " This platform is destined to go down in national park history as one of its most important documents ; it is not likely to be modified greatly in the future because the funda- mental principles it enunciates govern the future care and use of all of these reservations, as well as the present protection and enjoy- ment of them." (Mather, '18, p. 11.) With these statements of principle from the high officials we are wholly in accord and our task is to urge that they be put in practice. Director ]\Iather is keenly alive to the importance of wild animals : "The National Park Service holds no one of its several public charges in greater reverence than the care, maintenance and development of the wild animals which live free and normal lives within its reserves. These animals are an exceedingly important part of what is left of that Predatory Animals of Yellowstone Park 253 vast heritage of wild life which the march of civilization and the ruth- lessness of former generations have elsewhere destroyed." (Mather, '18, p. 22.) The total destruction of large predatory animals outside the Parks has been defended by some people on the ground that they are being adequately preserved in the National Parks. Mr. Mather says that Yellowstone Park is in the best condition so far as animal life is concerned; yet a glance at our list of predatory and fur-bear- ing animals on page 180 will show how near the danger point many of the Park's species are at this time. Of the eighteen species listed only the beaver and badger are in a satisfactory condition. The gray wolf and coyote are present in satisfactory numbers, but an unreasoned, unrestricted campaign of killing is being directed against them that may result in practical extermination at any time. The remaining fourteen species number only about one thousand individ- uals in an area of almost 3400 square miles ; or each pair of these animals has about seven square miles to itself ! Not one of the fourteen has a safe margin. The numbers of otter, mink, marten, black bear, and grizzly might be considered satisfactory if it were not that they are being hunted and trapped on all sides of the Park, even right up to the boundaries, and all are decreasing in numbers at the present time. The Canada lynx, bobcat, red fox, fisher, and wolverine are all below the danger mark now, and their extermina- tion is imminent. The Superintendent of the Yellowstone Park in 19 1 8, says : 'T am of the opinion that there are not so many [coyotes and wolves] found among the game animals [inside the Park] as there are among domestic animals in farming communities outside." (Lindsley. See IMather, '18, p. 128.) If this view is accurate, then it is strongly confirmatory of my analysis that the predacious and fur- bearing mammals are not present in safe numbers inside the Park, for it is notorious that they are rapidly disappearing everywhere outside. Evidently, even in the Yellowstone, these animals are not yet safe from extinction. Can the other National Parks show any better conditions ? Since the presence and welfare of the game animals and the rodents are closely bound up with the carnivorous animals, 1 shall mention them also under the respective Parks in the following summary from the government reports. Remaining Wild Life and Its Management in the Parks. The Hot Springs National Park in Arkansas has but few animals other than mice, rats, cats, dogs, and horses, and has no predatory animal problem. The Yosemite National Park in California has a good many mule deer, bear, gray squirrels, and small animals. On the floor of the 254 Roosevelt Wild Life Bulletin Valley, a comparatively small part of the Park, the elimination by poison of ground squirrels, mice, and gophers (Mather, '20, p. 242) has proceeded rather far but the rodents of the greater part of the Park have been undisturbed. The Superintendent has recommended the elimination of the cougar (xA^lbright, '17, p. 152) but this Park has comparatively few predatory animals of any kind. A good feature is the prohibition of dogs in the Park. The Sequoia and General Grant National Parks in California have some deer, bear, mountain sheep, perhaps a few elk, and some smaller animals. The ground squirrels are being poisoned with the idea of extermination (Mather, '19, p. 207). A campaign against the cougar and bobcat is advocated (Mather, '20, p. 265). In 1918, the killing of 2 cougars, 5 coyotes, 3 bobcats, and 6 foxes is reported (Mather, '18, p. 148) ; in 1924, 12 cougars were destroyed (Mather, '24, p. 109). The Mt. Rainier National Park in western Washington has some deer, black bear, mountain goats, beaver and smaller animals. There are a normal number of rodents present. Reduction of the predatory animals — cougar, bobcat, lynx, coyote, and wolf— is recommended (Mather, '20, p. 273). A good feature and one that might well be adopted by the other Parks is the strict enforcement of the no-dog law (cf. Mather, '23, p. 139). The Crater Lake National Park in Oregon has deer, bear, a few elk, and some small mammals. Ei¥orts are being made to extermi- nate predatory animals, — cougar, lynx, bobcat, wolf, and coyote (Mather, '18, p. 159; '19, p. 217; '20, p. 279). The Wind Cave National Park in South Dakota is a small park, or rather a fenced game preserve with buffalo, antelope and deer enclosed. Coyotes and bobcats are hunted down, and the extermina- tion of all predatory animals is desired ; indeed the deer is the only zvild animal protected (see Mather, '18, p. 163). This seems rather a relapse from the " National Park idea " of protection for all wild hfe. The P'latt National Park in Oklahoma is only a small Park of a few hundred acres