CAN A D A
530
ranges as distinguished from the eastern or Eocky Mountains range, the flora differs, the climate being damp instead of dry. In some of the valleys having an outlet to the south the flora is partly peculiar to the American desert, and such species as Purshia tridentata, D. C., and Artemisia tridentata, Nutt., and species of Gilia, Aster, and Erigonum are found that are not met with elsewhere. Above Yale, in the drier part of the Fraser valley, the absence of rain results in the same character of flora, while in the rainy districts of the lower Fraser the vegetation is so luxuriant that it resembles that of the tropics. So in various parts of the mountainous country of British Columbia, the flora varies according to climatic conditions. Nearer the Pacific coast the woods and open spaces are filled with flowers and shrubs. Liliaceous flowers are abundant, including Erythoniums, Trilliums, Alliums, Brodeceas, Fritillarias, Siliums, Camassias, and others. Fauna.—The larger animals of Canada are the musk ox and the caribou of the barren lands, both having their habitat in the far north ; the caribou of the woods, found in all the provinces except in Prince Edward Island; the moose, with an equally wide range in the wooded country; the Virginia deer, in one or other of its varietal forms, common to all the southern parts; the blacktailed deer or mule deer and allied forms, on the western edge of the plains and in British Columbia; the pronghorn antelope on the plains, and a small remnant of the once plentiful bison found in Athabasca and Mackenzie districts, now called “wood buffalo.” The wapiti or American elk at one time abounded from Quebec to the Pacific, and as far north as the Peace river, but is now found only in small numbers from Manitoba westwards. In the mountains of the west are the grizzly bear, black bear, and cinnamon bear. The black bear is also common to most other parts of Canada; the polar bear' everywhere along the Arctic littoral. The large or timber wolf is found in the wooded districts of all the provinces, and on the plains there is also a smaller wolf called the coyote. In British Columbia the puma or cougar, sometimes called the panther, and the American lion still frequently occur; and in all parts the common fox and the silver fox, the lynx, beaver, otter, marten, fisher, wolverene, mink, skunk, and other fur-bearing animals. Mountain and plain and Arctic hares and rabbits are plentiful or scarce in localities, according to seasons or other circumProvinces.
Area : Square Miles.
stances. In the mountains of British Columbia are the bighorn or Rocky Mountain sheep and the Eocky Mountain goat. The birds of Canada are mostly migratory, and are those common to the northern and central states of the United States. The wildfowl are, particularly in the west, in great numbers ; their breedinggrounds extending from Manitoba and the western prairies up to Hudson Bay, the barren lands, and Arctic coasts. The several kinds of geese—including the Canada goose, the Arctic goose or wravey, the laughing goose, the brant, and others—all breed in the northern regions, but are found in great numbers throughout the several provinces, passing north in the spring and south in the autumn. There are several varieties of grouse, the largest of which is the grouse of British Columbia and the pennated grouse and the prairie chicken of Manitoba and the plains, besides the so-called pine partridge and willow partridge, both of which are grouse. While the pennated grouse (called the prairie chicken in Canada) has always been plentiful, the prairie hen (or chicken) proper is a more recent arrival from Minnesota and Dakota, to which states it had come from Illinois and the south as settlement and accompanying wheatfields extended north. In certain parts of Ontario the wild turkey is occasionally found and the ordinary quail, but in British Columbia is found the California quail, and a larger bird much resembling it called the mountain partridge. The golden eagle, bald-headed eagle, osprey, and a large variety of hawks, are common in Canada, as are the snowy owl, the horned owl, and others inhabiting northern climates. The raven frequently remains even in the colder parts throughout the winter; these, with the Canada jay, waxwing, grosbeak, and snow bunting, being the principal birds seen in Manitoba and northern districts in that season. The rook is not found, but the common crow and one or two other kinds are there during the summer. The sea-birds include a great variety of gulls, guillemots, cormorants, albatrosses (four species), fulmars, and petrels, and in the Gulf of St Lawrence the gannet is very abundant. Nearly all the sea-birds of Great Britain are found in Canadian waters, or are represented by closely allied species. Area and Population.—The following table shows the present division of the Dominion into provinces, with the capital and, as accurately as computation on such points is possible, the area and population of each :—
Population.
