. The Canadian field-naturalist. 244 The Canadian Field-Naturalist Vol. 81. BY H. WILMAR) range much farther south in Canada than is now the case . . the exact nature of the competition is not known, though it is quite possible that food is an important ; It is true that each hare species at present inhabits distinct niches which might suggest interspecific competition. Arctic hares are found in some treeless habitats in the vicinity of boulder fields, while the snowshoe hare is found in all forested sections of the island that have sufficient tree growth to prevent inundation by d
. The Canadian field-naturalist. 244 The Canadian Field-Naturalist Vol. 81. BY H. WILMAR) range much farther south in Canada than is now the case . . the exact nature of the competition is not known, though it is quite possible that food is an important ; It is true that each hare species at present inhabits distinct niches which might suggest interspecific competition. Arctic hares are found in some treeless habitats in the vicinity of boulder fields, while the snowshoe hare is found in all forested sections of the island that have sufficient tree growth to prevent inundation by drifting snows. The arctic hare has disappeared from wooded habitat that it once frequented and that the snowshoe now inhabits. However the arctic hare has retreated even further and no longer occupies large sections of subalpine and alpine habitats which snowshoe hares have not occupied. Failure of arctic hares to maintain themselves in these latter habitats in the absence of snowshoe hares does not support the theory of interspecific competition. I suggest that the decline of arctic hares was not the result of direct competition with the snowshoe hare but was rather the aftermath of increased predation on arctic hares by lynx {Lynx canadensis) that increased in abundance following the snowshoe hare introduction. The indigeneous status of the lynx in New^foundland is not clear. Cameron (1958) and Saunders (1961) believed Ivnx probably immigrated to Newfound- land early in the post-glacial period wliilc Dodds (1960) felt that lynx did not. Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original Ottawa Field-Naturalists' Club. Ottawa, Ottawa Field-Naturalists' Club
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