containing 9 deer, 3 buffalo, and 2 elk (Mather, '20, p. 288). The elk have since increased to 5. The badgers are the only predacious animals. The Mesa Verde National Park in southwestern Colorado has deer, a few elk, cougars, and small animals. This is openly advocated as an advantageous fenced game preserve and it is desired that the predators be hunted out (cf. Mather, '18, p. 169). With such ideals Predatory Animals of Yellowstone Park 255 before it, Mesa Verde hardly deserves to rank as a National Park ; a game preserve is most assuredly not a wild life sanctuary. The Glacier National Park in northwestern Montana has many white goats, deer and mountain sheep; also some bears, elk, moose, and small animals. A campaign of extermination against the cougar was advocated (cf. Mather, '22, p. 139), and the extermination of both cougar and coyote planned (Mather, '23, p. 156). The Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado has many deer and mountain sheep, also some bear, elk, and smaller animals. This Park is rather intensive in its destruction of all predatory animals, as witness: 5 foxes and 7 martens killed (Albright, '17, p. 186) ; 9 foxes, 2 bobcats, 3 coyotes, and 16 martens killed (Mather, '18, p. 180) ; 15 coyotes and 7 bobcats killed (Mather, '19, p. 245) ; 6 cougars, 20 bobcats, 3 foxes, 2 badgers, 2 weasels, 8 coyotes, and 6 mink killed (Mather, '22, p. 144) ; 14 bobcats, 3 coyotes, 2 badgers, I red fox, destroyed (Mather, '24, p. 133). The Sullys Hill National Park in North Dakota is a small Park of 780 acres and has 5 elk, 5 deer, and 13 buffalo, but no predators are reported. The Lafayette National Park in Maine has some deer, beaver, and smaller animals. There are probably some small predacious animals present but I have received no reports of them. The Zion National Park in Utah has some deer and smaller ani- mals. Its reports list coyotes, wildcats, porcupines, skunks, badgers, and gray squirrels under "predatory animals" (cf. Mather, '20, p. 318), and advocate the extermination of gray squirrels (Mather, '23, P- 177)- The Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona has many deer, mountain sheep, and cougars ; also some antelope and smaller animals. It kills its coyotes, bobcats, and cougars (Mather, '23, p. 170; also Mather, '24, p. 143). The Mt. McKinley National Park in Alaska is a new Park that has many mountain sheep and caribou, and some moose, bear, and smaller animals. As yet there has been no mention of predatory animals in the reports. The Hawaii National Park is such a new member of the family that no mention has been made of the animals to be found there. The Lassen Volcanic National Park in California is another new Park. As very little work has been done there and no reports made, we know very little about its wild life. Analyzing this data it appears that the Yellowstone National Park is by far the most important so far as the carnivorous animals are 256 Roosevelt Wild Life Bulletin concerned, and that only Yosemite, Mesa Verde, Glacier, Rocky Mountain, Grand Canyon, and Mt. McKinley National Parks will rank as of any importance at all even with a modern, enlightened policy. Since we have already found the situation in the Yellow- stone far from ideal, it would appear that the future of the car- nivorous wild life in the National Parks is rather discouraging. Especially so when we observe how many of the Parks are plan- ning campaigns of reduction, and even extermination, against some of the predatory and fur-bearing animals. Although the annual Report for 191 7 was gloomy enough for us, we find little hope in the Report for 1918, for we observe that some of the Superintendents were still planning extermination. On page 148, the Superintendent of Sequoia and General Grant National Parks reports that : *'A campaign for their destruction " was organized and 2 large Hons, 5 coyotes, 3 lynx, and 6 foxes were killed." By the term lynx, the California wildcat was probably meant, for Grinnell and Dixon say that the Canada lynx {Lynx canadensis Kerr) does not occur so far south ('24, p. 339). It is too bad, to say the least, that wildcats and foxes should be persecuted in a National Park. Surely the small damage they do could be rectified in other ways (cf, Dixon, '25). On page 169, the Superintendent of Mesa Verde National Park speaks of the extermination of the mountain lions and favors the *'game" as against the ''predatory animals." On page 173, the Super- intendent of the Glacier National Park speaks of ''the campaign of extermination that is being inaugurated against the predatory ani- mals," and of the " game " as distinct from other animals. It would seem as if our National Park Superintendents are all wrongfully imbued with the idea that the game animals are the only important part of the fauna. On page 180, the Superintendent of Rocky Moun- tain National Park, says that : " The following predatory animals have been killed by park officers ; fox, 9; bobcat, 2 ; coyote, 3 ; marten, 16." Again the killing of foxes and bobcats ; and worse yet, of marten. That item is particularly indefensible. To be sure, martens eat grouse, rabbits, and birds' eggs, but I will venture to assert that much the highest percentage of their food is mice. Is Rocky Moun- tain National Park so badly off that it cannot spare the few grouse, rabbits, and birds that the martens would kill? Furthermore, why were any of these "predatory animals" killed? In the same para- graph that gives the above list, it is recorded : "No game animals are known to have been killed, except one mountain sheep." Yet thirty fur-bearing animals were destroyed presumably because they kill "game" animals. Is