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Reindee7\ — Barren Gi'ound Caribou. 



article, is Tery abundant in the summer season, in a tract of barren, treelesR 

 W)untry, bounded on the south by the Churchill river ; on the west by the 

 Great Slave, Athabasca, Wollaston, and Deer Lakes, and the Coppermine 

 rivers ; while towards the north it stretches away quite to the Polar seas. 

 It is from the circumstance of its being the only deer found in this desolate 

 region, that the Barren Ground Caribou has received this one of its names. 

 The animal, however, is not strictly confined to that territory, for in the au- 

 tumn it migrates towards the south, and spends the winter in the woods, and 

 again towards the northwest it ranges nearly across the continent. 



This is the deer so frequently mentioned by the hardy adventurers in 

 search of the north-west passage ; the other reindeer is the caribou of Lower 

 Canada, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia. It shall receive some attention 

 in the next article.. 





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Head of Tarandus arcticus, — Side view. 



From the accounts furnished by the many travellers who have visited 

 the Barren Grounds, Tarandus arcticus is a small deer, the largest and 

 fattest bucks weighing only from 90 to 120 lbs., exclusive of the offal. Its 

 legs are shorter and stouter in proportion to its size than those of the com- 

 mon deer, and the fi-ont part of the head more blunt like that of a cow. The 

 horns are slender and palmated at their upper extremities, and near their 

 base they send out brow antlers, which incline downwards in front of the 

 forehead, and are flattened laterally, so that the palmated portion is vertical 

 before and between the eyes. Both males and females have horns, and they 

 fall off and are renewed annually, as in other deer. The ears are small, 

 oval and covered both inside and out with thick hair : the feet are very 



