202 Life-histories of Northern Animals 



winter pastures of a lower level, miles away; the Wapiti may 

 make a similar change on a still larger scale, when the first 

 heavy snow comes down to warn it of the season's close; but 

 the Caribou are the only Deer that at certain seasons gather 

 in herds to travel clear out of one region to some entirely 

 different region. 



If we divide the vast range of this species the long way, into 

 four equal zones, we may say that the main body of Caribou is 

 found in the northern three all summer and in the southern 

 three all winter, and thus give a fair idea of its migrations. 



The Caribou is the Reindeer of America. This word 

 Reindeer was long, though erroneously, supposed to mean 

 running deer, in allusion to its speed (another after-thought, 

 in the way of derivation, but so appropriate that it is still found 

 in some very reputable dictionaries) — not that the Reindeer is 

 speedy when compared with the Whitetail, but it keeps on so 

 long and so straight that the hunter who follows the Caribou 

 must be the best of travellers. The Moose may trot through 

 the brush at the rate of 15 miles an hour; the Whitetail may 

 bound over the ridges half as fast again; the Caribou may 

 never rise above a i o-mile gait. The Moose, however, is satisfied 

 when it has covered 5 or 6 miles and has merely removed to 

 some other part of its range; the Whitetail is sure to stop after 

 circling a mile or two and settle down again; but the startled 

 Caribou keeps on, sometimes walking with long mile-eating 

 strides, sometimes trotting, sometimes stopping to graze for a 

 minute, rarely galloping or leaping, climbing hills, floundering 

 through bogs, swimming lakes, turning aside for nothing, its 

 lower speed offset by its persistence and directness, very often 

 spending the night 100 miles from the place whence it started 

 in the morning. 



cHARAc- In character, this creature is a strange mixture of wari- 



ness, erraticness, and stupidity. One never knows just what 

 the Caribou is going to do next, but may be sure that the animal 

 is going to do it with amazing energy and persistence. Its 