this proportion warranted? I h^ve been Predatory Animals of YeUozvstone Park 257 assured that there are several hundred mountain sheep in Rocky Mountain Park. To my mind these thirty fur-bearing animals were as A^aluable as thirty mountain sheep where the latter are so abundant. Can it be that each Superintendent of the National Park Service decides for himself what he will kill, and what he will not? It cer- tainly looks that way, especially after a careful study of the next annual Report, that for 1919. On page 34, the Director says: '^'All [the National Parks] are refuges for wild animals, and some of them are among the finest preserves in the world," — although later he speaks of efiforts to reduce predatory animals. On page 172, Horace M. Albright, Superintendent of Yellowstone National Park and also Field Assistant to the Director, says: ''It is hardly prac- ticable, even if desirable, to entirely exterminate these carnivorous animals." Yet, on page 230, the Superintendent of Mesa \^erde National Park says : " They [the mountain lions] should be sys- tematically hunted out," and reports "5 coyotes, 2 bobcats, and 13 foxes " trapped. In his annual Report of the National Park Service for 1920, the Director says: "As the parks constitute sanctuary for all wild life, they will forever have their place as living museums for zoology students. In the larger parks there is hardly a trip that will not secure a glimpse of bears, deer, or other large game. In the Yellow- stone more than 15,000 visitors during the month of July viewed and inquired about the tame buffalo herd located about a mile south of headquarters. In the major parks monthly bulletins supplement the information conveyed in the printed rules and regulations. The above gives a fascinating glimpse of some of the educational work that has been accomplished during the year, but serves to accentuate the tremendous possiblities for expansion and enlargement that this line of endeavor holds. Our national parks and monuments were established because of the primary importance of their great scenic and historical background, and naturally there are no localities that hold as rich promises of success to the student investigator and scientists in geology, botany, zoology, anthropology, and ethnology as do these remarkable areas that have been reserved from the puBhx domain in their natural condition for all times for the enjoyment and knowledge of man. Particularly are these possibilities so fraught with tremendous benefit for our schools, colleges, and universities that I am firmly convinced that the Park Service should eventually have on its permanent staff during the park season paid scientists and scholars of established reputation, who can lecture and develop this field to its fullest extent for the benefit of the great traveling 258 Roosevelt Wild Life Bulletin public. ... So far as possible, the natural resources of the parks are being developed, not only for recreation but are being made available for educational purposes for the benefit of those visitors who may wish to utilize them as outdoor laboratories for the study of wild life in the fields." (Mather, '20, pp. 58-59, 66.) So it is very evident that the Director is in some measure aware of the scientific value of his wonderful Parks and will afford every opportunity to scientific study. It is for nature students and scien- tists and all defenders of the Parks to impress him with the value of the predacious and fur-bearing animals as being fully equal to that of the hoofed game. But again on pages 244. 273 and 279 of this 1920 Report, we find the Superintendents of Yosemite. Mt. Rainier, and Crater Lake National Parks drawing the distinction between game animals and predatory animals and advocating the extermination of the latter. On page 318. the Su]>erintendent of Zion National Park lists "coyote, wild cat, porcupine, skunk, badger. . . . gray squirrel" all under ''Predatory A}uuials"\ In the annual Report of the National Park Service for 1921. the Director says on page 33: "Each season the advantages which the parks offer in an educational way become increasingly apparent. Probably no other areas offer such fertile fields for natural history exploration. Here the results of nature's activities remain undis- turbed. One interested in zoology can select no better spot to study wild life in its native setting. The animals are almost fearless, for hunting in no form is permitted." And again on page 37. the Director tells us : " The statement has been made by no less an authority than Natural History, the ofiicial organ of the American Museum of Natural History, that because of immediate destruction by man the period of the age of mammals as a whole will likely have closed by the middle of the present century, barely 30 years away. Such a prediction is conducive to serious reflection. How can such conditions be ameliorated ? Unquestionably, the oidy sound relief lies in a Tcell-estahlisJied and 7cell-d{reeted system of National and State game preserves in wliieh icild life finds absolute sanetuary* And good beginnings have already been made. It is in this par- ticular niche of national and popular conservation that the national parks find one of their most satisfying opportunities. It is true that the parks comprise only one-third of i per cent of the country's area, but the complete and absolute protection afforded the wild life within their boundaries insures a supply that is subjected only to possible depletion by natural conditions." Yet on page 235 of the * Italics mine. — M. P. S. Predatory Animals of Yellowstone Park 259 same Rei)()rt. the SuperintendiU of Mesa X'erde speaks of