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THE WINTER HOiME OF THE BARREN GROUND 



CARIBOU. 



By J. B. Tyrrell, M.A., F.G.S., F.G.S.A. 



Among the few large animals still found in great numbers on this 

 continent, the Barren-ground Caribou {Rangifer Grxnlandicus^ Linn.) 

 is probably the most interesting and important. It is the principal 

 occupant of the great lonely wastes that extend southward from the 

 shores of the Arctic Sea, not only in America but also in Europe and 

 Asia. The Indians who people the northern part of Canada, including 

 the Chipewyans, Yellow-knives and Dog-ribs, subsist very largely on its 

 flesh, while its light warm skin with its thick covering of light grey hair 

 furnishes them with beds and winter clothing, and the tanned hides, 

 sewed with the sinews from the back, supply them with footgear and 

 comfortable tents. In fact all their necessities, except their ammuni- 

 tion, tea and tobacco and a small amount of summer clothing, are 

 supplied by the Caribou. 



In size the Barren ground Caribou is much smaller than the wood- 

 land species, an adult female shot by the writer near Lake Athabasca 

 being about as large as the common Virginia deer of this vicinity, and 

 weighing about one hundred and fifty pounds; while an adult male of 

 the woodland species, obtained in the rocky country east of Lake 

 Winnipeg, the head of which is now in the Museum of the Geological 

 Survey, weighed between three and four hundred pounds. 



The horns are very large and irregular, very few of them being 

 alike, and all being apparently unsuited to travel through the thick 

 woods. The males are said to shed their horns in November, while 

 the females retain theirs throughout the winter and shed them early in 

 the following spring. 



Their winter coat of long hair is shed early in July, and by 

 August or the beginning of September the hide is in excellent condi- 

 tion, and the hair is soft and not too long, so that at this season the 

 Indians endeavour to kill a sutiFicient numner to furnish themselves 

 with clothing for the winter. Later in the year the hair becomes 

 harder and more brittle, and the hide is said to be riddled with holes 

 made by the larvoe of a bot fly. 



