The Woodland Corihou, 77 



ARTICLE \X.— The Woodland Caribou, [Tarandus hastalis.) 



Tarandus hastalis, (Agassiz.) 



Similar to Tarandus Arcticus, but twice as large, horns more stout 

 and short in proportion ; inhabits Labrador and northern Canada, and thence 

 Bouth to Nova Scotia. 



The species of Caribou, of which an account has been given in the last 

 article, is a small animal, but the one now to be examined grows to a size 

 much greater than that of the common red deer. A full grown and large 

 woodland Caribou weighs 300 lbs., while it is rare to meet with a buck of 

 the common species which would weigh 200. In fact, the woodland Cari- 

 bou appears to be upon an average nearly twice the size of the common red 

 deer. Its geographical range extends over Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, 

 New Brunswick, the northern part of the State of Maine, Lower Canada 

 upon both sides of the mouth of the St. Lawrence, thence westerly in the 

 inhabited country north of Quebec to the rear of Lake Superior. It never 

 migrates towards the north in the summer as is the habit of Tarandus 

 arcticus, but rather to the south ; the lines of migration in the two species 

 being in exactly opposite directions. In the Lower Provinces and in Labra- 

 dor, it is somewhat abundant in the more secluded tracts of forest, and be- 

 ing more gregarious in its habits does not linger in the settlements like the 

 common deer. The principal difference in form between this species and 

 the last appears to consist in its superior size. The following is the descrip- 

 tion given by Audubon and Bachman of an individual two years and a hal f 

 old : — " Larger and less graceful than the common American deer, body 

 stout and heavy, neck stout, hoofs thin, flattened, broad and spreading, ex- 

 cavated or concave beneath, accessary hoofs, large and thin, legs stout, no 

 glandular opening, and scarcely a perceptible inner tuft on the hind legs, 

 nose somewhat like those of a cow, but fully covered with soft hairs of a 

 moderate length, no beard but on the under side of the neck a line of hairs 

 about four inches in length which hang down in a longitudinal direction, 

 ears small, short and oval, thickly clothed with hair on both surfaces, horns 

 one foot three and a half inches in height, slender, one with two and the 

 other with one prong, prongs about five inches long, hair soft and wooly 

 underneath the longer hairs like those of the antelop#, crimped or waved, 

 and about one to one and a half inches long." As to the colour of the ani- 

 mal, the authors state that " at the roots the hairs are whitish, then become 

 brownish-grey, and at the tips are light dun grey, whiter on the neck than 

 elsewhere, nose, ears, outer surface of legs, and shoulder brownish, a slight 

 shade of the same tinge behind the fore legs, hoofs black, neck and throat dull 

 white, a faint whitish patch on the sides of the shoulders, forehead brownish 

 white, belly white, tail white with a slight shade of brown at the root and 

 on the whole upper surface, outside of legs brown, a band of white around 

 all the legs adjoining the hoofs and extending to the small secondary hoofe, 

 horns yellowish brown, worn white in places." 