his "efforts to eradicate" the coyotes. But on ])a!:;e 258, Mr. Barrington Moore, (hscussing the " Scientific ()])])()rtunities of the Lafayette National Park," writes: " W'itli advancing civiHzation areas on which natural conditions still exist are rapidly diminishing, and one of the most important functions of the national parks is to preserve for scientific study parts of our flora and fauna undisturbed by out- side agencies." With this I agree heartily, especially with the wish for native plants and animals undisturbed and in their . natural con- dition. In the annual Report of the National Park Service for 1922, the Director says on page 22 : "The national parks and monuments play a very important part in the conservation of wild Hfe, for in them all animals, with the exception of predatory ones, find safe refuge and complete protection, and live unhampered in natural environment." But though he does not advocate extermination, in the last few words he speaks of natural environment as if unaware that some predatory species belong in such an environment. On page 57 the Director differentiates the "game animals" from the "predatory animals," which we think is a step in the wrong direc- tion, for we want to see protection for all wild life with a settled policy of control for those animals that prove, they need it. "The greatest good for all classes of people" is the motto we would adopt. I am wholly in accord with Dr. Grinnell's "A Conservationist's Creed as to Wild-Life Administration," which I quote in full herewith. "(i) I believe that the fullest use should be made of our country's wild life resources from the standpoint of human benefit — for beauty, education, scientific study, recreation, for sport, for food, for fur, etc. All these possible uses should be considered in the administra- tion of wild life, not any one of them exclusively of the others. At the same time, any one use may be of more importance than the others in a given locality, so that such locality may be administered with that particular value most prominently in view. "(2) I believe that that portion of our wild animal life known as 'game' belongs no more to the sportsman than to other classes of people who do not pursue it with shotgun and rifle. More and more the notebook, the field glass and the camera are being employed in the pursuit of game as well as other animals. The newer genera- tion by hundreds of thousands is turning to nature-out-of-doors, for recreation, instruction and pleasure through such agencies as the national parks, summer camps. Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts and Camp Fire Girls. Indeed, these other claimants upon our 'game' 26o Roosevelt Wild Life Bulletin resources are probably reaching to numbers greater than those of active sportsmen ; tJirir rights certainly deser\ e at least equal con- sideration. "(3) 1 believe it is unwise to attempt the absolute extermination of any native vertebrate species whatsoever. At the same time, it is .perfectly proper to reduce or destroy any species in a given neighbor,- hood where sound investigation shows it to be positively hurtful to the majority of interests. For example, coyotes, many rodents, jays, crows, magpies, house wrens, the screech owl and certain hawks may best be put under the ban locally. "(4) I believe it is wrong to permit the general pubhc to shoot crows or any other presumably injurious animals during the breed- ing season of our desirable species. It is dangerous to invite broad- cast shooting of any so-called vermin during the regular closed season, when the successful reproduction of our valuable species is of primary importance and is easily interfered with. "(5) I believe in the collecting of specimens of birds and verte- brates generally for educational and scientific purposes. The collector has no less right to kill non-game birds and mammals, in such places where he can do so consistently with other interests, than the sports- man has right to kill 'game' species. A bird killed, but preserved as a study-specimen, is of service far longer than the bird that is shot just for sport or for food. "(6) I believe that it is wrong and even dangerous to introduce (that is, turn loose in the wild) alien species of either game or non- game birds and mammals. There is sound reason for believing that such introduction, if 'successful,' jeopardizes the continued exist- ence of the native species in our fauna, with which competition is bound to occur. "(7) I believe that the very best known way to 'conserve' animal hfe, in the interests of sportsman, scientist and nature-lover, alike, is to preserve conditions as nearly as possible favorable to our own native species. This can be done by the establishment and main- tenance of numerous wild-life refuges, not only as comprised in private and public parks, but in national forests and elsewhere. "(8) In the interests of game and wild life conservation generally, I believe in the wisdom of doing away with grazing by domestic stock, more especially sheep, on the greater part of our national forest territory. A further, and vital, interest bound up in this factor in the conservation of water. "(9) I believe that the administration of our game and wild life resources should be kept as far as possible out of pohtics. The appertaining problems are essentially biological ones and are fraught Predatory Animals of Yellowstone Park 261 with many technical considerations not appreciated or understood by the average poHtician or sportsman. The resources in question should be handled as a national asset, administered with the advice of scien- tifically trained experts." (Grinnell, '25, pp. 437-43