species under the names of the "domestic mouse and rat”.

The muskrat — The muskrat (0ndatra zibethicus) was listed by thirteen of the seventeen list makers (Table 2—1), most of whom make no further comment about it.34 Though Bagster (1861) said it was "by no means plentiful”, Rowan (1876), in contradiction, considered it to be "very plentiful", and Stewart (1806), Sutherland (1861), and Bain (1890) said it was frequently seen about streams and ponds. There were opposing opinions about the value of its pelt: Bagster (1861) said the fur was "useful and saleable”, while in the same year, Sutherland (1861) said it was “thin and poor and little esteemed". Holland (1765: October) included muskrats as one of the animals that the refugee Acadians on the island used as a source of food, while Bain (1890) noted that muskrats were ”troublesome about mill dams", due to their habit of burrowing into the banks. As for its natural foods, Sutherland (1861) and Bain (1890) noted that it ate roots, shell-fish and seeds.

The wolf — As noted in my earlier report the only record of the wolf (Can/s lupus) occurring on Prince Edward Island is that of Louis Denys de La Ronde at the very beginning of French settlement on the island in 172135. It is thus surprising that there is a very late mention of its presence in the British period by Francis Bain (1890) who, seemingly on the basis of second-hand information of unknown date, reports wolves as transient visitors to the island. What he says is that ”wolves have been known to cross the Northumberland Strait on the ice and visit the Island".36 I expect that if this ever occurred, it was likely to have been long before the 18905 when the island was at the peak of forest clearance and European settlement, and when wolves were very scarce on the neighbouring continent.37

34

I note that all called it the ‘muskrat' except Stewart (1806), Rowan (1876) and one of the respondents to the Questionnaire (1876) (John B. Schurman of Bedeque) who all called it the ‘musquash' (a name of North American Indian origin, first recorded in the seventeenth century (Oxford 1989)), which is also given as an alternative name by MacGregor (1828) and Bagster (1861)). MacGregor also called it the ‘masquathe' and Bagster the ‘mudcat‘ - neither of these names are listed in Oxford (1989).

35 See Sobey 2002, p. 152. 35 I wonder if Bain's source might have been a newspaper: in a short article in The Presbyterian on pioneer life at Covehead, it was stated that “wolves had crossed the strait from the mainland, but didn‘t remain many years” ((Lawson] 1877-1878).

37 Lohr and Ballard (1996) in an examination of wolf records for the Maritime provinces report that for Nova Scotia, wolf records are

243

The fox — The red fox (Vu/pes vu/pes) occurs in every one of the lists (Table 2-1), and the few comments recorded on its abundance indicate that it was common: MacGregor (1828) said it was "numerous" and a respondent to the Questionnaire (1876) said that in pioneer days foxes had been so numerous that their howling kept the first settlers awake at night. Later in the century, Sutherland (1861) said they were ”by no means scarce", while Bain (1890) said they were "quite common”. Most recorders noted the presence of three colour phases in the population: red, black, and silver- grey are the most frequently listed”, though the red phase was by far the predominant. A fox fur of any colour seems to have had some value, th0ugh it was the blacks and silver-greys that were especially valuable and sought after”. Stewart (1806) said that the number of foxes caught on the island was ”very considerable”, and the means of catching them included steel traps and shooting“. Hill (1839) said that foxes were ”chiefly shot or trapped by the Indians" and that the skins were exported to England "by the resident merchants”.‘*1 There are varying reports on the fox’s pest status, several persons recording that it occasionally took poultry“, though they differ as to whether it attacked sheep: Stewart (1806) and MacGregor (1828) emphatically state

few and very early (before 1774). Although there are many more records for New Brunswick, wolves appear not to have been numerous there, and were “probably extirpated between 1870 and 1921”.

3“ These three colour phases are listed by [Cambridge] (1796); Walsh (1803) (i suspect his “silver, grey" should be ‘silver-grey'); Stewart (1806) (he has “grey” rather than ‘silver-grey'); Johnstone (1822); MacGregor (1828) (he adds the “patched“ as a fourth colour variety); Hill (1839); Bagster (1861) (he adds the “patch" and “black patch" as two additional varieties); Sutherland (1861); and Bain (1890). Patterson (1774) mentioned only the black and the red.

39 The value of a fox pelt seems to have been fairly high, even in the early years: Curtis (1775) said that Robert Clark, the proprietor of Lot 21 who founded the New London settlement, had told him back in England that “some Black Fox skins were worth £5 each”. Seven shillings for a red pelt is quoted by Anon. (1808), with patched and black pelts having “no fixed price”, and fifty-three years later Bagster (1861) said that a silver-grey was worth a horse, while a “real black" was worth “a horse and sleigh and harness, whip and all".

4” Stewart 1806; MacGregor 1828; Hill 1839. ‘1 It may be that the fox skins (among other animal skins) contained in four trunks being shipped to Halifax on the Betsy on 19 June 1802 were destined for export to England. [Refz C.O. 231/2, R.G. 9: Collector of Customs. Shipping outwards all points (1802-1827) (1831- July 1845). Reel # 7.]

42 Stewart 1806 and MacGregor 1828 — both of whom imply it was not a serious problem; Sutherland 1861; Bagster 1861; Bain 1890.