and both this and the fjord seal travel up into the great Baker Lake, in the northern, deep part of which they have breathing holes in the ice in winter. The saddleback (Ph. groenlandica) is also to be found, but so far out to sea that the Eskimos have no benefit from it, and the bladdernose (Cystophora cristata) seems to be unknown. Furthermore, it must constantly be borne in mind that to the Caribou Eskimos the hunting of sea mammals is on the whole something quite different and subordinate to that of the other Eskimo tribes. Most of them have never even seen the sea. I have met grown men among them who have never seen a seal, and a middle-aged man from Baker Lake was no more sure of recognising a strip of polar bear skin with which my Polar Eskimo mittens were edged than that he cautiously enquired.
The Barren Grounds have the advantage, when we turn to the fauna of the land and the lakes. From the list of fresh-water fish and terrestrial animals alone geographers can read the continental situation of these regions, with free access from the south. Here they decidedly outstrip West Greenland which, with its three terrestrial mammals and few land birds and fresh-water fish, retires completely into the background. Of the permanent dwellers none have closer connections southwards than the fresh-water fish. The big rivers all rise on the other side of the timber line, and no demand of geographic adaptation has hindered their immigration. The most important fish to the inhabitants are various salmonides such as trout and species of the Coregonus and Thymallus genera. Other families also give their contribution to the fauna with species such as the pike (Esox lucius), ling (Lota maculosa), sucker (Catostomus catostomus), tullibee (Argyrosomus tullibee) etc.
In many ways birds and mammals show interesting adaptations to the surroundings. In certain respects they have biological features in common with the steppe animals, but to a still greater degree with the alpine fauna. The most outstanding difference is due to the arctic abundance of water in summer. Countless numbers of aquicole birds[1] then live by lakes and rivers; but in contrast to the more favoured regions, where they can find food all the year round, the arctic region is to many animals in winter a waterless desert in a biological sense. Only migratory birds can therefore cope with the conditions. The sparse vegetation provides sufficient food for only few kinds of terricole plant-eaters, and therefore the number of carnivorous species is also small.[2] On the other hand there is, even in winter, sufficient
