The Canadian field-naturalist (1967) (20493759286)

Title: The Canadian field-naturalist
Identifier: canadianfieldnat1967otta (find matches)
Year: 1967 (1960s)
Authors: Ottawa Field-Naturalists' Club
Subjects:
Publisher: Ottawa, Ottawa Field-Naturalists' Club
Contributing Library: Harvard University, Museum of Comparative Zoology, Ernst Mayr Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Harvard University, Museum of Comparative Zoology, Ernst Mayr Library



Text Appearing Before Image:
48 The Canadian Fuxd-Naturalist Vol. 81
Text Appearing After Image:
Figure 7. Stabilised dunes with sparse marram grass, Aiimwpbila breviligulata, and beach pea, Lathyriis japonicus; East light and the former lightkeeper's house in the back- ground. able to approach nearer than fifty yards, we could see that the hind hooves had turned laterally and vertically through a full circle and were beginning to spiral further. This mare seemed only slightly incapacitated by her heavy hooves and was in fact a suc- cessful mother since she was accompanied by a small foal. The only other abnormality of which we saw evidence was a malformed foreleg with the hoof twisted inwards about 120 degrees. We never saw this particular animal, but found fresh hoofprints in sev- eral places. The total population has seldom been ac- curately known in the past, though Erskine's estimate of approximately 200 made in 1952 must have been near the true figure. For- tunately we were able to make detailed counts of the horses on our aerial surveys, the numbers observed being as follows: July 1961 180 January 1962 213 January 1963 226 February 1964 199 Februar'y 1965 218 Since we might easily have missed seeing some of the horses when the two lower counts were made, the fluctuation in num- bers may not be significant. Sample counts from the ground gave the proportion of foals as 15 per cent. Acknowledgments I am grateful to Dr. H. L. Cameron of the Nova Scotia Research Foundation, Hali- fax, and to Dr. Thomas H. Raddall of Liverpool, Nova Scotia, for telling me much of interest about the island's history. Dr. Cameron also kindly supplied me with the original of the chart shown in Figure 1. I would also like to record my thanks to Mr. and Mrs. F. Androschuk and Messrs. G. MacAlpine and F. Burns, and other mem- bers of the staff of the radio and weather stations for their hospitality during our sev- eral visits to the island; and to B. Beck, Dr. H. D. Fisher, I. G. Gidney and T R. Welch for their valued companionship and help while in the field.