UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 307 



the lower parts of the State of New Jersey many of these animals yet 

 inhabit ; they are found in the Pine barrens, among the Ground oaks, 

 on the acorns of which they feed ; and afford considerable diversion 

 to the hunters every year. From being much presecuted by man, 

 they have become extremely shy, and evince great sagacity in avoid- 

 ing their pursuers. 



The Rein Deer has large but slender horns, bending forward, with 

 brow antlers broad and palmated, sometimes three feet nine inches 

 long, two feet six from tip to tip, and weighing almost ten pounds. 

 The body is thick and square ; the legs shorter than those of the 

 Stag. The height of a full grown Rein Deer is about four feet six 

 inches. 



The female is furnished with horns, but they are less, broader and 

 flatter, and with fewer branches than those of the male. They bring 

 forth two young at a time. The colour of the hair, at the first shed- 

 ding, is of a brownish ash ; it afterwards changes to a hoary white- 

 oesB. 



The habitation of this interesting and valuable animal is more 

 limited than that of the Moose : it being confined to those parts where 

 the Winter reigns with the utmost severity. Its most southern resi- 

 dence is the northern parts of Canada, bordering on the territories of 

 Hudson's Bay. Charlevoix mentions a single instance of one wan- 

 dering as far as the neighbourhood of Quebec. Their true place is 

 the vast tract which surrounds the Bay. They are met with in Labra- 

 dor, and again in Newfoundland, orignally wafted thither across the 

 narrow straits of Belleisle, on islands of Ice. 



Tli. j Rein Deer are found in the neighbourhood of Hudson's Bay in 

 great numbers, columns of eight or ten thousand being annually seen 

 passing from north to south in the months of March and April, driven 

 out of the woods by the moschetoes, seeking refreshment on the 

 shore, and a quiet place to drop their young. They go to rut in Sep- 

 tember, and the males soon after shed their horns : they are at that 

 season very fat, but so rank and musky as not to be eatable. The fe- 

 males produce their young in June, in the most sequestered spots 

 they can find : and then they likewise loose their horns. 



The attachment of the Laplanders to the Rein Deer, and the uses 

 to which they apply this, to them, invaluable animal are well known. 



The common name of this animal in Canada is Le Caribou. 



Lewis and Clark describe three Deer, which they call Mule Deer r 

 the Common Red or Long-tailed Fallow It r, and Black-tailed Fol- 

 low Deer. Of the last they say: "The Black-tailed Fallow Deer is 

 peculiar to this coast, (Pacific) and is a distinct species, partaking 

 equally of the qualities of the Mule and Common Deer.* Their ears 

 are longer, and their winter coat darker, than those of the Common 

 Deer. The receptacle of the eye more conspicuous, their legs shorter, 

 their bodies thicker and larger. The tail is of the same length with 

 that of the Common Deer, the hair on the under side white, and on 

 its sides and top of a deep jetty black. The hams resemble in form 

 and colour those of the Mule, which it likewise resembles in its gait. 

 The Black-tailed Deer never runs full speed, but bounds with every 

 foot from the ground, at the same time, like the Mule Deer. He 

 sometimes inhabits the woodlands, but more often the prairies and 

 open grounds. It may be generally said, that he is of a size larger 



*That is, the Long-tailed Fallow Deer. 