Ontario Quebec Nova Scotia New Brunswick . Manitoba . British Columbia Prince Edward Island. North-West Territories The Yukon.
220,000 347,000 20,600 28,200 73,956 383.300 2,000 2,330,5401 198.300 j
1,926,922 1,359,027 440,572 321,233 62,260 49,459 108,891 25,515
2,167,978 1,620,974 459,116 331,093 246,464 190,000 103,258 220,000
The Dominion
3,603,8962
4,293,879
5,338,883
In 1874 Canada included nearly the whole of British America, but there still remained the Arctic islands and other districts within the Arctic circle that became a portion of the Dominion only in 1880, when all British possessions in North America, excepting Newfoundland, were annexed to Canada. West of the province of Ontario, then inaccurately defined, the provinces of Manitoba and British Columbia were the only organized divisions of the western territory, but in 1882 the provisional districts of Assiniboia, Athabasca, Alberta, and Saskatchewan were formed, leaving the remainder of the north-west as unorganized territories, a certain portion of the north-east, called Keewatin, having previously been placed under the governor of Manitoba. These territories were placed under a lieutenant-governor and council appointed by the Federal Government, but from time to time the principle of selfgovernment was expanded until they now live under almost the same political conditions as the several provinces. In 1898, owing to the influx of miners and others, an Act was passed constituting the Yukon territory under a fonn of government specially created for its management. The other unorganized territories are only sparsely inhabited, and almost entirely by Indians, the people of the Hudson Bay Company’s posts, and a few missions. Newfoundland, and with it Labrador, will probably be united to Canada before many years, as the objections on either side are disappearing, and in that event Canada will embrace the whole of British North America. Population.—The census of the Dominion is taken every ten
[statistics
Official Capital.
Lat. N.
Long. W.
Toronto. Quebec . Halifax. Fredericton Winnipeg Victoria. Charlottetown / Regina . ( Dawrson.
43° 39' 46° 48' 44° 39' 45° 57' 49° 53' 48° 24' 46° 14' 50° 27'
79° 23' 71° 13' 63° 36' 66° 38' 97° 70' 123° 19' 63° 10' 104° 37'
45° 26'
75° 42'
Ottawa .
years (Manitoba every five), and the growth of population, which, however, had not at the last enumeration quite come up, in certain instances, to expectations formed on the opening up of the NorthWest Territories, is shown by the following figures: —1871, 3,518,411; 1881, 4,336,504; 1891, 4,839,239 ; 1901, 5,338,883. The density of population is greatest in Prince Edward Island, where it is 51 ‘6 to the square mile ; in Nova Scotia it is 22’3 ; New Brunswick, 11'6; Ontario, 9‘9; Quebec, 4-7; Manitoba, 3'3; British Columbia, 0‘5 ; Territories, 0T ; the Dominion, 1‘3. This is not an indication of the density in settled parts ; as in the cases of Quebec, Ontario, and British Columbia there are enormous districts where there is no population at all, but the area of which enters into the calculation. The population is composed mainly of English- or French-speaking people. There are German settlements of some extent in Ontario, and of late years there has been a large immigration of people from other parts of Europe, including Russians, Doukhobors, Galicians, and Polish and Russian Jews, as well as a large number of Icelanders and Mennonites. English and Scots and their descendants form the bulk of the population of Ontario, French Canadians of Quebec, Scots of Nova Scotia, the Irish of a large proportion of New Brunswick. Manitoba is largely peopled from Ontario, together with the decreasing numbers of hallbreeds—French and English—who originally comprised the bulk of its inhabitants. The Territories, particularly the ranching districts, have a larger proportion of English than of other classifications, and British Columbia contains an assorted population, of which a
1 i.e., disregarding the figures for Franklin district as “unknown.” It is estimated that the area of this division is, approximately, provinces. The total area of the Dominion, however, disregarding Franklin district, is officially returned as 3,653,946 square miles, the 590,000 square miles. 2 This is the sum of the areas attributed in the table to the several great lakes and rivers 47,000 square miles.
