20 NEWFOUNDLAND CARIBOU 



regions, for what reason I cannot say, for, as stated else- 

 where, the fly pests are nearly, if not quite, as numerous on 

 the mountains as in the valleys except, of course, when the 

 wind blows so hard that none can face it. In the sheltered 

 valleys and along the river banks vegetation is very luxuriant, 

 grasses, flowers and ferns growing to amazing size ; but 

 this does not tempt the deer from the higher and bleaker 

 country, where they live on the various mosses and lichens 

 with which practically the whole country is covered. Up 

 in the high country, often hidden away amongst the forests, 

 marshy barrens abound and nearly all are sprinkled with 

 small ponds and lakes of every size, while ice-cold streams 

 and rivers carry the surplus water down to the flatter lands. 

 On these barrens and among the lichen-covered rocks of the 

 rougher regions the Caribou feed, always wandering and 

 restless, content only if they can escape the flies and find 

 the food they like best. 



Both does and stags are hornless at the beginning of 

 summer. The does, not having lost their small horns till the 

 end of spring, do not show much growth until July, but the 

 stags by that time have a fairly good head of velvet-covered 

 antlers, the growth not being complete before the last of 

 August or beginning of September. The coats of these 

 animals during the warm months are entirely different from 

 their winter dress ; they are of a soft mouse-grey, varying 

 through the warm and cold shades, some being fairly dark 

 while others are quite light. They are always lightest on 

 the under parts and flanks, where the colour runs into pearly 

 white. The hair at this season is quite fine and smooth — a 

 strange contrast to their winter pelage. The effect of the 

 lighter coats is to make the animals appear very much 

 smaller than when they are dressed for cold weather. Not 

 only do they look smaller, but lighter and more delicate of 



